David Gee11.01.06
So how did we get here? When did an ever-growing array of beverages, bars, gels and supplements begin to take up so many aisles at trade shows-and the grocery store? When did stories of "sports enhancers" move from the pages of trade journals to the sports pages, and then on to the front page?
Probably around the time 69 million people in the U.S. began to qualify as obese, while paradoxically sports-related injuries to baby boomers trying to keep their youth surged by over 30%, with injury costs totaling over $20 billion.
The timing is also certainly consistent with the ability of an overall winner of the Tour de France to gain a lifetime of financial security with their cycling victory. Witness also the chance for a previously marginal major league baseball player to earn millions in one last contract following a single marginally successful season, or the mammoth offensive tackle in the NFL who has never seen the Pro Bowl-except on television like the rest of us-who still signs a mammoth deal worth $48 million.
Now throw in a societal shift in values where more people have a "do anything to succeed" and "if you're not cheating, you're not trying to win" mentality and there you have it.
As the stakes are raised, sports nutrition-be it for professional athletes or weekend warriors-is a big business that is getting bigger, according to Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), San Diego, CA. Its estimates call for 5-7% growth over the next eight years, putting sales from the present rate of around $4.8 billion this year to around the $6 billion mark in 2008 and $22.8 billion in 2013. Wow.
"The sports nutrition industry is no longer the domain of a few," said Steven Hefner, publisher of Kalorama Information, a division of Market-Research.com, a company that supplies independent market research for the life sciences. "Indeed, the ubiquity of sports drinks and energy bars in a wide variety of retail venues points out the mainstreaming of these products, as well as the significant changes the industry has experienced in the past and is facing in the future."
So what does Mr. Hefner see for the future? "Sports nutrition products will continue to move into the mass market. Gatorade, Red Bull and countless energy drinks have stolen cooler space from Coke and Pepsi, and dozens of flavors and functional varieties from PowerBar, Clif, and Balance Bar are overtaking M&M's and Snickers in the candy aisle. This shift gives fair warning to those companies that have not yet dipped a toe in the sports nutrition market: consumers are growing skeptical of the sugar-, fat-, and carbohydrate-laden brands that helped make the fortunes of some of these corporations."
Speaking of fortunes, it seems some are being made by beverage makers these days, including the specific category of sports beverages, which are consumed by 37% of American adults according to MarketResearch.com.
Front-runner PepsiCo has a 49% share of the market, driven by its $14-billion purchase of Gatorade's owner, Quaker Oats Co., in 2001 after Coca-Cola passed on the deal as too expensive.
"In a lot of stores you walk down the aisles and it's Gatorade, Gatorade, Gatorade, and then there's one little spot for Powerade," said Marc Inboden to Bloomberg News. Mr. Inboden is a money manager with Beese Fulmer & Pincoe Inc. in Canton, OH, which holds 70,000 shares of Coca-Cola.
Sales of non-soda drinks in the U.S. totaled $18 billion last year, with unit volume rising 14% according to New York-based Beverage Digest.
While this category's P & L statements help quench the thirst of shareholders, the drinks themselves are of course designed to provide effective rehydration, boost sports performance and aid muscle recovery. They often include electrolytes, carbohydrates and, increasingly, protein in the form of amino acids and peptides.
The paired power of carbohydrates and protein would seem perhaps to aid in muscle recovery during and after workouts, so combining them in sports drinks is certainly logical. However, a new study could cast some doubt on the efficacy of this one-two punch.
"Certain kinds of protein stimulate insulin release, which is important for muscle glycogen replacement following exercise," said Martin Gibala, lead author and associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Canada. "But ingesting protein during activity doesn't appear to have the same effect."
The research was recently published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and was funded by Gatorade. A 2004 independent study was also published in the journal though did find a protein-laced sports drink improves performance, and several competitors have added protein to their offerings of sports drinks.
"Protein is a very hot topic in the exercise science community," Mr. Gibala added. "We're seeing more and more evidence that protein has a place in recovery, but more studies need to be done to determine how."
