RPS Conference 2010, Abstracts 2010 - Royal Pharmaceutical Society

64
I’m off to the gym: Exploring male gym users’ utilisation of legal supplements and their
views of community pharmacists as a source of advice
Raheel N Akram, Dai N John, Sion A Coulman
Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Focal Points
• The aim of this study was to explore which legal sports supplements are used by
gym users and the potential role of community pharmacists as a source of advice on
supplements.
• Over 90% of male gym users use sports supplements (92/106). Only two had
bought them from a pharmacy in the past 6 months and only two had ever asked a
pharmacist for advice on supplements.
• Many gym users did not see a role for community pharmacists with regard to sports
supplement advice; further research is warranted to establish the reasons.
Introduction
Community pharmacists are a potential source of advice for athletes 1,2 . A USA study has
reported the prevalence of sports supplement use in commercial gyms 3 and a UK study has
explored the use of anabolic steroids by bodybuilders 4 . To date there is no published research
investigating UK gym users’ views on their use of sports supplements and the role of community
pharmacists. The aim of this study was to explore which legal sports supplements are used by
gym users and the potential role of community pharmacists as a source of advice on
supplements.
Method
University ethics committee approval was obtained. Semi-structured interviews with nine gym
users informed the development of a structured questionnaire. Following piloting, structured
face-to-face interviews were conducted with users of three private gyms in one UK city. Gyms
were identified using a combination of purposive and convenience sampling. Interviews were
not recorded, names were not asked. Verbal consent from each gym owner and participant was
obtained. Respondents were asked about the use of legal supplements and their views about
the role of community pharmacists. Recruitment of male gym users was undertaken over
weekdays and weekends (four different days) at different times at each gym in March 2009 (14
hours per gym). All users of the gym within these time periods were eligible for recruitment; no
additional sampling strategy was used.
Results
Of the 126 users approached, 106 were interviewed (78% response). Ages ranged from 17-49
years (mean 25). Ninety-two respondents (87%) had used sports supplements in the previous 6
months: protein powders (n=74), multivitamins (43), creatine (37), glutamine (23), amino acids
(16), beta-hydroxy-betamethylbutyrate(HMB) (7), fat-burners (4) and five ‘others’, (testosterone
boosters n=3, arginine n=1, zinc n=1). Of the 92 who used them, 58 (63%) spent £50+ a month
on supplements. Supplements were most frequently obtained from health food stores (n=66),
gyms (45) and the internet (44). Two had purchased a supplement from a pharmacy in the past
6 months. Fifty disagreed/disagreed strongly that community pharmacists had a good