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It is considered that more than one in every two athletes is a consumer of the supplements that fill health food outlets, sports magazines and specialized sports shops. Such supplements can be divided into two categories: sports supplements are nutritional ergogenic aids. Sports supplements have been described as products that allow an athlete to achieve known nutritional goals, and in addition to micronutrient supplements that are part of a prescribed dietary plan, this category includes products such as sports drinks, sports bars and liquid meal supplements. These latter products have been specially manufactured to help an athlete meet known specific needs for fluid and carbohydrate, or generalized energy and nutrients, in situations where normal foods are not practical. This is particularly relevant to intake immediately before, during or after exercise.

These supplements can be shown to improve performance directly or indirectly by allowing the athlete to achieve their sports nutrition goals. However, since it is the use of the product rather than the product itself achieves this effect, there is an important role for nutrition education of the athlete. The cost of these products is greater than that of normal food and must be balanced against the convenience that they provide. Meanwhile it is nutritional ergogenic aids, products that promote a direct and ‘supercharge’ benefit to sports performance, which best capture the imagination of many athletes. These products continually change in fashion, and include micronutrients in megadoses, free-form amino acids, ginseng, bee pollen, inosine and carnitine. In general, these supplements have been poorly tested, or have failed to live up to their claims when rigorous testing has been undertaken. Exceptions to this are creatine, caffeine and bicarbonate, each of which may enhance sports performance in certain athletes under specific conditions. However, the athlete should seek expert advice about these supplements to ensure that such conditions apply to their own situation, and that these ergogenic aids are used correctly. Meanwhile the remainder of these products are considered to offer only a placebo effect to athletes, which should be balanced against their considerable expense. In many cases the athlete would be better rewarded by directing their money and endeavour to a more credible area of sports performance, such as better equipment, improved training techniques, or advice about nutrition or psychological preparation.