Nutritional Supplements
BY GARY GREEN, NCAA Committee on
Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports
The following information is for all NCAA student-athletes who are
taking or thinking about taking any of the popular "nutritional
supplements" that are currently available.
This article also is must reading for all coaches because the
eligibility of your players may depend on the sales clerk at your
local nutrition store.
We know from surveys that at least 20 to 30 percent of NCAA
student-athletes are taking supplements, and the actual numbers are
probably much higher. What you might not know is that a significant
number of athletes already have been suspended for one year for
taking supplements that violate the NCAA drug-testing policy.
In order to protect you, your teammates and your school from the same
penalty, the drug-education and drug-testing subcommittee of the NCAA
Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports
offers answers to the following questions:
(1) Do you really know what is in your supplement?
The supplement industry is very poorly regulated. Often, the
ingredients are listed in fine print and even then are hard to
determine. Recent studies of the supplements St. John's Wort and
melatonin found that most products did not contain what was
advertised on the label or contained unknown impurities. Nutritional
supplements are not subject to the same stringent requirements as
prescription drugs, and you are taking a significant gamble with
those products.
(2) Does your supplement contain NCAA banned substances?
While Mark McGwire was allowed to take androstenedione in his pursuit
of the all-time home-run record, NCAA athletes may not use that
supplement or a number of others. There are many substances that can
be purchased over the counter or as a supplement (for example,
ephedrine, DHEA and androstenedione) that are all banned by the NCAA.
The NCAA maintains a list of banned substances, and a copy of it
should be available through your athletic trainer, coach or athletics
department. Mark McGwire makes the cover of Sports Illustrated for
taking androstenedione, but an NCAA athlete only receives a one-year
suspension.
(3) Aren't things like androstenedione "natural"?
The big myth is that "natural" equals "safe." Many of the
prescription drugs we use originally came from plants. Nicotine,
cocaine and heroin all come from plants. Would you consider them
"natural"? Androstenedione is sold as a "natural" form of
testosterone. As far as we can determine, androstenedione was
invented by the East Germans as a nasal spray to avoid drug testing
in the Olympics. Does this sound "natural"?
(4) Aren't things like androstenedione "legal"?
Nutritional supplements like androstenedione can be purchased in
nutrition stores, so technically they are "legal" as opposed to
"illegal" drugs like heroin, cocaine and marijuana. However, if you
look at the NCAA banned-substances list, many of the substances
either can be purchased over the counter or legally prescribed by a
doctor, but are banned by the NCAA.
(5) Why does the NCAA ban drugs such as androstenedione, DHEA and
19- Norandrostenedione when they are allowed by other sports
organizations such as Major League Baseball?
All of those drugs are precursors of anabolic steroids, which means
if you take enough of them, they are converted to anabolic steroids.
If you believe that it is cheating to take anabolic steroids and/or
that anabolic steroids are unhealthy, then you can't advocate the use
of those drugs. The NCAA strongly believes that anabolic steroids
offer an unfair advantage and are unhealthy. Taken in high enough
quantities, androstenedione will cause the same health problems as
anabolic steroids. Because of this, the Drug Enforcement Agency is
considering re-classifying androstenedione as an anabolic steroid so
that it can be controlled under the Anabolic Steroid Control Act.
Based on that, perhaps a better question might be, "Why doesn't Major
League Baseball ban those drugs?"
(6) Who should I check with before taking a supplement?
To be safe, we recommend checking with your athletic trainer, coach,
team physician or the NCAA before taking any supplement. Athletes who
have tested positive will frequently say that they checked with the
nutrition store, the Internet, their friends, the local gym, their
parents and so on. It seems that they have checked with everyone
except the people who actually know the NCAA banned-substances
list.
Remember, you are responsible for your own eligibility. If you test
positive, it is not your friends or the guy at the nutrition store
who will be serving the suspension, it will be you!
Also, the salespeople at the nutrition store or the companies that
make the supplements are not responsible for knowing NCAA rules.
Their job is to sell you something and make a profit.
(7) Given all of these facts, what should an NCAA student-athlete
do about supplements?
Get educated! Before taking any supplement, you should first know
exactly what it is that you are taking. After that, ask yourself the
following questions:
Is it allowable under NCAA rules?
Is it safe?
Have there been any studies to show that it really works?
Have I checked with either my athletic trainer, coach, physician or
the NCAA?
If you can answer "yes" to all of those questions, then you can
consider taking the supplement. Remember that a healthy,
well-balanced diet usually can provide the same benefits of many
supplements at a fraction of the cost. If you have any questions
about a particular drug, you can check the NCAA Web site at:
www.ncaa.org/sports_sciences.
There is a lot of confusion about supplements, but one thing is very
clear: If you test positive under the NCAA drug testing, you will
receive a one-year suspension, even if you didn't know they were
banned. You need to ask yourself if taking a supplement is really
worth one year of eligibility.
Gary Green, M.D., is the chair of the drug-education and
drug-testing subcommittee of the NCAA Committee on Competitive
Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports