Dietary supplements and sport: Stronger regulation needed!

Despite regular educational awareness campaigns being carried out by sport and anti-doping authorities, many athletes are still at risk of having adverse analytical findings during their anti-doping tests due to their consumption of dietary supplements. Every year, there are numerous court cases where athletes claim that dietary supplements are to blame for the prohibited substances detected during their anti-doping tests.

It seems that the campaigns have garnered limited attention from athletes, which has led third-party providers to offer up analytical services to sports organizations and/or manufacturers in order to significantly reduce the risk of these products being contaminated by prohibited substances. As a result, studies indicate that unintentional contamination is decreasing for some categories of dietary supplement; while, adulteration (often with unlabeled substances) is still considered high for those supplements that have brand names that 'suggest' performance enhancement to athletes.

The fact is that many dietary supplements are being marketed via the internet and in countries with limited regulation. The dichotomy is that conscientious supplement manufacturers are taking effective analytical measures to reduce contamination risk; while, less scrupulous manufacturers are broadly promoting their products as performance enhancers, which is leading to a high risk of contamination by legal or illegal substances. More than ever, the dietary supplement market requires strong regulation in order to reduce the occurrence of doping in sport but also the health risk to the public at large.