In fact, there was a new study reported in the August 2006 issue of International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism measuring the effectiveness of three different beverages in rehydrating athletes.
The study, conducted at St. Cloud State University's Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, involved 13 endurance athletes who drank either a carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink (Gato-rade), a carbohydrate-electrolyte-protein sports drink (Accelerade) or water after losing 2.5% of their body weight through exercise-induced sweat loss.
The investigators found the carbohydrate-electrolyte-protein sports drink rehydrated athletes 15% better than the carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink and some 40% better than water.
Dr. John Ivy, Chairman of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Texas said of the study, "These results provide evidence of an additional but very important benefit from adding a small amount of protein to a sports drink. Previous studies have shown that a carbohydrate-protein sports drink, when compared to a conventional carbohydrate-only sports drink, improves endurance, reduces post-exercise muscle damage and even improves performance in a subsequent exercise bout. However, the primary purpose of drinking a sports drink during exercise is to replenish fluids. Adding protein improves this parameter as well."
DSM Food Specialties, Delft, The Netherlands, has also been studying the physiological value of protein as opposed to carbohydrates for some time.
The company is active worldwide in nutritional and pharmaceutical ingredients, and its sports nutrition experts feel the use of proteins stimulate the production of insulin, as was mentioned in a previous study, which they say in turn results in better utilization of glucose by the muscle cells.
However, their research found if complete proteins were used then it solved some of the stability and digestive issues associated with some proteins. Protein hydrolysates dissolve better in water, are more bioavailable and are easier to digest, but their bitter taste limits their use. Eventually DSM came up with a peptide it calls PeptoPro, which is based on natural milk protein. Due to its small size (chains of di-and tri-peptides), PeptoPro can be fully and rapidly absorbed by the body without adversely affecting the digestive system.
A recent study conducted at the Human Performance Laboratory at Virginia's James Madison University found cyclists who consumed beverages enriched with DSM's PeptoPro clocked faster times and had reduced muscle soreness post-activity, as compared with those drinking traditional carbohydrate-only sports drinks.
"As consumers increasingly value scientific evidence to support health claims, this study shows our commitment to demonstrating the effectiveness of PeptoPro and meeting those de-mands," stated Stefan Siebrecht, Pepto-Pro business development director.
DSM's PeptoPro is based on a milk protein, as is another popular supplement. Athletes looking for more protein are finding that whey protein suits their needs. Whey proteins are extracted from the liquid whey that is produced during the manufacture of cheese-a source rich in protein, vitamins and minerals.
CFM Whey Protein Isolate from Glanbia Nutritionals, Monroe, WI, is one of the most technologically advanced natural proteins available. It contains a high level of branch-chain amino acids, or BCAAs, and low or no lactose or fat.
In fact, whey protein contains the highest concentration of BCAAs available from any natural food protein source. Some evidence shows that the more BCAAs consumed, the better preserved muscle mass is during and after exercise. Whey is a rich source of other amino acids, too, including arginine and lysine, which may stimulate growth hormones and lead to an increase in muscle mass as well as a decline in body fat.
Perhaps no one in the world knows more about amino acid science than the researchers at the Japanese company Ajinomoto, the global food and amino acid powerhouse that controls 60% of the global amino acid market. Now athletes and fitness enthusiasts a-round the world are looking to Ajinomoto's sports medicine expertise for the most effective and beneficial amino acid ingredients and sports performance products like the Amino Vital line of sports supplements.
Amino Vital was developed to support long-term conditioning. Consisting of a combination of the five vital amino acids-BCAAs, plus arginine and glutamine-studies have shown that Amino Vital delivers nutrition to restore muscle fibers to their optimal state and helps muscles rebuild faster.
Amino acids are among the top five most popular sports supplements, according to NBJ. Some of the top sports nutrition supplements also contain ingredients like Asian ginseng, chromium, creatine, eleuthero, glucosamine, glutamine, L-carnitine and pyruvate.
