Olympians and Supplements

There is good news for vitamin and supplement companies following this summer’s Beijing Olympics. According to the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), 90% of the 11,000 athletes in attendance at the Olympic Games used dietary supplements of some kind, and to top that, there was not a single supplement contamination case. In the run up to the games, some Greek weightlifters and a US athlete blamed contaminated supplements for doping offences. This argument has never held much weight with the World Anti-Doping Agency, or the public, and the athletes were banned. Perhaps Beijing marks a turning point for the supplement industry and been given a lift by its clean performance. ESSNA chairman Dr. Adam Carey notes, if there are safe products on the market that can benefit an athlete’s performance and overall health, it is verging on negligence to advise athletes against them. And of course safe supplements are just as important for the general public. The 2007 introduction of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and pending Adverse Event Reporting regulations (AERs), mean quality control in the dietary supplements industry has never been in better shape.
-Community Assistant