RUNNING ON SUPPLEMENTS: EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS, CREATINE, AND MULTIVITAMINS ON ADOLESCENT HEALTH

Background: Increasing popularity of nutritional or dietary supplements among adolescents, such as protein powders, creatine, and multivitamins. Nowadays, health experts are concerned and have raised their questions about safety, efficacy, and long-term health consequences. Adolescents are driven by the marketing purpose to boost their sports performance, the development of muscles, and overall well-being. Usually, many of the youngsters take these supplements on their own without concern about the safety, putting themselves at risk.

Objective:This research study aims to comparison of physiological and biochemical effects of creatine, protein supplements, and multivitamins on the health of adolescents in supplement users and non-users.

Methods:A cross-sectional study was implemented on 100 adolescents aged between 13 to 18 years. In the beginning, the participants were divided into four different groups of 25 each: protein supplement users, creatine users, multivitamin users, and non-users (control group). After that, a structured questionnaire was used to gather information about demographics, supplement usage trends, motivations, and side effects. After that, some test was conducted, such as Anthropometric measures and biochemical testing, including serum creatinine, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), and hemoglobin, were performed. For statistical analysis, One-way ANOVA was used, at a significance level of p<0.05.