As a health professional I often get asked for my opinion on different dietary supplements. Most of the time it’s usually regarding the one’s found in 'health food' shops particularly the most marketed one’s such as protein powders. Some of these products have been proven to be useful whilst many of them have little evidence to back up the various claims.
I use four different supplements, these are all supported by the Australian Institute of Sport and have proof via research as being beneficial for athletic performance. I also trust that they are safe. It wasn’t a totally conscious decision that lead me to use these particular ones, it was more circumstantial as you’ll see in my reasoning below.
1. Multi-vitamin supplement: The key word here is ‘supplement’. There is no way a multi-vitamin can replace healthy eating – these tablets provide a fraction of the ‘recommended dietary intakes’ for micronutrients. I take one when I think my overall diet has been neglected. When I’m training more intensely I take one everyday, especially since I’m a vegetarian and I particularly want to address my iron needs. I choose Centrum simply because they contain many micronutrients and have little additions of ‘herbs’ and other products that I’m not too sure about. I can’t say if I’m any better off from taking multi-vitamins, I take them mostly for the reassurance.
2. Sports drink: I only use sports drinks when I’m doing activity over a long period of time. I’ve trialed the two most available one’s and found a personal preference for Gatorade as it’s slightly saltier and not as sweet as the other choice. I find these drinks give me a bit of extra energy and even help control hunger especially during long training nights. I tend to have 600ml plus water in the first two hours then water and a small carb snack in next two hours.
3. Caffeine: I love coffee and usually have an espresso every morning. I sometimes have a second one before training and almost always before performing. I find I am more alert and focused about an hour after a coffee which really helps when I train at the end of the day when I’m fighting fatigue anyway. Although the diuretic effect is supposed to be reduced with physical exertion I do find I need to use the loo after having a coffee especially when combined with the nerves of performing. I estimate each of my coffees have around 120mg caffeine which is a dose shown to have some beneficial effects on performance (between 1 – 3mg/kg).
4. Glucosamine: I was hesitant to use this product but after sustaining a debilitating injury during training last year I was desperate to take any reasonable measure that could get me back into action. I would like to think it assisted me when I trialed the product for a short time earlier this year. I’m on a second short ‘course’ at the moment, I’ll report on its effects later. I find I had the best result when taking 2000mg/day. I tried half this dose but did not feel it improved my symptoms.
I use four different supplements, these are all supported by the Australian Institute of Sport and have proof via research as being beneficial for athletic performance. I also trust that they are safe. It wasn’t a totally conscious decision that lead me to use these particular ones, it was more circumstantial as you’ll see in my reasoning below.
1. Multi-vitamin supplement: The key word here is ‘supplement’. There is no way a multi-vitamin can replace healthy eating – these tablets provide a fraction of the ‘recommended dietary intakes’ for micronutrients. I take one when I think my overall diet has been neglected. When I’m training more intensely I take one everyday, especially since I’m a vegetarian and I particularly want to address my iron needs. I choose Centrum simply because they contain many micronutrients and have little additions of ‘herbs’ and other products that I’m not too sure about. I can’t say if I’m any better off from taking multi-vitamins, I take them mostly for the reassurance.
2. Sports drink: I only use sports drinks when I’m doing activity over a long period of time. I’ve trialed the two most available one’s and found a personal preference for Gatorade as it’s slightly saltier and not as sweet as the other choice. I find these drinks give me a bit of extra energy and even help control hunger especially during long training nights. I tend to have 600ml plus water in the first two hours then water and a small carb snack in next two hours.
3. Caffeine: I love coffee and usually have an espresso every morning. I sometimes have a second one before training and almost always before performing. I find I am more alert and focused about an hour after a coffee which really helps when I train at the end of the day when I’m fighting fatigue anyway. Although the diuretic effect is supposed to be reduced with physical exertion I do find I need to use the loo after having a coffee especially when combined with the nerves of performing. I estimate each of my coffees have around 120mg caffeine which is a dose shown to have some beneficial effects on performance (between 1 – 3mg/kg).
4. Glucosamine: I was hesitant to use this product but after sustaining a debilitating injury during training last year I was desperate to take any reasonable measure that could get me back into action. I would like to think it assisted me when I trialed the product for a short time earlier this year. I’m on a second short ‘course’ at the moment, I’ll report on its effects later. I find I had the best result when taking 2000mg/day. I tried half this dose but did not feel it improved my symptoms.
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