Nutritional Supplements

Extreme caution is recommended regarding supplement use. A number of positive tests have been attributed to the misuse of supplements, poor labeling or contamination of dietary supplements.

The use of dietary supplements by athletes is a concern because in many countries the manufacturing and labeling of supplements may not follow strict rules, which may lead to a supplement containing an undeclared substance that is prohibited under anti-doping regulations. Taking a poorly labeled dietary supplement is not an adequate defense in a doping hearing.

Neither WADA nor WBSC is involved in any supplement certification process and therefore do not certify or endorse manufacturers or their products. WADA and WBSC do not control the quality or the claims of the supplements industry.

However, WBSC Integrity Unit strongly recommends his athletes and their entourage to get informed about the use of supplements through the following actions:

For the manufacturers, it is possible to check the safety of their products on Informed Sport, a global testing and certification programme for sports and nutritional supplements. Supplement products are tested by LGC’s world-class anti-doping laboratory for contamination against a broad range of banned substances in sport, using ISO 17025 accredited methods.

A dedicated webinar by ITA on the use of supplements has been launched on 27th April 2021 (webinar 4 in the section Webinars).

For more information about prohibited substances please consult the dedicated section about the Prohibited List.