Utilization of Nutritional Supplements among Triathletes in Taiwan

Triathlon competitions are rapidly growing around the world, but there is a lack of information regarding the intake of nutritional supplements by triathletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of nutritional supplements, information sources and reasons to intake the supplement by players. Survey data were collected from 233 triathletes (157 Sprint, 57 Olympic and 19 Elite), who participated in 2013 Ilan Plum Blossom Lake Triathlon Competition. Our data showed that 35.2% of the participants having more than NT$ 50,000 income per month. Among the different types of supplements, sport drink was the most commonly consumed nutritional supplements. The rate of energy bar consumed by elites was lower than that in Sprint or rest of the groups during competition. The consumption of powder and capsules in Sprint was lower compared to the other groups. The major reasons for nutritional supplements intake were to provide the enough nutrition, reduce fatigue and improve performance. Elite group had higher demand rate of increasing energy and less fatigue compared to other groups. Sprint group had lower demand rate of performance improvement, training effect improvement and increasing immune function compared to other groups. The information sources for nutritional supplements intake were mainly from friends (57.9%), advertisement (31.3%), coach/trainer (26.2%) and peer (24.9%) for all athletes. In particular to groups, 78.9% from coach/trainer in elite group; and 56.1% and 66.7% from friends in Sprint and Olympic groups respectively. These results provide information for triathletes-related practitioners and nutritional supplement supplier.