Medications & Nutritional Supplements

Checking Medications

Prescriptions and over-the-counter medications should be checked against the Prohibited List. Athletes should also inform their doctors and other medical professionals of their obligations as high-performance Athletes and emphasise the fact that they are subject to the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code.

We recommend the use of Global Dro to check all medications. The Global Drug Reference Online (Global DRO) provides Athletes and Support Personnel with information about the prohibited status of specific medications based on the current World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Risks of Supplements

Extreme caution is recommended regarding supplement use. A number of positive tests have been attributed to the misuse of supplements, poor labelling or contamination of dietary supplements and there is no guarantee that a supplement is free from prohibited substances.

Risks of supplements include:

• Manufacturing standards, which are often less strict compared with medicines. These lower standards often lead to supplement contamination with an undeclared prohibited substance;
• Fake or low-quality products which may contain prohibited substances – and be harmful to health;
• Mislabelling of supplements with ingredients wrongly listed and prohibited substances not identified on the product label;
• False claims that a particular supplement is endorsed by Anti-Doping Organisations or that it is “safe for Athletes”. Remember, Anti-Doping Organisations do not certify supplements and the product label may contain misleading messaging.

All Athletes should do a risk-benefit assessment if they are considering the use supplements. The first step of such an assessment is to consider whether a “food-first” approach meets the Athlete’s needs. Whenever possible, such assessment should be done with a support of a certified nutritionist or other qualified professional who is familiar with the global and FIL anti-doping rules.

Checking your supplements

If, after careful consideration, an Athlete chooses to use supplements, they must take the necessary steps to minimise the risks associated with supplements. This includes:

• Thorough research on the type and dose of the supplement, preferably with the advice of a certified nutritionist or other qualified professional who is familiar with the global and FIL anti-doping rules.
• Selecting only those supplements that have been “batch-tested” by an independent company. Companies that batch-test supplements include Informed Sport, Certified for Sport or Kölner Liste.

Remember, no supplement is 100% risk-free but Athletes and Athlete Support Personnel can take certain steps to minimise these risks.

For more information, please refer to WADA Nutritional Supplements.