Reference Table of Common Sports Supplements 	
Supplement	Effect	Benefit	Risk	Legality	
Alcohol	Decreases anxiety	No benefits	Significant	Banned for shooting events	
Amphetamines	Improve concentration, decrease fatigue and appetite	Mixed, some positive	Significant, dangerous	Illegal	
Anabolic steroids	Increase strength, lean muscle mass and motivation	Positive 	Significant, dangerous	Illegal	
Aspirin	Decreases pain with muscle fatigue and muscle breakdown	No benefit	Mild	Legal	
Bee pollen	Increases strength and endurance	Refutes, no benefits	Allergic reaction	Legal	
Blood doping 	Increases aerobic capacity	Supports	Significant, dangerous	Illegal	
Branched chain amino acids 	Decrease mental fatigue	Mixed, negative	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Calcium	Increases muscle contractility, enhances glycogen metabolism	Refutes, no benefit	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Carnitine	Increases fat metabolism	Refutes	None	Legal	
Choline	Increases endurance	Mixed, inconclusive	None 	Legal	
Chromium	Increases lean mass	Refutes, no benefit unless prior deficiency	Safe to 400 µg daily, potentially dangerous above this level	Legal	
Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone)	Delays fatigue, acts as antioxidant	Refutes, no benefit	None	Legal	
Creatine	Increases muscle energy, endurance, strength and lean muscle mass	Supports, insufficient data on long-term use	Mild	Legal	
Erythropoietin	Increases aerobic capacity	Supports	Significant, dangerous	Illegal	
Folic acid	Increases aerobic capacity	Refutes	None	Legal	
Ginseng	Increases endurance, enhances muscle recovery	Limited, refutes, no benefit	Mild, abuse syndrome reported	Legal	
Glucosamine	Serves as NSAID alternative, enhances recovery	Limited, may have limited NSAID abilities	None	Legal	
Glutamine	Boosts immunity and growth hormone levels	May boost immunity, no other benefits	None	Legal	
Guarana (herbal caffeine)	Same as caffeine	 	 	 	
Human growth hormone	Anabolic effect on muscle growth, increases fat metabolism	Refutes, limited ergogenic benefits	Significant, dangerous	Illegal	
Inosine	Enhances energy production, improves aerobic capacity	Refutes, no benefit	Mild	Legal	
Leucine	Decreases muscle breakdown and spare muscle glycogen stores	Limited, no ergogenic effect	None	Legal	
Ma huang (herbal ephedrine)	Same as caffeine	 	 	 	
Magnesium	Enhances muscle growth	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Multivitamins	Increases energy, endurance and aerobic capacity, enhances recovery	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	None at RDA, some toxicities at high doses	Legal	
Niacin	Increases energy and endurance	No benefit unless a preexisting deficiency	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Oxygen	Increases aerobic capacity, enhances recovery	No benefit if given before or after activity	Mild	Legal	
Phosphates	Increase ATP production, energy and muscle endurance	Mixed, negative	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Phytosterols	Stimulates release of endogenous steroids and growth hormone	Refutes, no benefit	Little data, allergic reaction possible	Legal	
Protein	Optimizes muscular growth and repair 	Supports, increased need for protein with activity	None unless underlying medical condition	Legal	
Pycnogenol	Boosts antioxidant levels, enhances recovery	Supports, dietary sources offer same benefit	None	Legal	
Pyruvate	Increases lean body mass	Limited research, benefit only in specific cases	None	Legal	
D-Ribose	Increases cellular ATP and muscle power 	No human research	None known	Legal	
Selenium	Enhances antioxidant functions	Limited, no benefit	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Sodium bicarbonate	Buffers lactic acid production, delays fatigue	Supports	Mild, dangerous at high doses 	Legal	
Tryptophan	Decreases pain perception, increases endurance	Mixed, no benefit in trained athletes	Mild, potentially dangerous	Legal	
Vitamin B1 (thiamin)	Enhances energy production, increases aerobic capacity, improves concentration	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	None	Legal	
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)	Increases aerobic endurance	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	None	Legal	
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)	Enhances muscle growth, decreases anxiety	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)	Enhances muscle growth	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	None	Legal	
Vitamin B15 (dimethylglycine)	Increases muscle energy production	Mixed, negative	None proven, but concerns raised	Legal	
Vitamin C	Acts as antioxidant, increases aerobic capacity and energy production	No benefit unless preexisting deficiency	Mild at high doses	Legal	
Vitamin E	Acts as antioxidant, improves aerobic capacity	Mixed, some positive	Mild	Legal	
Zinc	Enhances muscle growth, increases aerobic capacity	Limited, negative	Mild	Legal