ABSTRACT
Sound nutrition and a healthy diet are essential for maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle. Though there are common principles, such as consumption of fruits and vegetables and controlling calorie intake, the population varies greatly in terms of individual requirements for essential nutrients. Differences in nutritional needs can vary with culture, race, gender, age, fitness level, and genotype. Supplementation of a diet may be needed in a significant portion of the population to ensure that optimal levels of all essential nutrients are met. In this case, supplementation is intended to get to “normal” levels. Some people have the attitude that if a little is good, then a lot might be even better. In the case of most vitamins and essential nutrients, the body’s ability to store excessive daily intake is very limited or nonexistent. The result is that excessive nutrients end up as either urine or feces. For exercise performance, there is very little data to support any demonstrable benefit of supra-physiological doses. Besides wasting money, excessive doses can cause toxicity. High doses of supplements, ‘natural’ or not, expose the user to possible contaminants in the formulation.
WADA recommends extreme caution regarding supplement use. Many countries have no strict rules for the manufacturing and labeling of supplements. Dietary supplements may contain an undeclared substance that is prohibited under anti-doping regulations. A significant number of positive tests have been attributed to the misuse of supplements. A poorly labeled dietary supplement is not an adequate defense for an athlete who is caught doping. For the vast majority of the population, a healthy diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables with a balance of complex carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats should be sufficient.
