Sports Nutritional Supplements

by David G. Phillips ~ Last Updated:

We envy athletes for their trimmed physique and endurance to long hours of physical activities. They achieve the body and endurance that we envy because of regular exercise, body training, proper diet and sports nutrition supplements.

Sports nutrition supplements may be in a form of capsule, powdered shakes, liquid food and candy-like bars. What are sports nutrition supplements and what they can do to your body are the things that you should know first before you head to your local health stores for gallons of protein shakes, carbohydrates bar, and amino acid capsules.

Sports Nutrition Supplements: Vitamins and Minerals

Some people think that sports nutrition supplements such as vitamins or minerals help enhance their performance in the field. According to many experts, however, extra intakes of vitamins and minerals don't add up to improvement in performance, unless of course the athlete is suffering from vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

A well-balanced diet can meet most of the daily vitamin and mineral needs of an athlete.

You should remember to avoid sports nutrition supplements that promise 'megadoses' of vitamins and minerals to achieve a bodybuilding body, strength of a weightlifter and speed of a basketball player. Many athletes pop these sports nutrition supplements without question. Don't be like them. They are the type of athletes who are most likely to suffer from bursting veins and even arteries because of these super supplements.

Also, avoid sports nutrition supplements that claim to be 'herbal' in nature. Don't self-prescribe vitamin oil supplements or 'herbal' muscle grower without asking your physician first. Usually, these 'herbal' supplements go in the guise of herbal supplement, when in fact they are capsules of steroids.

If you want to help your immune system, you can take megadoses of vitamin C. Vitamin C is water soluble and excess of which is easily discharged through sweat and urine.

To avoid sports anemia, especially to females who lose blood every month due to menstruation, the mineral iron should be part of an athlete's list of sports nutrition supplements. Iron, in blood, is responsible for carrying clean oxygen to healthy body cells and removing carbon dioxide from them.

Athletes who have sports anemia have low hemoglobin level. You can easily spot an anemic athlete: he is always exhausted and seems to be in fatigue.

Taking iron supplements should be done with caution. There is such a thing as iron overdose. Consult your physician first before you take iron as part of your sports nutrition supplement.

Sports Nutrition Supplements: Proteins and Carbohydrates

Protein and carbohydrate are two of the most important sports nutrition supplements. Protein help the muscle grow and gain strength while carbohydrates fuel the body for long hours of exercise ahead.

Although an athlete can get protein and carbohydrates through his daily diet, he can get the large amount he needs by drinking protein shakes or eating a protein bar. There are also carbohydrates supplements in powder and bar form.

These sports nutrition supplements may be added to an athlete's daily meal. Powdered proteins and carbohydrates are delicious ingredients to a glassful of smoothies or fruit punch.

If you love to bake your own pastries, you can add a tablespoon of these delicious sports nutrition supplements to your flour mixture. A vanilla flavored powdered protein may work for you. It is considered as the best tasting flavor of a powdered protein.

These sports nutrition supplements are also good for people who are on the go. They are good meal replacements for those who want to lose weight or meal addition for those who want to gain weight.

Nonetheless, anyone who has decided to add these sports nutrition supplements in their daily diet, they should also make it a point to exercise regularly to synthesize and burn out those protein and carbohydrates in the body.

Sports Nutritional Supplements In The News


 Nutritional supplements for endurance sports - Examiner

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:31:00 GMT

The Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is just two weeks away and athletes are making final preparations for the big race. Nutrition is key to optimum performance. There are tons of supplements that are alleged to promote energy and assist with ...


 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission hires HFL Sport ... - Business First

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:24:00 GMT

... perform drug testing in Kentucky for other sports activities, the release said. It will test horse feed and human sport supplements for banned substances and will develop laboratory screening tests for human fitness and nutritional health ...


 Vitamins are a good source for better health - Norristown Times Herald

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:06:00 GMT

... there are several things you should consider such as your need for additional Calcium, to support bone density, just as men over 40 might want to start taking supplements ... Potatoes – Considered a ‘Nutritional All-star’ loaded with ...


 KHRC Approves Lab Services Contract - Standardbred Canada

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:05:00 GMT

... drug testing in Kentucky for a broader array of sports activities, including testing horse feed and human sport supplements for banned substances and developing laboratory screening tests for human fitness and human nutritional health. “


 MLBPA expands supplements list - Major League Baseball

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:08:00 GMT

The list has grown dramatically since being introduced as the "Non-Exclusive List of Potentially Contaminated Nutritional Supplements ... Players should take only supplements that are NSF-certified for sports. Tests on anything else will come back as ...