Collegiate Student-Athletes' Use and Knowledge of Third-Party-Tested Nutritional Supplements: An Exploratory Study

Nutritional supplement use in athletes is common, accompanied by potential doping risk.

To determine athletes' nutritional supplement and third-party-tested (TPT) supplement use, supplement knowledge, and factors influencing their behavior.

Cross-sectional study.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I athletic departments.

Student-athletes (n = 410, 53% female, age = 21.4 ± 1.6 years).

Survey questions addressed topics including nutritional supplement knowledge and use, TPT supplement knowledge and use, and logo recognition, and data were stratified for sex differences.

Athletes (91%) reported the use of supplements, but the total number of supplements used was lower in female (median = 7; interquartile range, 4-11) than in male (median = 9; interquartile range, 4-12) athletes, with U = 17 960 and P = .01. A total of 48% (n = 191, out of 402 responses) reported purchasing supplements outside of their athletic department, with significantly fewer female (40%, n = 84) than male (56%, n = 107) athletes reporting this behavior (χ2 = 11.20, P < .001). No association between TPT logo recognition and TPT use was seen (χ2 = 0.238, P = .63). Of all athletes using supplements, 38% (n = 140) reported "consistent TPT use," whereas female athletes (36%, n = 70) reported this less often than male athletes (41%, n = 70, χ2 = 0.952, P < .32). No sex differences were seen for receiving nutritional counseling (89%, P = .37) or low nutritional supplement knowledge (<50%, P = .38); however, males had 2.5 times greater odds at recognizing a TPT organization logo than females (odds ratio = 2.45; 95% CI, 1.58-3.79).

Most athletes use nutritional supplements. Female athletes report slightly fewer supplements than male athletes, while also less frequently purchasing them outside their athletic department, potentially explaining the lower TPT logo recognition in female athletes.