Survey on the Use of Supplements among
College Athletes

March 2013
(FY2012)
Copyright©JAPAN Anti-Doping Agency | All Rights Reserved

Table of contents
1． Outline of the survey ........................................................................................
1.1 Objectives of the survey ....................................................................................
1.2 Contents of the survey .................................................................................... 1
1.2.1 Questionnaire survey on the actual status of college athlete’s consumption of
supplements ................................................................................... 1
1.3 Survey period and collection results .................................................................. 2
2． Summary of the results .................................................................................. 4
2.1 Living environment and dietary life of college athlete .......................................... 4
2.2 The status of supplement consumption ............................................................. 5
2.3 Analysis on High-level college athlete’s consumption of supplements .................... 7
3． Survey results ..................................................................................................
3.1 Attribution of respondents .................................................................................
3.1.1 By sex ..............................................................................................
3.1.2 Grade ...............................................................................................
3.1.3 Sporting event ..................................................................................
3.1.4 Competition level ...............................................................................
3.2 Grasping of actual status on the consumption of supplements by university students
3.2.1 Living environment and dietary life living environment and dietary life .....
3.2.2 Status of the consumption of supplements ............................................
3.2.3 Relationship between supplement and prohibited substance ....................
3.3 Detalied analysis on the use of supplements by high-level college athlete................
3.3.1 Characteristics of college athlete’s ingestion of supplements ...................
3.3.2 Supplement use and living environment and dietary habit ......................
3.3.3 Extract of factors to be noted ..............................................................
3.3.4 Status of using supplements for the purpose of “enhancement of competition
ability” .............................................................................................
4． Implications for future education and awareness raising
4.1 Establishment of education goals based on the actual status ..................................
4.2 Points to be noted for education and awareness raising activities............................
5． Reference .........................................................................................................
5.1 Questionnaire sheet ..........................................................................................
5.2 Calculation by type of sport and position (only for athletic club (strong universityteam) .............................................................................................................
5.2.1 Frequency of consuming supplements over the last one years
5.2.2 Reasons for consuming supplementsIncentive of using supplements ........
5.2.3 Supplement used ...............................................................................

i1． Overview
1.1

Survey Objectives

Since the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency (hereafter referred to as“WADA” in 1999), anti-doping activities have been globally extended. Meanwhile, theJapan Anti-Doping Agency (hereinafter referred to as “JADA”), established in 2001, hasbeen implementing the international activities along with the Government of Japan
representing Asia in the WADA Executive Committee, as well as promoting anti-doping
activities in Japan.
The World Anti-Doping Code provides guidelines for anti-doping education andresearch. JADA conducted surveys and research in FY 2009, 2010 and 2011 to promoteanti-doping education, in which relationships among athlete’s understanding,awareness and behavior related to anti-doping were elucidated and the importance, etc.
of raising awareness of anti-doping from ordinary sport activities, was shown. Moreover,the FY 2013 survey and research conducted a survey on public awareness, which
revealed that ethics and fair play among elite athletes constituted key elements
reflecting public expectation in sports.
Given the increasing number of domestic and overseas cases involving inadvertent
infringements of anti-doping rules due to ingesting prohibited substances contained insupplements, the survey and research in this fiscal year was to be implemented with theaim to contribute to effective anti-doping education and awareness raising activities forathlete by ascertains the actual status of supplement use and awareness of using
supplements, etc.
1.2

Survey Contents

1.2.1 Questionnaire survey on the actual status of supplement use by college athlete(1) Contents
Many of the recent cases of anti-doping rule violation derive from careless ingestion ofprohibited substances contained in supplements and pharmaceutical products. Suchcases arising from using supplements have been observed more in senior athlete thanjunior athlete. Given the circumstances, it is an urgent necessity to grasp the actual
state of how senior-level athlete is aware of using supplements.
For the purpose of this research, it deems necessary to proceed to grasp the actual
status of college athlete who are in the transition from junior-level to senior-levelathlete. Becoming adult in terms of their age, university students are more or lessindependent compared to their high school life. Making their choice in daily life andtraining management more freely and subjectively is also one of the features ofuniversity student. This implies that they will also be able to purchase supplements
subjectively and may use in more wide-range and frequent manner. Therefore,
university students’ awareness and actual status of supplement use is considered tohave an influence on their awareness and actual use in their subsequent athlete life.
Clarification of the actual status of senior athlete including top-level athlete based on
the research on university students will also help to grasp their comprehensive trends,
thereby carrying out more effective education and awareness raising activities as well