There are some substances or sports enhancers you won't find on sports nutrition's top 10 list-pharmacologicals with names like THG, HGH, modafinal, as well as steroids and testosterone-and it seems like every day we're discovering just how popular and widespread their use is among certain groups of professional athletes.
Baseball players found synthetic human growth hormone, or HGH, helps to strengthen joints, build muscles while reducing fat, and also speed the repair of tissues following tough workouts or games. And even though it is banned by Major League Baseball and the U.S. and World Anti-Doping Agency, there's no reliable test for HGH because it is also produced naturally by the body. As a result, players hope they can dodge baseball's drug enforcers.
However, it remains to be seen how many can dodge side effects such as an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, liver and kidney damage, elevated blood sugar, hypertension, all the way to swelling that causes carpal tunnel syndrome in a person's hands.
Testosterone meanwhile is the apparent enhancer of choice for some track athletes and cyclists. Floyd Landis is still doing battle with the clinical laboratory that did his Stage 17 Tour de France blood test, claiming they failed to properly distinguish synthetic testosterone from the natural stuff found in abundance in the male body.
And two former Lance Armstrong cycling teammates-one anonymous-told The New York Times they took erythropoietin, or EPO, an artificial hormone that allows the blood to carry more oxygen, thus boosting en-durance, in the days leading up to the 1999 Tour de France, the first Armstrong won.
The most popular professional sports league of all, the NFL, is trying to figure out what to do with its drug policy in the wake of one player's assertion that hundreds of players in the league may be taking steroids or human growth hormone.
Although the prominence these stories are being given through our 24-hour news coverage may be new, the extraordinary measures and methods the athletes are attempting is not.
In the book Testosterone Dreams: Rejuvenation, Aph-rodisia, Doping, University of Texas professor John Hoberman writes that the history of modern doping began with the cycling craze of the 1890s. Here, for example, is a description of what went on during the six-day races that lasted from Monday morning to Saturday night.
"The riders' black coffee was 'boosted' with extra caffeine and peppermint, and as the race progressed the mixture was spiked with increasing doses of cocaine and strychnine. Brandy was also frequently added to cups of tea. Following the sprint sequences of the race, nitroglycerine capsules were often given to the cyclists to ease breathing difficulties. The individual six-day races were eventually replaced by two-man races, but the doping continued unabated."
Mr. Hoberman doesn't place any particular blame on the athletes' themselves, past or present, but rather on a seemingly insatiable public demand for what he calls otherwise "inhuman performances."
David Callahan authored the book The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead. It portrays a culture where the end justifies the means.
"Today's inequality means bigger paychecks for winners and less security for everyone else. American values have changed since the 1970s. We have become more selfish, more focused on money, and more cutthroat. Cheating takes on a life of its own. People cheat because 'everybody does.' We need to create a new social contract in America that fosters a sense of trust and fairness across U.S. society."
Mr. Callahan calls for a strengthening of the agencies that enforce the rules of fair play, be it with the government or the governing bodies of sport.
Realistically, though, most people won't ever be tempted to stick themselves with a syringe containing human growth hormone or take testosterone. Nonetheless, are some of us in the dietary supplement, functional food and nutritional beverage industries guilty of "cheating" in a slightly different way? Say perhaps by skewing a piece of science for marketing purposes?
Dr. Louis Scarmoutzos is a managing partner and founder of MVS Solutions, a research and development company that provides scientific, technical and business assistance in the biotech, chemistry, life sciences, and medical device industries. He said this to NBJ about the battle between science and marketing in the dietary supplement industry.
"There is always an ongoing conflict between science and marketing, particularly in the private sector. Every company (and product) is trying to gain an edge, an advantage, particularly in the fiercely competitive sports and weight loss segment. In gaining an edge, scientific results and claims often get exaggerated or misinterpreted. This occurs consciously or unconsciously, first by one company or entity, and then not to be left out, by another. Soon the results of the original research study are often forgotten or are wholly misinterpreted. The pressures on businesses for new products and additional profits are enormous. And sometimes the line gets crossed."
