A Survey Study of the Use of Nutritional Supplements in Taiwan Elite Athletes

台灣優秀運動員使用營養增補劑之調查研究

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in English; abstract also in Chinese.

The purpose of this study was to understand the current usage of nutritional supplements in Taiwan elite athletes. This study adopting purposive sampling, we surveyed 105 male and 80 female athletes across sports selected for doping control at the National Athletic Games during year 2007 in Taiwan to understand the athletes’ use of nutritional supplements 14 days prior to the games. Categories of nutritional supplements include vitamin/mineral supplements, amino acid supplements, instant energy supplements, healthcare foods, and drinks. The results indicated 88.1% of the athletes have used nutritional supplements. The usage rates for different categories of nutritional supplements were vitamin/mineral supplements (48.1%), drinks (45.9%), healthcare foods (39.5%), amino acid supplements (31.9%), and instant energy supplements (24.9%). Female athletes had a higher tendency to use vitamin/mineral supplements (55.0% vs. 42.9%) and healthcare foods (47.5% vs. 33.3%) compared to male athletes. Among the sports, weightlifters/bodybuilders and swimmers have all used nutritional supplements (100%), especially the use of creatine for the weightlifters/bodybuilders (69.7%) and multivitamin (76.2%) for the swimmers. In addition, the most consumed types in different categories of nutritional supplements were multivitamins (37.3%) for vitamin/ mineral supplements, creatine (26.5%) for amino acid supplements, chocolate (15.1%) for instant energy supplements, Cordymax Cs-4 Capsules (16.2%) for healthcare foods, and sports drinks (42.4%) for drinks. In conclusion, the results on the current use of nutritional supplements for Taiwan elite athletes could act as a reference to coaches, athletes and sports organizations.

本研究目的在於了解台灣優秀選手使用營養增補劑的現況。本研究採立意抽樣，我們調查了2007年全國運動會(全運會) 期間，105 名男性以及 80 名女性需接受運動禁藥抽檢之選手，以了解其比賽前14天使用營養增補劑的情形。營養增補劑種類包括：維生素/礦物質、胺基酸補給品、即時能量補給品、保健食品，以及飲料類。本研究結果顯示88.1%的運動員有使用營養增補劑。不同種類的營養增補劑中，選手使用率分別為維生素/礦物質 (48.1%)；飲料 (45.9%)；保健食品 (39.5%)；胺基酸補給品 (31.9%)；即時能量補給品 (24.9%)。相較於男性選手，女性選手在維生素/礦物質 (55.0% vs. 42.9%) 與保健食品 (47.5% vs. 33.3%) 的使用率有較高的趨勢。在所有的運動項目中，舉重/健美以及游泳選手營養增補劑的使用率為100%，特別是舉重/健美選手對肌酸 (69.7%)，以及游泳選手對綜合維生素 (76.2%)有較高的使用率。此外，不同種類的營養增補劑中，選手最常使用的分別為維生素/礦物質之綜合維生素 (37.3%)；胺基酸補給品之肌酸 (26.5%)；即時能量補給品之巧克力 (15.1%)；保健食品類之動能食物膠囊 (16.2%)；飲料類之運動飲料 (42.4%)。本研究對台灣優秀選手使用增補劑的現況之結果可作為教練、選手以及各級運動團體之參考。