Sports Nutrition
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2004; 1(1): 1–44.
Published online 2004 May 10. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-1-1-1.
Copyright © 2004 A National Library of Congress Indexed Journal
PMCID: PMC2129137
Numerous nutritional and herbal products are marketed to promote weight gain, weight loss, and/or improve performance. Most have a theoretical basis for use but little data supporting safety and efficacy in athletes. A number are heavily marketed despite data indicating that they do not affect body composition, performance, and/or training adaptations at the dosages recommended. It is in these particular situations that unsupported claims explicitly or implicitly endorsed by sport nutrition specialists constitute fraud and/or “quackery”. Prudent training, maintaining an energy balance and nutrient dense diet, proper timing of nutrient intake, and obtaining adequate rest are the cornerstones to enhancing performance and/or training adaptations. Use of a limited number of nutritional supplements that research has supported can help improve energy availability (e.g., sports drinks, carbohydrate, creatine, caffeine, etc) and/or promote recovery (carbohydrate, protein, essential amino acids, etc) can provide additional benefit in certain instances. The sport nutrition specialist should stay up to date regarding the role of nutrition on exercise so they can provide honest and accurate information to their students, clients, and/or athletes about the role of nutrition and dietary supplements on performance and training. Furthermore, the sport nutrition specialist should actively participate in exercise nutrition research; write unbiased scholarly reviews for journals and lay publications; help disseminate the latest research findings to the public so they can make informed decisions about appropriate methods of exercise, dieting, and/or whether various nutritional supplements can affect health, performance, and/or training; and, disclose any commercial or financial conflicts of interest during such promulgations to the public. Finally, sport nutrition specialists can challenge companies who sell exercise equipment and/or nutritional supplements to develop scientifically based products, conduct research on their products, and honestly market the results of studies so consumers can make informed decisions.
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