Gatorade Pre-Con: Supplements- Efficacy and Safety
Biography: Alicia Kendig joined the U.S. Olympic Committee as a registered sport dietitian in 2011. She provides nutritional services to the summer strength and power sports and winter sport athletes. She currently works with the Women's National Ice Hockey Team and the national Figure Skating athletes on the winter side and Track and Field and Swimming athletes on the summer side. Kendig has worked with many other National Governing Bodies in the past and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to educate athletes on various sport nutrition topics, as well as the risks and proper use of dietary supplements. She has helped athletes of all ages, levels and backgrounds achieve performance goals by focusing on fuel and performance nutrition for optimal performance.
Kendig holds a bachelor's degree in nutrition and a master's degree in public health nutrition from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Presentation Summary: The dietary supplement industry is a huge and confusing grey area for athletes. Some dietary supplements are needed to treat clinical issues in athletes, but some supplements can be harmful to an athlete due to toxic levels of ingredients or even banned substances. This presentation is aimed to identify the problem that athletes face when trying to navigate through effective and harmful supplements, guide sport service providers through ways to analyze supplement labels and claims, and briefly identify key supplement ingredients used in elite sport that can be beneficial when worked into a performance nutrition program.