Those pressures might be mitigated somewhat if the research process could be accelerated, and some action has been taken on this front. In fact, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) committed more than $2 billion dollars in 2003 to speed discoveries from "bench to bedside to practice" through the year 2009.
Sports supplement certification might also help, such as the type of program the non-profit, non-governmental international public health and safety company NSF International, Ann Arbor, MI, has created.
To meet the growing demands of athletes, coaches and all those concerned about banned substances in sports supplements, NSF developed an athletic banned substances certification program. The NSF Certified for Sport program minimizes the risk that a dietary supplement or sports nutrition product contains a substance banned by one of the major sports organizations.
NSF tests and certifies that these products contain the identity and quantity of dietary ingredients declared on the product label, but do not contain unacceptable quantities of unwanted contaminants for the recommended serving size listed on the product label.
Making sports nutrition a licensed profession as suggested in a paper titled "Sports Nutrition: What The Future May Bring" by Douglas Kalman of Miami Research and Bill Campbell of Baylor University could also lead to a higher standard in the field.
We end with some broad product trends for the field of sports nutrition as seen by MarketResearch.com. Its experts say the industry will continue to work to overcome the hardcore sports image, that convenience and flavor will attract more consumers, the drinks segment will continue to grow, low-carb diets will lead shoppers to high-protein products, younger consumers will be open to experimentation with the products they eat and drink, the aging population will strive to stay active longer, more women will seek specialized products, and the Hispanic market will grow significantly.
Yes, there have been lots of changes in the sports nutrition field and many more are ahead. But with change comes opportunity. And as you pursue it, remember the words of computer scientist Alan Kay who said in 1971, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."NW
About the author: David Gee is a writer and public relations consultant based in Minneapolis, MN. He has put together dozens of health and nutrition stories as a television news reporter and anchor in the Mpls.-St.Paul market. He also worked in the news bureau at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He can be reached at dgee@mn.rr.com.
Probably around the time 69 million people in the U.S. began to qualify as obese, while paradoxically sports-related injuries to baby boomers trying to keep their youth surged by over 30%, with injury costs totaling over $20 billion.
The timing is also certainly consistent with the ability of an overall winner of the Tour de France to gain a lifetime of financial security with their cycling victory. Witness also the chance for a previously marginal major league baseball player to earn millions in one last contract following a single marginally successful season, or the mammoth offensive tackle in the NFL who has never seen the Pro Bowl-except on television like the rest of us-who still signs a mammoth deal worth $48 million.
Now throw in a societal shift in values where more people have a "do anything to succeed" and "if you're not cheating, you're not trying to win" mentality and there you have it.
Big and Getting Bigger
As the stakes are raised, sports nutrition-be it for professional athletes or weekend warriors-is a big business that is getting bigger, according to Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), San Diego, CA. Its estimates call for 5-7% growth over the next eight years, putting sales from the present rate of around $4.8 billion this year to around the $6 billion mark in 2008 and $22.8 billion in 2013. Wow.
"The sports nutrition industry is no longer the domain of a few," said Steven Hefner, publisher of Kalorama Information, a division of Market-Research.com, a company that supplies independent market research for the life sciences. "Indeed, the ubiquity of sports drinks and energy bars in a wide variety of retail venues points out the mainstreaming of these products, as well as the significant changes the industry has experienced in the past and is facing in the future."
So what does Mr. Hefner see for the future? "Sports nutrition products will continue to move into the mass market. Gatorade, Red Bull and countless energy drinks have stolen cooler space from Coke and Pepsi, and dozens of flavors and functional varieties from PowerBar, Clif, and Balance Bar are overtaking M&M's and Snickers in the candy aisle. This shift gives fair warning to those companies that have not yet dipped a toe in the sports nutrition market: consumers are growing skeptical of the sugar-, fat-, and carbohydrate-laden brands that helped make the fortunes of some of these corporations."
