Supplement use and nutritional habits in Norwegian elite athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine nutritional and supplemental habits among international alpine- and cross-country skiers and power sport athletes in Norway. Data from all the athletes of the National alpine skiing team (ALP; n = 33, 19 men and 14 women) and the National cross-country skiing team (CRO; n = 34, 17 men and 17 women) plus a mixed group of power sport athletes (POW: n = 33, all men) from the National teams of boxers, weightlifters and track and field athletes, were collected through a semi-structured interview during their annual medical examination. Twenty percent of all the athletes reported unsatisfactory nutritional habits (CRO 6%, ALP 27% and POW 27%; CRO vs. ALP/POW P < 0.05). Eight-four percent used one or more micronutrient supplement (ALP 70%, POW 88%, CRO 95%; ALP vs. CRO/POW P < 0.01). Power sport athletes had the most frequent use of supplemental creatine (45%), proteins/amino acids (30%), vitamins (88%) and minerals (82%), and CRO had the most frequent intake of iron (94%), vitamin C (88%) and fish oils (91%). Among ALP, only 7% of the female athletes supplemented iron regularly compared to 37% of male ALP (P < 0.05) Overall, male athletes supplemented mostly on a regular basis and female athletes more on an occasional basis. The results show that in spite of differences between sport groups, many elite athletes report unsatisfactory nutritional habits. Micronutrient supplementation was prevalent, but varied between both groups of sports and gender.