Despite nutritional supplements being increasingly found on drugstore and supermarket shelves, recreational athletes generally don’t need these supplements to improve their performance.
While regular athletic training increases the body’s requirements of vitamins and minerals, recreational athletes usually meet them simply by eating more, consumer advice experts say.
Supplementing a diet with powders or pills containing magnesium or vitamin B6, for example, is therefore pointless, according to the German consumer advice centre of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania state.
Consuming vitamins and minerals exceeding the body’s requirements won’t improve athletic performance, the health experts say, adding that overdoses of nutritional supplements can even be harmful. – dpa