Speaking of fortunes, it seems some are being made by beverage makers these days, including the specific category of sports beverages, which are consumed by 37% of American adults according to MarketResearch.com.
Front-runner PepsiCo has a 49% share of the market, driven by its $14-billion purchase of Gatorade's owner, Quaker Oats Co., in 2001 after Coca-Cola passed on the deal as too expensive.
"In a lot of stores you walk down the aisles and it's Gatorade, Gatorade, Gatorade, and then there's one little spot for Powerade," said Marc Inboden to Bloomberg News. Mr. Inboden is a money manager with Beese Fulmer & Pincoe Inc. in Canton, OH, which holds 70,000 shares of Coca-Cola.
Sales of non-soda drinks in the U.S. totaled $18 billion last year, with unit volume rising 14% according to New York-based Beverage Digest.
While this category's P & L statements help quench the thirst of shareholders, the drinks themselves are of course designed to provide effective rehydration, boost sports performance and aid muscle recovery. They often include electrolytes, carbohydrates and, increasingly, protein in the form of amino acids and peptides.
The 'One-Two Punch' of Carbohydrates and Protein
The paired power of carbohydrates and protein would seem perhaps to aid in muscle recovery during and after workouts, so combining them in sports drinks is certainly logical. However, a new study could cast some doubt on the efficacy of this one-two punch.
"Certain kinds of protein stimulate insulin release, which is important for muscle glycogen replacement following exercise," said Martin Gibala, lead author and associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Canada. "But ingesting protein during activity doesn't appear to have the same effect."
The research was recently published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and was funded by Gatorade. A 2004 independent study was also published in the journal though did find a protein-laced sports drink improves performance, and several competitors have added protein to their offerings of sports drinks.
"Protein is a very hot topic in the exercise science community," Mr. Gibala added. "We're seeing more and more evidence that protein has a place in recovery, but more studies need to be done to determine how."
In fact, there was a new study reported in the August 2006 issue of International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism measuring the effectiveness of three different beverages in rehydrating athletes.
The study, conducted at St. Cloud State University's Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, involved 13 endurance athletes who drank either a carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink (Gato-rade), a carbohydrate-electrolyte-protein sports drink (Accelerade) or water after losing 2.5% of their body weight through exercise-induced sweat loss.
The investigators found the carbohydrate-electrolyte-protein sports drink rehydrated athletes 15% better than the carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink and some 40% better than water.
Dr. John Ivy, Chairman of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Texas said of the study, "These results provide evidence of an additional but very important benefit from adding a small amount of protein to a sports drink. Previous studies have shown that a carbohydrate-protein sports drink, when compared to a conventional carbohydrate-only sports drink, improves endurance, reduces post-exercise muscle damage and even improves performance in a subsequent exercise bout. However, the primary purpose of drinking a sports drink during exercise is to replenish fluids. Adding protein improves this parameter as well."
DSM Food Specialties, Delft, The Netherlands, has also been studying the physiological value of protein as opposed to carbohydrates for some time.
The company is active worldwide in nutritional and pharmaceutical ingredients, and its sports nutrition experts feel the use of proteins stimulate the production of insulin, as was mentioned in a previous study, which they say in turn results in better utilization of glucose by the muscle cells.
However, their research found if complete proteins were used then it solved some of the stability and digestive issues associated with some proteins. Protein hydrolysates dissolve better in water, are more bioavailable and are easier to digest, but their bitter taste limits their use. Eventually DSM came up with a peptide it calls PeptoPro, which is based on natural milk protein. Due to its small size (chains of di-and tri-peptides), PeptoPro can be fully and rapidly absorbed by the body without adversely affecting the digestive system.
A recent study conducted at the Human Performance Laboratory at Virginia's James Madison University found cyclists who consumed beverages enriched with DSM's PeptoPro clocked faster times and had reduced muscle soreness post-activity, as compared with those drinking traditional carbohydrate-only sports drinks.
