The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has published guidelines on the use of sports nutrition supplements for young athletes, dividing products available on the market into three coloured categories, depending on their levels of safety.
John Cordaro, president and chief executive officer of the trade body, said: "CRN intends these guidelines to encourage parents, coaches and trainers to provide oversight for appropriate use, or in some cases non-use by young athletes, of these products."
He urged sports authorities and health professionals to support and distribute the guidelines.
"Sports nutrition supplements can play an important and positive role for athletes. But they must be used as supplements, not substitutes, to an overall healthy regime that includes a well-balanced diet, proper exercise and conditioning, dedication, and hard work," added Cordaro.
The guidelines urge all athletes to follow label directions such as dosage information and cautions, and suggest that parents, coaches and healthcare professionals play a role in overseeing that young athletes follow the advice from those gatekeepers. The guidelines also point out that governing bodies for various sports may have different and more specific guidelines for many products, including sports nutrition supplements, and that athletes should familiarize themselves with those rules.
The initiative classifies sports nutrition supplements under three different categories - green, yellow and red. The green light category contains products such as fluid or electrolyte-replacing beverages, protein powders and energy bars, that are used as part of a normal diet as an additional source of protein and calories. It also includes basic nutritional vitamins and minerals, since athletes may deplete stores of these vital nutrients during exercise.
Products that contain ingredients that affect muscle function or recovery, like creatine, are in the yellow light category. "There is no substantiated safety concern for creatine, but its use should be monitored and directions for use carefully followed, as the long-term effects have not been sufficiently studied in younger athletes," said CRN. The association has placed products containing ephedrine alkaloids and steroid hormone precursors in the red light category "because they clearly should not be used by individuals under the age of 18."
The guidelines were first presented in a preliminary draft at a January 2002 conference on performance-enhancing products, co-sponsored by the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health and CRN. They can be found on the CRN website.