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High School Sports Question--creatine/supplements/looking the other way

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by 21, Aug 29, 2006.

  1. In Exile

    In Exile Member

    What you do yourself is your own business, but as a parent or a coach (and I'm both) I think it is completely irresponsible to suggest to any minor to take any kind of "supplement." Virtually none of this stuff has been adequately tested for longterm effects, and what appears to be safe now could have devastating consequences down the line - just look at all the FDA approved drugs that end up being pulled after 5 or t10 years of being on the market - hell, look at all the Chinese toys full of lead. "Supplements," are essentially unregulated and manufactured under conditions that may not even reach the most basic sanitary standards. Saying you've used them and haven't had any problem is like hearing from someone who has smoked for thirty years and doesn't have cancer.

    It's a risk not worth taking, for your own kid or, particularly, someone elses.
     
  2. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    What constitutes an 'athlete'? Is a fourteen year old linebacker an athlete?
     
  3. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    As I understand it, it's not unusual for supplements to contain ingredients that are not listed on the label. Often those ingredients include substances that are banned by the IOC, NCAA and other sports organizations and there have been cases where athletes in those organizations have tested positive for banned substances that they unwittingly took.
     
  4. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    If there's something that can be purchased over the counter at GNC that may be harmful a 14-year-old linebacker then it shouldn't be available to him in the first place. Any such products should be illegal without a prescription or regulated (at least to the extent of alcohol, tobacco and sinus medications).

    This discussion is similar to the angst caused by androstenedione -- something a 12-year-old girl could (formerly) purchase without so much as a note from her parent but for which Mark McGwire was labeled as a cheater and the hurter of the children!

    The problem was (and remains) the politically and financially motivated deregulation of the supplement industry. Just ask Orrin Hatch.
     
  5. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    I am not getting your point cranberry. Just because it's available at GNC does not mean it's safe.

    You did allude to it and I agree that deregulation is the real issue but it stll does not make it right for GNC.

    On the other hand Mcdonalds products could prove to be more damaging to kids.
     
  6. Don't get me started on the FDA. The only reason they approve most drugs in the first place is because a lot of money is involved with the pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer will make tons of money off a drug and when people start dropping dead because of it, then it will be pulled of the shelves. By then, it won't matter to the company because they've made millions and millions off a bogus drug. Just my humble opinion.
     
  7. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    My only point is that if something is sold over-the-counter at GNC it should be safe. As it stands now, something can be outlawed (on the basis of health and safety) by sports organizations but perfectly legal and available for purchase by a group of unsupervised kids who like to play pickup football in their local playground. What about those children?

    We need to get to the point where people can trust that products sold in stores (and not abused or used inappropriately) are safe.
     
  8. I think, for the most part, the products sold at GNC are safe, but then what is really considered safe. There are advanced creatine products out there which have all sorts of extra chemicals in them. Is that really safe. If we're talking about plain ol' creatine monohydrate, then I think you're safe. But check out some of the products made by MuscleTech. I definitely wouldn't have a growing teen body take that stuff. Stick with the plain stuff and that should be enough. Leave the more advanced stuff to the bodybuilders.
     
  9. snuffy2

    snuffy2 Member

    Good points above. Creatine is a borderline supplement in the pill/syringe-aided training opinion skirmishes and garners plenty of questions and opinions on athletic forums, often backdooring into the steroid debates where creatine might be played as a gateway aid. Context is always important in public debates and these kids have grown understandably selfreliant in the face of institutional/advertising misinformation and neglectful deregulation; they navigate mistrustfully through the "supersize me" era fog. Cautionary lawyerscripts delivered by coaches are as meaningless as TV pill ad disclaimer noise. In a society which has abdicated trustworthy leadership and governance in favor of market freedoms, competitors are free to pump up biceps at 4.3 speed while growing a third eye. No 'one' is going to tell these kids anything; constipation over creatine is laughable in context of ambivalence and confusion where medical and sports ethics have been washed aside by profit and technology. Similar to breast implants, creatine will be consumed regardless of danger in our image conscious society. 'Conspicuous consumption' use to refer to shiny bumpers on a new car. Now the shiny bumpers are worn on chests of both boys and girls in the form of creatine pecs and silicon breasts and no degree of social parenting is going counter the pervasive imagery reinforcing the appeal. Unfettered competition is a wondrous thing.
     
  10. That was some post for No. 1
     
  11. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    One of problems since supplements became part of training regimens is that many have lied about the results.

    In interest of the children well intentioned folks have stated that steroids do not work when "the children" could clearly see the results.

    I think it would have been better from the begining to have an honest discussion such as steroids work but here is the downside........
     
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