Protein bars not the enemy, weightlifter says

Commonwealth Games gold medallist and flagbearer Damian Brown has criticised the media for confusing performance enhancing drugs with training supplements, responding to a Daily Telegraph article headlined "Ban Protein Bars" (9 January 2003).

 

The newspaper recently reported that champion swimmer Susie O'Neill warned a group of athletes competing in the Youth Olympics not to take protein bars and other food supplements. She was reported to have said that athletes could not be 100 percent sure these products contained ingredients that fell within the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

 

Brown spoke out in defence of elite athletes like himself who used protein bars and other sports supplements, describing the media coverage as dangerously misleading.
 
"The World Anti-Doping Agency has an important role to play in warning athletes about taking personal responsibility to ensure what they consume doesn't contain banned substances. Their focus however has absolutely nothing to do with protein fortified foods that are produced by reputable manufacturers who comply with the Food Standards Code of Australia and New Zealand. These products are widely used by athletes, including elite athletes, as a legitimate part of their training programs. Furthermore, the Australian Olympic Committee sanctions their use and is not calling for them to be banned.

 

"Protein supplementation has long been recognised by sports nutritionists and coaches as a key to athletes optimising their performance and as such the use of protein bars, powders and beverages is widely endorsed and actively promoted throughout many major sporting codes. More recently, a growing proportion of the health-conscious community have also begun to incorporate protein supplements as part of a nutritionally balanced diet.

 

"To blur the distinction between supplements and performance enhancing drugs is to cast a slur on the good reputations of the athletes who use supplements and the nutritionists and trainers who recommend them. It also trivialises the significant contribution to good nutritional practice that has been made by the supplement manufacturers themselves."