Abstract

Dietary supplementation (DS) is becoming common among athletes in developing countries. This study assessed the dietary supplement intake and associated awareness among athletes in the student community of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. In this cross-sectional study, 162 athletes representing “strength and power” based 18 types of sports completed a self-administered questionnaire which consisted of three sections: demographic characteristics, DS intake and anti-doping awareness. The prevalence of DS use was 38.3% (n=162) and there was a significant relationship between supplement intake and gender (p=0.001). The results showed that protein and creatine supplements are more likely to be used by the athletes (12.3%) than other supplements. The athletes in wrestling were the most common supplement users (14.5%) than the other types of sports. Only 28.4% of athletes were aware on anti-doping and 96.3% from them were preferred to acquire the information from anti-doping agency. The prevalence of dietary supplement use was moderate among athletes in the student community of University of Peradeniya and was significantly associated with gender. Moreover, the current study highlights the need of enhancing the awareness and basic knowledge related to anti-doping agents among the University athletes in the student community in Sri Lanka.

Key words: Anti-doping, Awareness, Dietary supplements, University athletes