Attitudes towards and susceptibility to doping related to dietary supplements in Portuguese elite athletes

Summary
The current project has two purposes. First, we aim to characterize the usage of dietary supplements by Portuguese elite athletes and assess their susceptibility to doping related to these products. Then, we will evaluate attitudes towards doping in Portuguese elite athletes. The first part of the study will expose the prevalence of dietary supplement use during the previous six months, which dietary supplements athletes use, and the reasons why using supplements. In addition, we will ask who advises them to use dietary supplements, who sets the supplementation doses, and to whom they seek information on supplementation. Those athletes who report not using dietary supplements will be asked the reasons for not doing so. Furthermore, the questionnaire will include questions to ascertain whether: athletes are aware that dietary supplements may contain prohibited substances; athletes check whether the dietary supplements they use have been tested for the presence of prohibited substances; athletes have attended anti-doping education sessions; athletes are aware of any cases of doping related to dietary supplements. The second part of the study will be accomplished directly using a short version of the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale. Besides, both data from the assessment of dietary supplement use.

Results

This is an ongoing two-years research project whose results are expected to be presented in 2025.

Potential significance for Clean Sport

Overall, the findings of the current project will be insightful for preventing unintentional doping related to the use of dietary supplements and guide future educational programs on anti-doping.