Choosing a Safer Supplement

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In line with best global practice, to reduce the risk of consuming a contaminated supplement, athletes should only use supplements that are part of a certified Quality Assurance Program. These are sometimes also known as “Third-party certification programs".

 

Aspetar only recommends the use of products that are tested from a Sport Quality Assurance Program. Example of these certification programs are: Informed Sport, Informed Choice, BSCG, HASTA, NSF Certified Sport, Cologne List,Sport Protect.

However, these standards cannot guarantee 100% that a product will not contain prohibited substances.

It is possible that certain supplements can aid athlete performance and recovery from hard exercise. However, supplements are not regulated like medication in the pharmaceutical industry. Consequently, supplements have higher risks from unregulated claims on packaging, and substances which are prohibited that may not be listed on the product label. Consuming a product with a substance that is not listed on a label could lead to health issues as well as possible sanctions.

Third- party certification is a quality focused process that companies who manufacture supplements can sign up to at their own cost and put their products through. All certification programs are voluntary. They are run by external accredited labs with expertise in specific analysis and result interpretation, to assess the presence of selected prohibited substances in products.

Different accredited labs run different programs and have different detection thresholds related to a safe standard. These programs also differ in time points when ingredients or products are tested across manufacturing, and different frequencies on how often they test a final product batch.

So, it is important to know that not all the certified quality assurance programs are the same and they offer different levels of risk mitigation.

That is why it is important to use products that are tested by Quality Assurance Programs recommended by Aspetar.

No.

GMP certification is important because it confirms that a manufacturer has the necessary procedures in place to ensure product quality, traceability, and competence. However, it does not specifically address the presence of banned substances like steroids or prohibited stimulants. Additionally, GMP certification does not require testing for these substances at an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, as other Quality assurance Programs do. This means there is still a risk of accidental contamination in GMP-certified manufacturing facilities.

Evidence shows that 10-15 % of supplements sold globally and online may suffer from low levels of contamination. As many athletes take multiple supplements per day, the accumulative risk of crossing a doping threshold increases also.

Testing of supplements can occur in 3 main ways:

  1. In the actual manufacturing process
  2. From impurities within the ingredients
  3. Cross contamination between ingredients in the supply chain

Here are several third party certification programs that assess the quality and safety of dietary supplements. They are Informed Sports , Informed Choice,  NSF Certified for Sport, BSCG, Cologne list, Hasta Certified, Sport Protect.