Athletics Australia – News – Supplements Policy

Athletics Australia has approved a new Supplements Policy developed by its Integrity Unit based on the three principles of athlete health and safety, evidence-based science and compliance with the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) Code.

The new policy is part of a stronger focus by the sport of athletics on the area of Ethics and Integrity which has seen Athletics Australia’s new Ethics and Integrity Unit established in 2013, a dedicated Integrity Unit Education Officer appointed and staff and athletes required to undergo e-learning modules through ASADA. 

The Supplements Policy notes that sport supplementation is not required by every high-performance athlete and is certainly not required by the vast majority of recreational athletes.    

“Our new Supplements Policy is aimed at both ensuring the wellbeing of our athletes as well as providing clear guidance around the contentious issue of supplement usage so as to allow athletes to fully comply with the WADA Code,” said Athletics Australia CEO and Chair of the Ethics and Integrity Unit Dallas O’Brien. 

“This is an important step for Athletics Australia as we look to provide clear and unambiguous direction for our athletes and coaches around the use of supplements,” O’Brien added.

Dr. Adam Castricum, the Chief Medical Officer for Athletics Australia and a member of the Ethics and Integrity Unit, said Athletics Australia believes a stronger stance on supplementation is important as there are now widespread concerns about the availability of supplies which can be guaranteed as being uncontaminated. 

“The formation of this policy has been guided by the AIS Nutritional Supplement classification system which is based on the current scientific evidence base,” said Dr. Castricum. 

“The reality is that claims of specific health and performance benefits made around the use of supplements are simply not supported by scientific evidence regarding efficacy or patient safety.

“The circumstances under which an athlete with a proper balanced diet and recovery program actually needs to take a supplement are rare,” Dr. Castricum said.  “The policy recommends that the use of supplements should only take place on the advice of appropriately accredited and qualified medical professionals.  Further to this, athletes under the age of 18 are discouraged from using any performance enhancing supplements, even ‘Group A’ supplements such as caffeine, creatine and bicarbonate. It is important that athletes understand that good nutrition for performance has a ‘food first’ foundation and high performance is not reliant on supplement use. 

“Our policy is about advice, guidance and education,” Dr. Castricum added.  “Apart from breaches of the WADA Code it does not include punitive provisions. In other words we are not imposing a blanket ban on our athletes on supplement use – it is impractical to do so. But there is a better way which is easy to implement – we are advising and asking athletes to place a ban on themselves or bear the consequences both in terms of personal health and safety and compliance with the rules of the sport.”

 

Under the Policy athletes are advised not to take a supplement if: 

 

– the supplement or substance cannot be found on the ASADA “Know your substance” website (https://checksubstances.asada.gov.au/); or

– after a match on the website, it is revealed that it is prohibited in sport

– it has been sourced from overseas, or

– it has been sourced from the internet

If in any doubt, the policy advises that an athlete must adopt a “no supplement” policy.

Click here to read the full policy on the Athletics Australia website.

 

Athletics Australia – News