Why top athletes are turning to supplements

Supplements

Top athletes are using supplements like creatine to get slight boosts in their performance. But sports nutrition experts say that a healthy lifestyle is the most important thing.

Creatine is a natural substance made by the body. It is also found in meat and fish. It gives muscles quick energy. This is especially helpful during short bursts of high-intensity activities like sprinting.

Nutrition expert Prof. Graeme Close explains that getting enough creatine from food alone can be tough.

"You would need the best part of a kilogram of raw chicken a day to get the amount of creatine you need," he says. But eating raw poultry can be dangerous because of bacteria.

A report from BBC Sport on Thursday noted that creatine became popular in elite sports during the 1990s. British athletes took part in a trial with creatine products at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which sparked more interest in the supplement.

By the time of the 1996 Olympics, about 80 percent of athletes were using creatine. Since then, it has become a well-known supplement in sports nutrition. Research is also looking into its possible benefits for brain function.

Prof. Close, who managed nutrition for last year’s British and Irish Lions rugby team, believes supplements should come after athletes have built a solid nutritional base.

"Supplements are the ‘final piece of the jigsaw’ rather than a starting point," he says.

Close adds that athletes who focus on the basics are more likely to see real results compared to those who rely too much on supplements.

"They’ve really nailed the 99 percenters," he says. He is referring to athletes who get their overall diet right before seeking smaller performance improvements.

Australian cyclist Nicole Frain agrees that supplements should be for support.

"I’m a pretty big believer that they are called sport supplements," she says. "They are there to supplement the things you already do right."

Frain explains that athletes should not depend on supplements to fix basic issues.

"I don’t think supplements are the answer to fix my problems," she says. She emphasizes the importance of "eating a balanced diet, training well, sleeping right, recovering well, hydrating, all of those things" before adding any supplements.

Prof. Close mentions that various research studies show that around 90 percent of athletes take supplements.

"I often jokingly say that means 10 percent are lying," he says. He adds, "In the sports teams that I’ve worked in, I think that’s probably closer to 100 percent of athletes will be taking some form of supplementation."

So what do supplements really do, and why do athletes choose them? In the strict world of athletics, where athletes are responsible for what they consume, how do they stay clean?

Experts in sports nutrition give a clear message: supplements might help with that extra one percent, but top performance is built on getting the other 99 percent right.