ABSTRACT
The prevalence of consumption of dietary supplements among athletes has been studied extensively. However, there was no study that gathers and discusses, in a systematic way, the factors that can trigger the consumption of supplements among athletes. The objective was to describe the prevalence and characteristics of consumption, and understand which factors are associated with the use of dietary supplements in this specific population. We conducted a literature search in the following databases: PubMed, Lilacs and Scielo. Google Scholar has been consulted to identify additional material. We included studies that investigated the prevalence of dietary supplements among athletes, associated factors, irrespective of age and in both sexes. Of the 374 studies identified, seventeen articles were included in this review. All studies used cross-sectional design and the most widely data collection tool used was a self-administered questionnaire. The prevalence of supplements ranged from 37.5% to 98%. Athletes have consumed more vitamins seeking information with their coaches aiming to improve the general health. "Individual sport practice" and "high volume training" were identified as the factors associated with the use of dietary supplements. Based on the revised data, a wide range of variation in the use of supplements by the athletes was observed. Athletes have consumed more vitamins and sought more information from their coaches, in order to improve their health. This review also highlights the need for high-quality research on the correlates of supplement intake in athletes, since the data were inconsistent to many factors reported by the studies.
Keywords:
dietary supplements; prevalence; recommended dietary allowances