as obtaining information for establishing effective message.
Based on the above, the actual status of college athlete’s use of supplements issurveyed in this research.
(2) Survey Method1）Survey on universities at a higher level of competition
A questionnaire survey was conducted targeting college athlete who belong to an
athletic club of a university at a higher level of competition. It also includes those clubs
where their athlete participates to international-level competitions as well as their teamplayers or teams participate to top-level domestic competitions.
2）Survey on universities at the general level of competition
A questionnaire survey was conducted by using web monitors targeting athlete
belongs to athletic clubs of their university as well as university students belong toathletic circles of their university. The total number of athletic clubs and circles shall be
more or less the same level as those “targeting universities at a higher level ofcompetition.” To collect a number of samples, they shall be collected as many as
possible during the survey period.
(3) Key survey items
Key survey items are as follows:・Basic attribution (sex, age, and sporting event).
・Living environment.
・Status of the consumption of supplements (experience, frequency, etc. of use).
・Purpose of consuming supplements.
・Reasons for consuming supplements.
・How to obtain supplements, etc.
1.3

Survey period and results of sample collection(1) Survey period

The period of the survey is as follows:1）Survey on universities at a higher level of competition

From Early to mid-March, 20132）Survey on universities at the general level of competition

From late in February to early March, 2013
(2) Collection result
The results of sample collection are as follows:1）Survey on universities at a higher level of competition
Distribution:
Valid responses:

3,243 sheets to 8 universities
2,064 from 7 universities (response ratio: 63.6%)

2）Survey on universities at the general level of competition
Responses were collected from 721 students who belong to athletic club and 721
students who belong to athletic circles.

2． Overview the survey results
2.1

Living environment and dietary life of college athlete○ Among college athlete surveyed, around a half of the males live in dormitory whilea half of the live in their own lodging; hence, the proportion of living with their family
is low. In addition, many of them have breakfast but eat out dinner.
・ Among athlete belong to a university athletic club at a higher level of competition,(hereinafter referred to as “athletic club (strong university team)”), 45.1% ofmales live in dormitory of their university or team while 18.6% and 33.9% of them
live with their family and in their own lodging, respectively.
・ On the other hand, 48.0% of females belong to “athletic club (strong universityteam)” live in their own lodging while 28.9% of them live in their parent’s house.
The proportion of those females living in dormitory of their university or team was
15.9%.
・ Comparing to those athlete belong to a university athletic club at the general levelof competition and sport lovers (hereinafter, respectively referred to as “athleticclub (web monitoring)” and “athletic circles (web monitoring)”), 66.7% of them
have breakfast every day, which shows a high ratio, while 4.3% of them do nothave breakfast at all.
・ In terms of the frequency of eating out dinner, 12.5% of college athlete of “athleticclub (strong university team)” were almost every day, 20.7% of them were around
3 to 5 days per week, and 38.9% were around 1 to 2 days per week. Thisfrequency was almost on the same level as that of “athletic club (web monitoring)”and “athletic circles (web monitoring).”○ About 60% of athlete used supplements over the last one year. Around 30% of themconsumed supplements more than 3 days in a week. Males showed a higher rate ofuse as well as frequency of supplements consumption.
・ Among those college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team),”
14.6% of them consumed supplements almost every day, 15.3% did around 3 to
5 days per week, and 10.3% did around 1 to 2 days per week. 38.9% of them were
not supplement users.
・ 16.1% of male athlete belongs to “athletic club (strong university team)”
consumed “almost every day” (the ratio in the same response from “athletic club
(web monitoring)” athlete and those belong to “athletic circle” were 8.6% and6.9%, respectively) and 17.0% were “around 3 to 5 days per week” (8.5% of“athletic club (web monitoring)” athlete and 7.1% of those in “athletic circle”).
This showed relatively higher figures than other targets while 36.0% of them “didnot consume” which was lower than others (54.1% of “athletic club (webmonitoring)” athlete 55.9% of those “athletic club”). Meanwhile, 8.8% of female
athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team)” consumed supplements“almost every day,” 8.6% were “around 3 to 5 days per week,” and 49.3% did notconsume supplements.
・ The status of using supplements by female athlete in “athletic club (strong
university team)” showed almost at the same level as those belong to “athletic