"As consumers increasingly value scientific evidence to support health claims, this study shows our commitment to demonstrating the effectiveness of PeptoPro and meeting those de-mands," stated Stefan Siebrecht, Pepto-Pro business development director.
DSM's PeptoPro is based on a milk protein, as is another popular supplement. Athletes looking for more protein are finding that whey protein suits their needs. Whey proteins are extracted from the liquid whey that is produced during the manufacture of cheese-a source rich in protein, vitamins and minerals.
Amino Acids: Still Popular?
CFM Whey Protein Isolate from Glanbia Nutritionals, Monroe, WI, is one of the most technologically advanced natural proteins available. It contains a high level of branch-chain amino acids, or BCAAs, and low or no lactose or fat.
In fact, whey protein contains the highest concentration of BCAAs available from any natural food protein source. Some evidence shows that the more BCAAs consumed, the better preserved muscle mass is during and after exercise. Whey is a rich source of other amino acids, too, including arginine and lysine, which may stimulate growth hormones and lead to an increase in muscle mass as well as a decline in body fat.
Perhaps no one in the world knows more about amino acid science than the researchers at the Japanese company Ajinomoto, the global food and amino acid powerhouse that controls 60% of the global amino acid market. Now athletes and fitness enthusiasts a-round the world are looking to Ajinomoto's sports medicine expertise for the most effective and beneficial amino acid ingredients and sports performance products like the Amino Vital line of sports supplements.
Amino Vital was developed to support long-term conditioning. Consisting of a combination of the five vital amino acids-BCAAs, plus arginine and glutamine-studies have shown that Amino Vital delivers nutrition to restore muscle fibers to their optimal state and helps muscles rebuild faster.
Amino acids are among the top five most popular sports supplements, according to NBJ. Some of the top sports nutrition supplements also contain ingredients like Asian ginseng, chromium, creatine, eleuthero, glucosamine, glutamine, L-carnitine and pyruvate.
Contending with Controversy
There are some substances or sports enhancers you won't find on sports nutrition's top 10 list-pharmacologicals with names like THG, HGH, modafinal, as well as steroids and testosterone-and it seems like every day we're discovering just how popular and widespread their use is among certain groups of professional athletes.
Baseball players found synthetic human growth hormone, or HGH, helps to strengthen joints, build muscles while reducing fat, and also speed the repair of tissues following tough workouts or games. And even though it is banned by Major League Baseball and the U.S. and World Anti-Doping Agency, there's no reliable test for HGH because it is also produced naturally by the body. As a result, players hope they can dodge baseball's drug enforcers.
However, it remains to be seen how many can dodge side effects such as an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, liver and kidney damage, elevated blood sugar, hypertension, all the way to swelling that causes carpal tunnel syndrome in a person's hands.
Testosterone meanwhile is the apparent enhancer of choice for some track athletes and cyclists. Floyd Landis is still doing battle with the clinical laboratory that did his Stage 17 Tour de France blood test, claiming they failed to properly distinguish synthetic testosterone from the natural stuff found in abundance in the male body.
And two former Lance Armstrong cycling teammates-one anonymous-told The New York Times they took erythropoietin, or EPO, an artificial hormone that allows the blood to carry more oxygen, thus boosting en-durance, in the days leading up to the 1999 Tour de France, the first Armstrong won.
The most popular professional sports league of all, the NFL, is trying to figure out what to do with its drug policy in the wake of one player's assertion that hundreds of players in the league may be taking steroids or human growth hormone.
Although the prominence these stories are being given through our 24-hour news coverage may be new, the extraordinary measures and methods the athletes are attempting is not.
In the book Testosterone Dreams: Rejuvenation, Aph-rodisia, Doping, University of Texas professor John Hoberman writes that the history of modern doping began with the cycling craze of the 1890s. Here, for example, is a description of what went on during the six-day races that lasted from Monday morning to Saturday night.
