The global market of sports nutrition is growing a steady pace. Sport supplements are used more an more by active sport people as espescially by more conserned athletes. However, there is one major trend that is interesting to note.
Sports supplements are used
by more and more people.
The greatest reason for market growth lately has been the activation of non-sporty consumers who necessarily are not interested in sports. Sports supplements products can be divided to four different groups athletes, bodybuilders, recreational users (who have sport as an hobby), and lastly the lifestyle users.
The lifestyle users are not necessarily very athletic, but they use sports nutrition products as an refreshing beverage, an energy boost, a healthy snach, and or as an building block to shift their lives towards a healthier lifestyle.
It is likely the sports nutrition market to develope in a direction with more targeted products. The future products will be even more specialized in one particular use and scientific methods are used in achieving this.
According to some sources the sports supplement market in the United States was around $3.2 billion and in western Europe $713.6 million.
Doug Barron, an American professional golf player, has tested positive for doping. He is the first golfer that is being temporarily banned for using performance enhancing substances.
Since the testing was started on July 2008 there has not been positive test results since now. Barron has been banned for one year for breaking the PGA anti-doping regulations. Barron has published an apology via PGA in which he tells he didn’t plan to get unfair gain from using prohibited substances. This year he has played only in one grand prix and in four national games.
PGA only gives out the information about found positive result but not the names of the substances that were used.
According to Jamaican Amateur Athletics Federation, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, and the International Amateur Athletics Federation five Jamaican athletes who were to be on the team for next month’s World Championships have tested positive for doping.
An Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport has named the give athletes. According to them they are Yohan Blake training partner of Bolt, 200m runner Marvin Anderson, 100m sprinter Sheri-Ann Brooks, and 400m runners Allodin Fothergill and Lanceford Spence.
At this points these are only speculation since no confimation is available. The substance the athletes were caught using is same for all five. According to Dr. Herb Elliott, a member of both the IAAF’s Medical and Anti-Doping Commission the substance was not any hard stuff. Now we can only wait and see what is revealed next!
Brawl Nutrition is an Atlanta based sports nutrition company that designs and sells their sport supplement products especially to Mixed Martial Artists.
“We are sick of watching bodybuilding supplement companies take their tired, ineffective product lines and market them to MMA fighters. Many of these supplements decrease flexibility and stamina which are critical to fighter’s performance.” tells Mr. Lusk, the CEO of Braw Nutrition.
He tells their whole product line is created specially for fighters. Besides their number one website that is marketing their supplement products, they have also launched two other websites that offer the possibility to request sponsorship with their products. The other website is for girls who would like to start promoting Brawl products.
By putting some muscle in their marketing Mr. Lusk believes their brand will become the strongest one in the still so young and vulnerable MMA scene… something that Gracie family in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
On 15th June Times Online published an article about body shaping, a dangerous new trend where people use anabolic steroids to get their body pumped up faster. The exact number of not known but the use has moved from professional athletes to ordinary people.
“Our best indication comes from syringe exchange schemes. We know that more people are engaging with them and that the profile is changing to people who are not competitive sportsmen. They’re doing it because of peer pressure, the media, and for some there’s an economic drive.
Some of the people interviewed for this story have a good job, don’t do any other drugs, and drink seldom. Still they do not care about the risks of anabolic steroids that give them a shortcut to have a muscular body. Since anabolic steroids are illegal the consumer can never be sure what it is in the bottle.
In London there is a service for people using anabolic androgenic steroids and other image and performance enhancing drugs. It provides information about safer injecting and needle exchange as well as information about the side effects of injecting drug use. The service - Smart Muscle - is fully free and confidential.
The problem with anabolic steroids is quite interesting since it is an illegal drug but the users do not belong to the same social group as most drug users. Most of them have jobs and do not commit other crimes. According to Dawson the current legislation regarding anabolic steroids is right, since it makes it clear that these substances should not be given to other people.
Sport drinks feel like a natural option to have after an exercise. However, it may not be the best choice if you want to optimize your recovery times.
The research made in the University of Texas has yielded some interesting result. According to the study a bowl of whole-grain cereal with milk helps body to recover faster than a regular sports beverage.
At the study total twelve cyclist were monitored during a typical workout. The goal of the study was to compare the effects of sports drinks and ordinary foods after exercise.
The result showed that glycogen - important source of energy in muscles - was produced as fast with cereals as with sport drink. Protein synthesis however was even better with milk and cereals than with sports drinks.
The research was supported by the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition and it was published in BioMed Central’s open-access Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
The Russian skier, sprint specialist Natalia Matvejeva has been caught using doping. The urine sample which Matvejeva gave in Whistler last January has been found to contain EPO hormone.
Erythropoietin (EPO) hormone increases the production and concentration of red blood cells and haemoglobin in the blood. This leads to increased aerobic endurance. Too high epo levels are a health risk and can lead to blood clotting, heart attack and stroke.
This year Natalia Matvejeva has placed second on the sprint competition in Düsseldorf. In the Whister she placed seventh. The Russia Ski Federation has placed her a temporary prohibition of competition until the B sample is analyzed on 24th March.
Three-time Olympian winner and two-time olympic medallist Simon Whitfield has started to promote the endurance sport supplement 7SYSTEMS.
The 7SYSTEMS endurance sport supplement is designed especially for people who are exercising intensively. Many normal vitamin products are made for people who do only little amounts of exercising, and the amounts in these multi-vitamin products may not be enough for people with extreme training habits.
The product contains vitamins and minerals and antioxidants combined with other supporting ingredients to maximize ones performance and recovery.
Earlier Canadian triathlonists Lauren Groves and Colin Jenkins have signed on with 7SYSTEMS.
It feels very self-evident that everyone of us is eating after a training session. However, sometimes little things like that can be as easily forgotten. At least in other fields of life it happens for me.
Scientific research has demonstrated that calories quickly after exertion is a way to optimize the recovery process. This increases the glycogen storage in muscles and reinforces the immune system.
A research has shown that this special opportunity to boost muscle recovery lasts two hours after the exercise. This means that a smart recovery plan includes drinking of fluids and at least 400 calories after training. The food should contain carbohydrates and protein in a ratio of 4 to 1.
So, remember to eat something after a workout and you will be recovering faster, and be ready to train again sooner!
Some sport bars and gels are specifically designed for this, but you’ll find appropriate snacks among normal foods as well.
If you like to train hard you may face a situation where your joints don’t seem to keep up with the stress you’re putting on them. This may be especially when making changes in your diet, and you don’t get enough of the minerals needed to maintain healthy joints in extreme conditions.
I was changing my diet due to health reasons. After about a half year or so I started to notice my knees and wrists were becoming easily sore, and my other joints didn’t feel so good either. I was pretty ignorant about what it comes to supplements and joint problems.
As a quite rational person, I thought there are a lot of different joint supplement product in the market with poor effects, and I weren’t wrong. I looked information from different sources and found out that ginger is used on most of the joint products. The products are usually marketed for either elder people or athletes.
I started to use a product which had mostly ginger and galangal root extracts in it. After a couple of weeks I felt the effects and I was really happy with them! The little feeling was still there but it felt like my knees were recovering must more faster than normal.
There are many reasons for sore joints. If you don’t find the reason this among the normal things (for example bad jogging shoes!) you can try if special joint supplements could help you. For me it did. However, it would be best to try to get all the needed minerals from normal food.