club (web monitoring)” and “athletic circles (web monitoring).”
2.2

The status of using supplements○ Major incentives of using supplements were “to increase muscle amount and bodyweight” (particularly incentives of males), “for fatigue recovery” (particularly
incentives of female), and “to replenish insufficient nutrition.”・ The most incentives of college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong universityteam)” to consume supplements were “To increase muscle amount and bodyweight” (60.0%), followed by “for fatigue recovery” (44.0%) and “to replenish
insufficient nutrition” (34.0%).
・ “To increase muscle amount and body weight” was the most incentive of male
respondent in particular (65.5%) while “for fatigue recovery” was the most reasonof female respondents (59.3%). Around 30% of males and 40% of females
responded “to replenish insufficient nutrition” for their incentive.
・ Moreover, “to enhance performance ability” accounts for 33.5% which showed ahigher percentage compared to the same responses from those in “athletic club
(web monitoring)” (16.0%) and “athletic circles (web monitoring)” (6.9%).
* The question items were prepared with reference to “the status of using supplement
by Japanese top-level athlete” published by Japan Institute of Sport Science.
(http://jpnsport.go.jp/jiss/supplement/tabid/346/Default.aspx)○ Those supplements mostly consumed were “protein supplements” (particularly bymales), followed by “amino acid supplements” (particularly by females) and“multi-vitamin pills.” Females ingested various supplements.
・ Those supplements mostly consumed by college athlete in “athletic club (strong
university team)” were “protein supplements” (68.0%), followed by “amino acidsupplements” (29.4%) and “multi-vitamin pills” (19.6%).
・ “Protein supplements” were mostly consumed by males in particular (72.7%), andmore females (35.8%) consumed “amino acid supplements” than males (27.9%).
・ The proportion of females who consumed almost all types of supplements except
protein supplements was higher than males, which implies a trend that females
ingested supplements of various types.
・ Regarding“multi-vitamin
pills,”“multi-mineralpills,”“multi-vitamin/multi-mineral pills,” “simple vitamin pills,” “simple mineral pills,”“energy jelly, bar and drink,” and “herbs,” their consumption level of college
athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team)” was lower than thosebelong to “athletic club (web monitoring)” and “athletic circles (web monitoring).”* The question items were prepared with reference to “the status of supplement
consumption by Japanese top-level athlete” published by Japan Institute of Sport
Science.
(http://jpnsport.go.jp/jiss/supplement/tabid/346/Default.aspx)○ A half of males and 40% of females believed necessary to use supplements of theirown accord. Females tended to be influenced by their coach and family members
compared to males. Meanwhile, 15.1% of males and 10.8% of females consumed

supplements for some reason without thinking carefully.
・ The major reasons of college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong universityteam)” for consuming supplements were as follows: “I though they are necessary
for myself and I consumed them of my own accord” (49.6%), “I wasrecommended by my coach” (19.8%), “I was advised by my colleague athlete”(19.2%), and “I consumed them for some reason without thinking carefully”(14.3%).
・ Most males (51.6%), in particular, chose the reason “I though they are necessary
for myself and I consumed them of my own accord” for their consumption and39.7% of females chose the same.
・ The proportions of female college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong
university team)” in responding “suggested by your family member” (females:
24.0%; males 8.2%) and “I was recommended by my coach” (females: 25.5%;
males: 18.5%) were than higher males of the same belonging.
・ 14.3% of college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team)” (15.1%
of males and 10.8% of females) responded “I consumed them for some reason
without thinking carefully” for their reason of consumption, which showed a lower
level compared to those belong to “athletic club (web monitoring)” (25.1%) and“athletic circles (web monitoring)” (36.5%).
○ About 60% of respondents purchased supplements at pharmacies and drug stores,
followed by purchasing via internet and from given by their coach.
・ The most way that college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team)”obtained supplements was “purchased at a store such as pharmacy and drug store”(56.1%), followed by “purchased via internet (from a domestic agency)” (19.8%)
and “given by your coach” (11.4%).
・ 62.3% of females responded “purchased at a store such as pharmacy and drug
store,” which was higher than male respondents (54.6%) whereas 20.7% ofmales responded “purchased via internet (from a domestic agency),” whichshowed a higher percentage than females (15.2%)。
○ 34.0% of respondents “did not know that supplements may contain prohibited
substance.”
・ 34.0% of college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team)”
responded “did not know that supplements may contain prohibited substance.”
This was particularly higher in male responses accounts for 35.2% (the proportionof female respondents was 27.9%).
・ 11% of college athlete belong to “athletic club (strong university team)”
responded “also knew about the name of specific prohibited substance” while
51.2% of them “knew that some prohibited substance may contain a prohibited
substance but did not know about its specific name.”
・ The results more or less showed the same level as the responses of college athlete
belong to “athletic club (web monitoring),”○ University lectures and seminars, workshop and training course or their coach arethe main information source of college athlete. Only a few athlete obtained
information from physician and pharmacist or searched information by themselves.
・ Major information sources for learning the fact that supplement may containprohibited substance were “learned from a lecture or seminar at university”(40.2%), “learned from my coach” (35.0%), and “learned at a workshop andtraining” (31.6%).
・ Very few college athlete learned from physician (5.4%) or pharmacist (1.2%), andthe number of those who studied by themselves from internet (8.9%) or textbook,handbook, etc. (14.3%) remains to be small.
2.3

