The use of dietary supplements by professional athletes

Abstract

Professional athletes are exposed to everyday intensive physical strain. In order to provide for the energy demands of the organism, the athletes consume various food supplements. A specially designed questionnaire was used to convey an anonymous survey of a random sample of 66 professional athletes. The aim of the present research was to assess the intake of the most popular food supplements used in professional sport. The results of the survey confirmed that professional athletes are fully informed about the benefits provided by the intake of food supplements but were not well aware of the health risk hidden in some formulations and accepted them as safe products. Аmino acids had the largest consumption rate among food supplements, followed by proteins, magnesium, creatine and others.