Workshop 2
Session 3C/4C
14.30-18.00 |
Food supplements for patients with musculoskeletal conditions. Does supplementation improve outcome?
Loss of muscle function can lead to significant loss of independence and a poor quality of life. Depending on the underlying cause, there may or may not be nutritional interventions that can contribute to rehabilitation. It is clear that physical therapy alone, in the absence of appropriate nutrition, will be less effective than it could otherwise be. An adequate protein intake is essential for tissue repair and recovery after training and to allow adaptations to take place, but increasing the amount of protein in the diet will not help, unless the normal diet is inadequate. Athletes seeking to build and repair skeletal muscle make use of a wide variety of dietary supplements. Few of these, however, have been comprehensively evaluated for their effects on muscle function in athletes, and almost none of these has been evaluated in patients with musculoskeletal conditions. In most cases, the effects claimed are not supported by any studies of functional outcomes in human volunteers, though a few are supported by in vitro evidence or by in vivo biochemical measures. Among the supplements sold to athletes with the aim of promoting adaptation to training leading to improved performance are: Boron, Branched chain amino acids, Chromium, Chrysin, Colostrum, Creatine, Hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB), Ornithine alphaketoglutarate, Tribulus terrestris, Vanadium and Zinc. Of these, there is a reasonable amount of published evidence for an effect of creatine: there is some evidence, but not strongly supportive, for HMB, and little or no evidence for most of the others. |