Analysis on supplement use by college athlete at a higher level of competition* The college athlete mentioned in the following items of this section refers to thosebelong to “athletic club (strong university team).”○ Compared to top-level athlete in general, the proportion of college athlete ingesting“protein supplements” to “increase their muscle amount and body weight” was veryhigh. On the other hand, the proportions of their use for the purposes of “replenishinginsufficient nutrition,” “fatigue recovery,” and “enhancing performance ability” werelower whereby their use meant to be concentrated in “protein supplements.”
・According to “the status of supplement consumption by Japanese top-level athlete”
published by Japan Institute of Sport Science, the incentives of top-level athlete toconsume supplements were: “for fatigue recovery” (under 20 years old: 64.3%; over
20: 68.5%) as the first place, followed by “to replenish insufficient nutrition” (under
20 years old: 48.6%; over 20 years old: 50.6%) and “to enhance performance ability”(under 20 years old: 38.6%; over 20 years old 46.5%). 21.4% of under the age of 20
years old and 26.0% of over 20 years old consumed supplements “to increase muscle
amount and body weight.”
・ Compared to top-level athlete, the proportion of college athlete consumed
supplements “to increase muscle amount and body weight” (60.0%), “for fatigue
recovery” (44.0%), “to replenish insufficient nutrition” (34.0%), or “to enhance
performance ability” (33.5%). Their response of “to increase muscle amount andbody weight” was especially higher than that of top-level athlete while their
proportion in responding “for fatigue recovery,” “to replenish insufficient nutrition,”and “to enhance performance ability” were lower.
・Regarding almost all supplements except protein supplements, the proportion ofcollege athlete using them was lower than that of top-level athlete in general, which
implies a trend that their use was concentrated in protein supplements.
○ Incentives of using supplements were not related to living environment and dietary
habit, which indicated that the incentives may be driven by sport-related factors.
・ Comparison was made between three groups: a group of having breakfast every
day and less eating out (Group A), a group of not or never having breakfast andeating out many times (Group C), and an intermediate group the respondents ofwhich does not belong to either group (Group B).
・ In case of Group A, 35.3% of college athlete live in dormitory of their university or

・

・

・

team and 22.8% of them live with their family at their parent’s house. Besides,
9.3% of them live in their own lodging. Those college athlete living in dormitory
and their parent’s house are considered to have better dietary habit than living intheir lodging.
There were no differences in terms of sex among those who live in dormitory andtheir parent’s house. With regard to college athlete living in their lodging, theproportion of females of Group A tended to be higher while those of Groups C was
lower compared to males, so that their better dietary habit can be observed.
Meanwhile, comparison of the three groups’ status of using supplements showedthat their rate, frequency, and incentive of using supplements were more or lessthe same.
This results indicate that the incentives for consuming supplements are relatively
independent from living environment and dietary habit and may be induced by
aforementioned reasons: “to increase muscle amount and body weight”(particularly an incentive of male), “for fatigue recovery” (particularly an incentiveof female), “to enhance performance ability,” etc.

