Sports Nutrition, Supplements, and Stress (cont.)
Dietary supplements are another hot topic in the field of sports nutritrition. They are processed, isolated, and normally concentrated nutrients that replace what we would otherwise get from natural food sources, like protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, or herbals. They are required to have a nutrition facts label, but are NOT otherwise regulated or inspected for purtiy and content. Many of these products come in the form of pills and powders that you can buy over-the-counter. They may also take the form of sports bars, energy drinks, gels, and sports drinks. Depending on the need level of the athlete, these items may be used to help meet basic intake needs to enhance performance. Supplements are not to be confused with performance-enhancing drugs like steroids.
Although supplement use is popular, there is no comparision to what can be found in the diet naturally. Certainly with a recreational athlete the use of items like branched chain amino acids and other amino acids are superfluous. Manufacturers may claim that they are absorbed faster or do a better job of repairing or building muscle. This is simply false. The body is perfectly capable of secreting a number of enzymes that isolate amino acids from protein at 90% efficiency. The dosing in many of these supplements may also be misleading. A capsule may say it contains 500mg of a particluar amino acid, which is only ½ gram. Whereas a piece of chicken may contain 7 grams of amino acids in the form of whole protein; and, chicken is much less expensive and tastes better too! Always obtain your nutrients from food when possible. The human body is very sensitive, and mega-doses of amino acids, or other supplements, may cause more harm than good.