Where do nutrititional supplements fit in sport?
THE athletes who will compete for Olympic honours in Beijing are intensely driven individuals. So we should not be surprised if some are found over the next few weeks to have pushed too far and resorted to banned drugs to boost their performance. Many more, however, will have tried to achieve similar results by taking nutritional supplements – which is why we need a wider debate on whether sporting bodies should do more to investigate the effects of these substances. The idea comes from Andrea Petróczi of Kingston University London, who is one of the researchers trying to identify the psychological and social factors that lead some athletes to seek pharmaceutical assistance, while others stay clean (see “Olympic cheats: creating a culture that rejects doping”). If athletes could be given better advice on legitimate ways to enhance their performance, Petróczi argues, the temptation to take banned drugs would not be so great. She is also worried about the health consequences of prolonged
