Educational Intervention Enhances High School Athletes’ Knowledge Of Safe Supplement Use Compared To A Control

Athletes are recommended to use third-party tested (TPT) supplements to limit doping risk, but practical knowledge about the use of TPT supplements is low in high school athletes. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate if the remote administration of a short nutritional supplement education program (with a ~ 2-hour workload) would contribute to increased applied knowledge among high school athletes, including where to find and order TPT supplements, familiarity with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations, and researching supplements before use. METHODS: A parallel-arm 2-week nutritional supplement education intervention, consisting of an education group (ED, n = 48) and a no-education group (NOED, n = 38) was performed at a private high school (Irvine, CA), employing a test-retest approach using a questionnaire to determine changes in practical knowledge outcomes at baseline, at the end of the data collection, as well as the positive change over time using Chi-square tests, with a one-sided P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Pre-intervention, no differences were observed between groups (14-17 years old, of which 39.5% female) for any of the knowledge questions (p ≥ 0.18). Post-intervention, ED was significantly more likely to indicate knowing where to order third-party tested supplements than NOED (62.5% vs. 28.9%, p < 0.01). Likewise, positive, but insignificant, trends were observed in knowing where to find TPT supplements (58% vs. 40%, p = 0.06) and familiarity with WADA (60% vs. 42%, p = 0.07) in ED compared to NOED. The percentage of students who reported doing research prior to taking a nutritional supplement increased in both groups (from 44% to 69% in ED and from 53% to 66% in NOED), and thus no between-group differences were observed post-education (p = 0.48). Importantly, positive changes over time in ED and NOED in reporting knowing where to find (28% vs. 13%, p = 0.039), and order (28% vs. 7%, p < 0.001) third-party tested supplements, as well as increased WADA familiarity (19% vs. 5%, p = 0.01) were significantly greater in ED vs. NOED, except for researching supplements (16% vs. 9%, p = 0.73). CONCLUSION: A virtual educational intervention may improve the practical safe supplement knowledge of high school athletes.