Supplement Practices of Elite Swimmers: The implications of a global education and provision program on dietary supplement practices

Dietary supplement practices of athletes have been well documented. Swimmers are a group of elite athletes regularly reported as being high users of dietary supplements. The last major investigation into supplementation practices of elite Australian swimmers was undertaken in 1999 by researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). Since then there have been major changes to the supplement landscape underpinning supplement practices of athletes. Internationally there has been a significant increase in the size and scope of the supplement industry resulting in an increased risk of positive doping outcomes through the consumption of contaminated dietary supplements. Domestically in 2000 the AIS introduced a Sport Supplement Program in Australia (AIS Program), with two main focuses are, the education of athletes, coaches, sports medicine and sports science professionals, and the provision of approved products to AIS scholarship holders. The education and provision of dietary supplements in this program is formalised around a categorisation scheme based on the evidence that the products can enhance performance (Group A supplements – sufficient evidence, Group B supplements - emerging evidence, Group C supplements -no current evidence, Group D - risk of triggering a positive doping test). We investigated the beliefs and practices of elite Australian swimmers regarding supplement use since they represented a unique opportunity to measure the impact of changes in the supplement landscape over the past decade. They also provided a novel opportunity to measure the impact of the AIS Program since they included individuals holding AIS scholarships who were exposed to both arms of the program as well as individuals from other centres who had access to the education resources but were outside the full scope of the supplement provision.Submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Sport Nutrition (Research), University of the Sunshine Coast, 201