Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

  Background and Objective: A large number of athletes use nutritional supplement worldwide, and objective is to determine the prevalence and reasons for nutritional supplement use among athletes in body building gyms.

  Material and Methods : At first five gyms were randomly selected from the list of all 50 gym of Kerman city in 2012. A researcher-made questionnaire which its content validity was confirmed , was filled out by athletes. The tool consisted of 4 parts: baseline questions, some questions regarding use of nutritional supplements, their opinions and reasons for supplements use.

  Results: Out of 199 males enrolled in the study 48.7% were nutritional supplement user and the respective figure for female participants (n=86) was 4.6%. The most important reason for use was increment in exercise performance (77.3%) and fear of side effects was the most common reason for none-use. Nutritional supplement was more likely to be used by those with higher socioeconomic station (OR= 3.17), and those who engaged in bodybuilders (OR=2.57) and with exercise duration of more than two years (OR= 3.92).

  Conclusion : Regarding the relatively high prevalence of nutritional supplement use, sufficient and up-to-date supplement and nutritional education for athletes regarding their side effects and indications is warranted. 

  Key words: Nutritional supplement, Athlete, Body building gym, Prevalence .

  Funding: This study did not have any Supported.

  Conflict of interest : Non declared.

  Ethical approval : The Ethics Committee of Kerman University of Medical Sciences approved the study.

 How to cite this article : Nakhaee MR, Pakravan M . Prevalence and Reasons for Nutritional Supplement Use Among Athletes in Body Building Gyms, Kerman 2012 . J Rafsanjan Univ Med Sci 2014 12(11): 873-880. [Farsi]