Call 281-633-8600 for an appointment. In this article, Dr. J. Michael Bennett cautions parents about the use of sports supplements by children. Dr. Bennett is a Sports Doctor serving Metro Houston from his clinic in Sugar Land TX.
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| Chemical Structure of DHEA Image via Wikipedia |
This is a transcript of a Dr. Jay Show broadcast on 1560TheGame. Dr. J. Michael Bennett is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and a Fellowship Trained Sports Medicine Doctor serving patients from Katy, Fort Bend County, Metro Houston and Southeast Texas from offices in Sugar Land, TX. Call 281-633-8600 for an appointment.
Here’s the transcript of the fourth portion of the Show:
Now I want to quickly go over some of these supplements that are right now the top supplements for sports because we’re seeing a lot of kids out there trying to take these supplements even though they’re not supposed to and some of these could be dangerous for them.
The first of these supplements is actually a popular supplement that I’ve seen a lot of and it’s not necessarily a good one and it’s called DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone. Basically it’s a steroid. It’s advertised and marketed as anti-aging, also marketed to build muscle or reduce body fat, sharpen memory, etcetera. It’s actually from Mexican yam, and this is a steroid. There are some studies that show it helps with mild depression and lupus but there’s little to support the effects of the anti-aging aspects of this. There was a study at Mayo Clinic in 2006 that found DHEA had no effect on anti-aging or in regards to endurance, muscle mass, fat mass, insulin sensitivity, and no effect on the quality of life. It did help in regards to depression, though, so DHEA, you’ve got to be careful about that.
The next supplement that’s very popular in regards to athletes is something called ginseng. And you’re going to see a lot of these drinks and a lot of these things that have
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| Structure of Creatine –Image via Wikipedia |
ginseng in it. And ginseng actually, in regards to the Mayo Clinic, was given a green light. They actually said that short-term use of ginseng may help mental performance, produces few side effects when taken as directed, but never take it for an extended period of time. And they state that more research needs to be done regarding further uses for this. They’re also stating it might have an effectiveness with diabetes, but they’re not sure yet. There are some possible positive effects also with cancer, exercise performance, heart issues, mental performance and Type II diabetes. So in essence ginseng’s going to be one of those supplements you’re going to hear more and more about because it does appear to be promising. You’ve got to be careful once again with the blood thinning aspects with some of these things but, if you take it in moderation it might be beneficial.
The third is something called guarana. And you see this in all of these energy drinks. What guarana states to be is kind of like an endurance, improved stamina, mental alertness type of thing. And it does have some caffeine type effects. There’s no research at this point that has proven how guarana does or works with athletes. But you’ve got to be careful with guarana because it is a caffeinated product so it can cause trembling, anxiety, palpitations or even irregular heartbeats.
The next one that I want to talk about is something that you hear a lot about kids taking these days in regard to weight training. We talked about this briefly last week during the heat, during our talk about heat illness and dehydration and this is called creatine monohydrate. And a lot of the guys are taking this in regards to helping their muscle mass and to build up muscle which it actually does help. Now at the same time, creatine can actually lead to dehydration because it absorbs a lot of the water and it has been known also to create episodes of having issues of like diarrhea as well as some muscle cramping. The thing about creatine is that it is broken down and excreted by the kidneys and so you can easily overload the kidneys if you have a deficient kidney or a kidney infection or something along those lines and that can be a problem in regards to the creatine build-up in the body.
Now we specifically talked about an episode last week where a bunch of kids were practicing football in this heat and a lot of them were taking creatine and they ended up developing what’s called compartment syndrome, and eventually that lead to what’s called rhabdomyolysis. Compartment syndrome basically is what happens when the muscles swell and it gets to the point where they swell so much that it compresses the nerves and the blood vessels so there’s no blood supply getting to the muscle and that can eventually cause some muscle breakdown and the muscle breakdown itself creates a by-product that gets excreted by the kidneys. The kidney gets a big punch in the gut when it gets all of this by-product from the broken down muscle and sometimes that can cause kidney failures.
The treatment for this is to get to these kids early and get them on IVs and get them fluid, rehydrate them, and have them rest so they can let the swelling go down in their legs and their muscles and hopefully prevent having to do surgery. In emergency situations the pressure is so much in that limb that you risk losing that foot or that arm or hand and we have to go in there and basically release the pressure by doing these slits down the leg and that decompresses the pressure so it saves the muscle and it actually prevents any problems in regards to muscle damage.
The next supplement that you hear a lot about is vitamin E and vitamin D. I believe vitamin D you’re going to hear even more about in the next few years because it’s becoming the big, big supplement that’s getting a lot of research time and a lot of evidence behind it. They are finding now that there are some data that suggest that vitamin D does play a role in the prevention of colon cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer. They want further research but right now the early studies do show that it does make a difference. It also helps with osteomalacia, which is weakened bones, as well as osteoporosis. It can help decrease the risk of osteoporosis, and putting vitamin D on the skin can help people with psoriasis, where they have that breakdown of the skin or that thickening of the skin creating these rashes and so that can actually help with some of the skin lesions. And then there are newer studies that show vitamin D is making a difference in regards to Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, some of these nerve issues. Because forever we thought that multiple sclerosis was due to where a person lived; in actuality it may have to do more with how much sunlight they get and how much vitamin D they’re getting. So that’s something else to take into consideration.
The next one is vitamin E and this is actually showing some promise in age-related macular degeneration of the eyes when you start losing your eyesight early. It can help with Alzheimer’s in regards to slowing the decline of your mental function. They’re looking at it for cancer right now but there’s nothing out there yet that actually shows that it makes a big difference but it may help with the chemotherapy side effects, though, and that’s some benefit with vitamin E. And then cardiovascular disease; there’s some conflict in the studies but there is some recommendation by the American Heart Association that they include vitamin E by eating a balanced diet, but they’re saying that that actually makes a difference as well in regards to cardiovascular disease prevention. So these are all things that you can buy over the counter but like I said you’ve got to apply these methods when you go purchase these things. And you’re going to hear more and more about these things in the next few years and I think the big players are going to be vitamin D and fish oil.
If you’d like to review your supplements or you’d like to discuss the supplements you’re using with Dr. Bennett, please call his office at 281-633-8600 for an appointment.
