ABSTRACT
Studies to ascertain the effects of nutritional ergogenic aids are wrought with difficulties. An understanding of the research variables involved is essential to analysis of studies and resulting conclusions. This chapter presents a set of research variables in human exercise studies. Measurements of human performance are frequently associated with large variabilities. A study design called double-blind placebo-controlled has been accepted as the optimal design for studies of ergogenic aids. In these studies, neither the investigator nor the subject knows the identity of the test compound. No central testing facility exists or is required for nutritional supplements or ergogenic aids. Attainment of regulatory recognition for any nutritional ergogenic aid would amount to economic suicide. For this reason, there are no “approved” ergogenic aids by government regulatory agencies. Nevertheless, the entire field of nutritional ergogenic aids has acquired a “gray” flavor, hampering legitimate scientific inquiry of effects of nutrients on exercise performance. Nutritional ergogenic aids are both foods and drugs.