○ Those attributions and situations highly likely to use supplements “without knowingthat supplements contain prohibited substance” were: males (sex), lower grade(grade), infrequent use (frequency), to increase muscle amount and body weight(incentive), protein supplements and multi-vitamin pills (supplement types),
consumed for some reason (reason), and passively obtained from their coach andfamily members (how to obtain).
・ 35.2% of males and 27.9% of females responded “I did not know that
supplements may contain prohibited substance.” In terms of their grade, 35.8%of them were the first- and second-year students while 30.9% were the third andlast-year students.
・ In terms of the frequency of using supplement by those who did not know thatprohibited substance may be contained in the supplements, college athlete who
consumed supplements “almost every day” was 22.9% while those who
consumed “around 3 to 5 days per week” was 30.8%, “around 1 to 2 days perweek” was 31.5%, and “a few times in a month” was 36.5%. It shows that thoseusers at a lower frequency did not know that prohibited substance may becontained.
・ The incentive of using supplements “to increase muscle amount and body weight”
was highest in those who consumed without knowing that prohibited substance
may be contained (30.4%), followed by “for fatigue recovery” (26.0%), “toreplenish insufficient nutrition,” (25.6%), and “to enhance performance ability”(23.2%).
・ In case of those who did not know that prohibited substance may be contained,
the major reasons for using supplements were “I consumed them for some reason
without thinking carefully” (35.8%) and “I though they are necessary for myself
and I consumed them of my own accord” (27.6%).
・ In case of those who did not know that prohibited substance may be contained,
the major types of supplements consumed were “protein supplements” (29.5%),

・“multi-vitamin pills” (28.2%), and “energy jelly, bar and drink” (28.0%).
In case of those who did not know that prohibited substance may be contained,
the major ways to obtain supplements were “given by your coach,” (32.9%),“given by my family member” (29.7%) and “purchased at a store such as
pharmacy and drug store” (29.2%).

○ Those attributions and situations highly likely to use supplements “for some reason
without thinking carefully” were: male (sex), infrequent consumption: a few times ina year (frequency), multi-vitamin pills (supplement type) and purchased at stores(how to obtain).
・ 15.1% of males and 10.8% of females responded that “I consumed them for somereason without thinking carefully.” In terms of their grade, 14.5% were the firstand second-year students and 14.1% were the third- and last-year students.
・ In terms of frequency of using supplement in case of those who consumed forsome reason, “almost every day” was 9.6%, “around 3 to 5 days per week” was
9.5%, “around 1 to 2 days per week” was 14.1%, “a few times in a month” was
17.8%, and “a few times in a year” was 24.9%. It shows that those users at alower frequency tended to consume supplements for some reason without
thinking carefully.
・ In case of those who consumed for some reason without thinking carefully, themajor types of supplements they consumed were: “multi-vitamin pills” (21.2%)
and “energy jelly, bar and drink” (16.6%).
・ 16.0% of those who “purchased at a store such as pharmacy and drug store”
consumed supplements for some reason without thinking carefully.
○ Those attributions and situations highly likely to use supplements to increase
performance ability were: higher grade (grade), high frequency (frequency),
influenced by training and workshop (reason), amino acid supplements and energy
jelly, bar and drink (supplement type), and purchased via internet (how to obtain).
・ 33.7% of males and 31.9% of females responded “to enhance performanceability.” In terms of their grade, 32.3% of them were the first- and second-year
students and 35.4% were the third- and last-year students.
・ Among those who used supplements to increase their performance ability, theirfrequency of using supplements were: “almost every day” (49.8%), “around 3 to
5 days per week” (40.0%), “around 1 to 2 days per week” (29.6%), “a few times
in a month” (20.2%), and “a few times in a year” (17.8%). It shows that more
frequent supplement users tended to consume supplements to increase theirperformance ability.
・ In case of those who used supplements to increase performance ability, the major
reasons for using supplements were “became interested in supplements afterparticipating to a training or workshop” (53.7%) and “I was recommended by mycoach” (46.6%).
・ In case of those who used supplements to increase performance ability, major
types of supplements they consumed were “amino acid supplements” (51.0%)
and “energy jelly, bar and drink” (47.8%).

・

53.8% of those who used supplements to increase performance ability purchased
the supplements “via internet (from a domestic agency)” while 38.5% of themwere “given by your coach.”