"The riders' black coffee was 'boosted' with extra caffeine and peppermint, and as the race progressed the mixture was spiked with increasing doses of cocaine and strychnine. Brandy was also frequently added to cups of tea. Following the sprint sequences of the race, nitroglycerine capsules were often given to the cyclists to ease breathing difficulties. The individual six-day races were eventually replaced by two-man races, but the doping continued unabated."
Mr. Hoberman doesn't place any particular blame on the athletes' themselves, past or present, but rather on a seemingly insatiable public demand for what he calls otherwise "inhuman performances."
David Callahan authored the book The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead. It portrays a culture where the end justifies the means.
"Today's inequality means bigger paychecks for winners and less security for everyone else. American values have changed since the 1970s. We have become more selfish, more focused on money, and more cutthroat. Cheating takes on a life of its own. People cheat because 'everybody does.' We need to create a new social contract in America that fosters a sense of trust and fairness across U.S. society."
Mr. Callahan calls for a strengthening of the agencies that enforce the rules of fair play, be it with the government or the governing bodies of sport.
Realistically, though, most people won't ever be tempted to stick themselves with a syringe containing human growth hormone or take testosterone. Nonetheless, are some of us in the dietary supplement, functional food and nutritional beverage industries guilty of "cheating" in a slightly different way? Say perhaps by skewing a piece of science for marketing purposes?
Dr. Louis Scarmoutzos is a managing partner and founder of MVS Solutions, a research and development company that provides scientific, technical and business assistance in the biotech, chemistry, life sciences, and medical device industries. He said this to NBJ about the battle between science and marketing in the dietary supplement industry.
"There is always an ongoing conflict between science and marketing, particularly in the private sector. Every company (and product) is trying to gain an edge, an advantage, particularly in the fiercely competitive sports and weight loss segment. In gaining an edge, scientific results and claims often get exaggerated or misinterpreted. This occurs consciously or unconsciously, first by one company or entity, and then not to be left out, by another. Soon the results of the original research study are often forgotten or are wholly misinterpreted. The pressures on businesses for new products and additional profits are enormous. And sometimes the line gets crossed."
Those pressures might be mitigated somewhat if the research process could be accelerated, and some action has been taken on this front. In fact, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) committed more than $2 billion dollars in 2003 to speed discoveries from "bench to bedside to practice" through the year 2009.
Sports supplement certification might also help, such as the type of program the non-profit, non-governmental international public health and safety company NSF International, Ann Arbor, MI, has created.
To meet the growing demands of athletes, coaches and all those concerned about banned substances in sports supplements, NSF developed an athletic banned substances certification program. The NSF Certified for Sport program minimizes the risk that a dietary supplement or sports nutrition product contains a substance banned by one of the major sports organizations.
NSF tests and certifies that these products contain the identity and quantity of dietary ingredients declared on the product label, but do not contain unacceptable quantities of unwanted contaminants for the recommended serving size listed on the product label.
Making sports nutrition a licensed profession as suggested in a paper titled "Sports Nutrition: What The Future May Bring" by Douglas Kalman of Miami Research and Bill Campbell of Baylor University could also lead to a higher standard in the field.
Finally
We end with some broad product trends for the field of sports nutrition as seen by MarketResearch.com. Its experts say the industry will continue to work to overcome the hardcore sports image, that convenience and flavor will attract more consumers, the drinks segment will continue to grow, low-carb diets will lead shoppers to high-protein products, younger consumers will be open to experimentation with the products they eat and drink, the aging population will strive to stay active longer, more women will seek specialized products, and the Hispanic market will grow significantly.
Yes, there have been lots of changes in the sports nutrition field and many more are ahead. But with change comes opportunity. And as you pursue it, remember the words of computer scientist Alan Kay who said in 1971, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."NW
About the author: David Gee is a writer and public relations consultant based in Minneapolis, MN. He has put together dozens of health and nutrition stories as a television news reporter and anchor in the Mpls.-St.Paul market. He also worked in the news bureau at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He can be reached at dgee@mn.rr.com.
