By Ashley Antle

As the summer shifts school sports to off-season training, the attention of most teen athletes turns to strength and conditioning. Kids hoping to be bigger, stronger and faster for next season hit the weight room to build muscle.

While strength and conditioning is an important element for overall athletic health and performance, some young and impressionable athletes believe that bulking up is best accomplished through supplementation. But many experts say supplements in the hands of teens can be useless and unnecessary at best and dangerous at worst. Many teens lack professional oversight or knowledge of proper use and dosage, and have a natural tendency towards risky behavior where “more is more.”

We asked Nicole Pitts, D.O., a sports medicine physician at Cook Children’s Medical Center – Prosper, to weigh in on the subject. After all, elite athletic performance is a subject she knows a lot about, both personally and professionally. At just 14, Dr. Pitts became a professional tennis player. Although now retired from the sport, she has yet to walk away from competition altogether. When she isn’t helping young athletes prevent and recover from their injuries, you’ll find her playing the professional pickleball circuit. 

Timing is Everything

In her practice, Dr. Pitts says she finds the most prevalent supplements used by teens include creatine and protein shakes to feed muscle growth and energy drinks as a pre-workout.

Creatine and protein do play critical roles in muscle building, especially for athletes.

During weightlifting and resistance training, muscle fibers will undergo microscopic damage. Protein helps repair and rebuild that damage by producing amino acids, the building blocks of muscle. At the end of that tearing down and building back process is a stronger and bigger muscle.

Creatine is a natural substance found mostly in muscle cells. It aids in energy production during high-intensity workouts or heavy lifting, and also plays a role in muscle repair and growth. While researchers don’t yet know the effects of long-term use, especially in young people, creatine as a supplement is fairly well-researched and generally safe for adults.

But there is more to muscle building than popping a pill or swigging a shake.

“You do need protein as an athlete, but it also comes down to how much and when. It’s about timing, too,” Dr. Pitts said. “Let’s say you’ve done a big workout. It’s really important to get that protein within about 30 minutes. If you’re not getting a good amount of protein after your workout and you’re waiting until hours later, you’re missing that critical part of muscle building and muscle recovery.”

Creatine and teenagers

Proper supplement dosing is a factor, too. Creatine’s overuse, which is a danger in the hands of adolescents, can cause negative side effects.

“There is no U.S.-based sports medicine organization that endorses creatine use and supplementation under 18 years old because of the safety and efficacy of it,” Dr. Pitts said. “There can be side effects like water retention, bloating, muscle cramping and kidney injury, especially in people with previous kidney concerns.”

Other overuse side effects include anxiety, breathing difficulty, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and rash.

Powders and shakes might be a quick and convenient source for upping protein intake, but they can be full of not-so-good-for-you additives like artificial flavors and coloring, excess sodium and thickening agents.

The same can be said for energy drinks.

“The problem with pre-workout energy drinks is there’s just so many types out there, and they have so many variations on ingredients,” Dr. Pitts said. “Most commonly, it’s caffeine or guarana, but there’s also a lot of sugar in them. Teens may be drinking coffee followed by an energy drink and they’re not always looking at how much caffeine they’re consuming by doing that.”

Too much caffeine can lead to increased heart rate, vomiting, dizziness and muscle damage.

Buyer Beware

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does have some regulatory oversight of the dietary supplement market, it does not test or approve dietary supplements or their labels. Unlike medication that must be proven safe and effective before being marketed to the consumer, there is no law that requires the FDA to approve dietary supplement safety before it hits the market. This means that certain supplements containing unverified, hazardous, and unmarked ingredients might find their way onto store shelves.

Bottom line? The buyer must beware.

This is why Dr. Pitts says the safest and healthiest way for teens to fuel their bodies for peak performance comes down to four key ingredients.

Here is her recipe for success:

Nutrition through whole food sources

Teens should aim for 5 to 6 ounces of protein foods over the course of the day. Foods rich in muscle-building protein and creatine include pork, beef, fish, shellfish and animal milk. Eggs, turkey, chicken, beans, nuts and nut butters are also good sources of protein.

“Drinking 8 to 12 ounces of chocolate milk within 30 minutes of exercise is good because we know it’s a whole food source without a lot of additives and it has the right carb to protein ratio,” Dr. Pitts said. “There’s also Greek yogurt and peanut butter. Especially in kids, we try to stick to more whole foods rather than protein shakes.”

In addition to protein, a well-balanced diet will include dairy, fruits, vegetables, grain and oils. Read more here about how much of each of these your child should get in a day.

Timing

For best results, consume at least 25 grams of protein within 30 minutes of strength training.

“This can be pulled from the total amount of protein intake per day,” Dr. Pitts said. “You just want to time things so that you get a portion of it all at once right after a workout.”

Sleep

To boost energy, forego the supplements and get some sleep. Dr. Pitts suggests at least 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night to give athletes all of the energy and focus they need to perform their best. Sleep also aids in muscle recovery.

Hydration

Poor hydration will equal poor performance no matter your athletic ability. In addition to staving off energy draining dehydration, water helps lubricate joints for increased mobility. If your child is working out for more than an hour or is a heavy sweater, add electrolytes or salt to their water to help them retain important minerals. Proper hydration starts long before a workout or big game, so plan ahead and have them drink at least 8 glasses of water the days leading up to their workouts of big games and keep hydrating before, during and after the event.

Couple this recipe with lots of hard work, determination and sportsmanship, and your teen athlete will be well on their way to reaching their full potential every time they step onto the playing field.