In a study presented at the 123rd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) on Thursday, Alliant researchers discovered that out of the 195 male participants in their research, around 29 percent said that they were concerned about the effects of their use of workout supplements. As a result, risky supplement use may be seen as a new eating disorder that affects a significant number of men. Additionally, nearly 8% of the men said that their doctors had advised them to stop using the product or cut back on them and nearly 40% of the men admitted that they had increased the use of these supplements overtime.
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Further, one of every five men said they replaced regular meals with dietary supplements that are not intended to be meal replacements.
They develop nutritional and psychological imbalance in men who use in more doses.
“The marketing efforts, which are tailored to addressing underlying insecurities associated with masculinity, position these products perfectly as a “solution” by which to fill a void felt by so many men in our culture”, he explains.
Whats driving this risky misuse of legal workout supplements, said Achiro, appears to be a combination of factors, including body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and gender role conflict, in which an individual perceives that he is not living up to the strict limitations of masculinity dictated by modern culture.
Although the research is preliminary and has yet to be peer-reviewed, Achiro hopes his research puts the issue on the map and encourages researchers to replicate his work.
Supplements such as whey protein, creatine and L-cartinine are used to improve athletic performance and physique and are sold in grocery stores, vitamin shops and online.
“As legal supplements become increasingly prevalent around the globe, it is all the more important to assess and treat the psychological causes and effects of excessive use of these drugs and supplements”.
More worryingly, the lead author of the study said these legal supplements aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and could cause serious problems such as diarrhea, kidney disease and renal failure, Reuters reported.
Achiro was surprised to find that most studies focused on illicit supplements such as hormones and steroids and gave little thought to the role of legal supplements, which are readily available at supermarkets and college bookstores.
“The way in which men’s bodies are being objectified by the media is catching up rapidly to what has been done to women’s bodies for decades,” Achiro told Reuters. “Supplements serve them the same way diet products serve someone with an eating disorder”, Cohn says. Researchers in this study found men were using them both ways, for whatever current goal they had in their fitness routines.
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“Someone with anorexia will feel they need to continue to get thinner and lose weight”.
