Supplements: help, harm, or hype? How to approach athletes

Supplement use by athletes presents many challenges to health care professionals. We need to respect the athlete's desire to optimize performance and balance this with the need to protect the athlete's health. Supplements are available so readily and hold significant appeal because of the promise of quick results with little effort. Because we work with athletes who may have underlying health issues that could be compromised by misdirected supplement use, we need to ask the questions: what do you take, how much, and how often. Why must we do this? Our goal is to help our athletes strive, thrive, and stay alive.