What about Supplements?
Believe it or not, most reliable research does notjustify the need for extra single or combination
vitamin supplements except when the athlete is ina deficiency state (Dorfman, pg. 162). At first
you might feel like this leaves you in a position where you’re limited in giving sports nutrition
advice, but take another look at that sentence. It statesthat supplementsare not needed unless the
athlete is in a deficiency state. Most athletes that you speak with, unless you live in a very
holistically-aware community, will probably be laboring under false sportsnutrition beliefs.
Taking time to get a full nutritional profile fromthem will allow you better understand in what
ways their diets could be improved.
That said, let’s look at a few vitamins and minerals and see the role they play in athletic
nutrition.