Sport supplement consumption in children and adolescents competing in swimming in the Valencian Community

Authors

  • Natasja Nahar Faculty of Sport Sciences, Pablo de Olavide University, 41013 Seville, Spain.
  • Jesús García-Durán Faculty of Sport Sciences, Pablo de Olavide University, 41013 Seville, Spain.
  • José Antonio González-Jurado Research Center for Physical and Sports Performance, Pablo de Olavide University, 41013 Seville, Spain. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2222-6089
  • Antonio Jesús Sanchez-Oliver Department of Human Movement and Sports Performance, University of Seville, 41013 Seville, Spain. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9022-6043
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/sportk.633331
Keywords: Sports Supplements, Sports Nutrition, Young Athletes, Nutritional Education

Abstract

The consumption of sports supplements (SS) is on the rise, including among children and adolescents. The lack of studies on SS consumption habits in these age groups represents a significant gap. The aim of this study was to identify the pattern of SS consumption in children and adolescents competing in swimming, analyzing the different types of SS they use and assessing whether there are age-related differences. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 148 competitive swimmers from the Valencian Community (age: 12.6±2.7). To collect data for this study, a questionnaire was used consisting of three sections: personal and anthropometric data, information about sports practice, and aspects related to supplement consumption, including types, reasons, sources of advice, and places of purchase. A total of 66.9% of respondents reported using SS. The average number of SS consumed by the sample was 2.6. The main reason, place of purchase, and advisor selected by the sample were performance improvement (86.9%), specialized stores (62.6%), and coaches/trainers (74.7%), respectively. The three most consumed SS were sports bars (73.7%), sports drinks (69.7%), and multivitamins (36.4%). This knowledge is crucial for developing educational programs to prevent unnecessary and indiscriminate use of supplements.

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Published
10-12-2025
How to Cite
Nahar, N., García-Durán, J., González-Jurado, J. A., & Sanchez-Oliver, A. J. (2025). Sport supplement consumption in children and adolescents competing in swimming in the Valencian Community. SPORT TK-EuroAmerican Journal of Sport Sciences, 14, 141. https://doi.org/10.6018/sportk.633331
Issue
Vol. 14 (2025)
Section
Articles

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The works and papers that are published in this Journal are subject to the following terms:

1. The Publication Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) has the Publication Rights (Copyright) to the published papers and works, and favors and permits the reusing of the same under the license indicated in point 2.

© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2013

2. The papers and works are to be published in the digital edition of the Journal under the license Creative Commons Reconocimiento-No Comercial-Sin Obra Derivada 3.0 España (legal text). The copying, using, spreading, transmitting and publicly displaying of the papers, works or publication are permitted as long as: i) the authors and original sources (Journal, publisher and URL of the publication) are quoted; ii) it is not used for commercial benefit; iii) the existence and specifications of this users license are mentioned.

3. Conditions of Self-Archiving. It is permitted and encouraged that the authors spread electronically the pre-print (before printing) and/or post-print (the revised, evaluated and accepted) versions of their papers or works before their publication since this favors their circulation and early diffusion and therefore can help increase their citation and quotation, and also there reach through the academic community.