Informed Sport – Safeguarding Athletes from Inadvertent Doping
Have you got a fancy sports nutrition supplement on your Christmas list? Is it Informed Sport certified? Read this firstโฆ
Sports nutrition supplementation is a multi-billion pound industry with thousands of certified products available to athletes and the general public, designed to enhance sports performance, body composition, and health.
Supplements can have a place in sports nutrition to enhance performance, however, they should be used to ‘supplement’ a diet that may not fully meet nutritional requirements e.g. protein intake, and used for convenience e.g. after training.
The main issue with the use of sports supplements is their safety for athletes. Professional athletes are tested regularly by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to ensure they are free from any prohibited substances and are competing with the interest of clean sport participation.
โ44% of UK Anti-Doping positive tests in the 2012 testing year were caused by prohibited substances contained in supplementsโ
What is Informed Sport?
Informed Sport is a global testing and certification program for sports and nutritional supplements. Supplement products are tested by LGCโs world-class anti-doping laboratory for contamination against a broad range of banned substances in sport, using ISO 17025 accredited methods.
When you see the Informed Sport quality mark on a product, you can be assured that it has passed the most stringent sports supplements testing. They implement a step-by-step process to ensure the highest level of batch testing has taken place, before being accepted for certification.
Athletes are solely responsible for what goes into their bodies and if found to have a contaminated blood or urine sample, regardless of the intent, fault, negligence, or knowing use of taking it, will have committed an anti-doping rule violation.
Informed Sport programme is a quality assurance programme that certifies that every batch of a supplement product and/or raw material has been tested for banned substances by LGCโs world-class sports anti-doping laboratory. The products are labelled with Informed Sport certification.
What is informed choice?
Informed Choice is a voluntary quality assurance programme that purchases retail products (online & in-store) each month to blindly test a single batch for each product for impurities and banned substances. The programme targets those who lead an active lifestyle and are vigilant of what goes into their bodies but are not bound to the stringent doping guidelines of elite athletes. The products are labelled with Informed Choice certification logo.
Informed Sport and Webber Nutrition
At Webber Nutrition, we recognize the importance of athletes ensuring they are competing clean. As many as 40-70% of athletes across the world take a supplement of some kind (1), and a study in 2004 (2) showed that an average of 15% of supplements tested across 13 different countries were contaminated with substances prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Today, Informed Sport suggests that 1 in 10 supplements sold on the market are contaminated with some form of stimulant or steroid prohibited by WADA. Thatโs why we only recommend batch-tested supplements that have gone through such rigorous screening to minimize the risk of inadvertent doping.
Danny is also a performance nutritionist for Nutrition X (www.nutritionx.co.uk) which is one of the few companies to have their entire product range Informed Sport tested. Working with Danny entitles you to a 20% discount code for all Nutrition X products, which are widely used by elite athletes across many sports.
What are Informed Sports Approved Supplements in the UK?
Every batch of Informed Sport-certified supplements is tested prior to being sold, giving athletes extra protection against the risk of inadvertent doping. Each batch number is also available on the Informed Sport website and mobile app to help athletes to do their due diligence and ensure any product they are taking or are planning to take, has been batch tested.
Nutrition X is one of the leading brands in the UK and Ireland with every product being Informed Sport certified, making them a guaranteed choice for athletes to minimize any doping risk. If you’re a competitive athlete (at any level) or supporting an athlete:
ย Look at your diet FIRST – can you get it through food?ย Remember there is no ‘100% guarantee’ that a product does not contain ANY banned substanceย This includes ANY supplement (sports performance, health, weight loss/gain)ย Undertaken due diligence
1. Assess the need (i.e. is the gap in performance nutrition related?)
2. Assess the risk (is it batch-tested, or is it on Informed-Sport website?)
3. Assess the consequences (4yr ban, financial impact/loss of sponsors, damaged reputation, impact on friends and family)ย Consult a registered Sports Nutritionist (SENr)
References:
- Mathews NM. Prohibited Contaminants in Dietary Supplements. Sports Health. 2018 Jan/Feb;10(1):19-30. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5753965/
- Geyer H, Parr MK, Mareck U, Reinhart U, Schrader Y, Schรคnzer W. Analysis of non-hormonal nutritional supplements for anabolic-androgenic steroids – results of an international study. Int J Sports Med. 2004;25(2):124-129.
What is Informed Sport?
Informed Sport is a quality assurance programme that certifies that every batch of a supplement product and/or raw material has been tested for banned substances by LGCโs world-class sports anti-doping laboratory.
What does Informed Sport certified mean?
Informed Sport certification means the product or supplement is tested for banned substances for athletes. But, remember there is no 100% guarantee that a product does not contain any banned substance, so this significantly minimises any risk of consuming a prohibited substance through their supplements.
What are Informed Sport products that athletes use?
Nutrition X is one of the leading brands in the UK and Ireland with every product being Informed Sport certified. Healthspan Elite have also made Informed Sport a part of its existing quality assurance system to ensure all its products are Informed Sport certified. Bulk has a total of 9 Informed Sport certified products, including; protein, and multivitamins pre, post and intra-workout. PAS currently has 23 products which are Informed Sport certified. Holland and Barrets also sell a number of products certified by Informed Sport, but they also sell many non-tested supplements, so you need to look for the Informed Sport logo.
What is the difference between Informed Sport and Informed Choice?
The main difference between Informed Sport and Informed Choice is how frequently products are tested. Informed Sport tests every batch of product, for every flavour and variety, prior to distribution. Post distribution, regular blind testing is also conducted by purchasing retail products.
Alternatively, Informed Choice only blindly test product samples at random each month. This involves the purchasing of at least 1 batch of the retail product (in-store & online) for testing, so unlike Informed Sport not all batches are tested.
