is hard to resist – an estimated 40 percent or more of people living in the United States take some form of dietary supplement. The problem is that with more than 29,000 supplements to choose from, separating what you need from what the manufacturers want

? Unfortunately for athletes, scientific research into the effects of dietary supplements has thus far proven inconclusive, regardless of what their manufacturers want you to believe. Why, then, do ever-hopeful runners dash to their local chemist and health food

UAN:261 Article type:++add book link at top++ -->This is adapted from the book, Eat Smart, Play Hard, by RW USA Nutrition Editor Liz Applegate. Better known as andro, this supplement made headlines when US baseball slugger Mark McGwire said

for endurance athletes. Several well-designed studies suggest that supplemental BCAAs may improve your exercise performance and help prevent the muscle damage that can occur with heavy training.BCAAs, along with 17 other amino acids, are the building blocks

Supplement Function(s) Food Sources Claim(s) of Supplements The ScienceAmino Acids Building blocks of protein Non-essential amino acids are manufactured by the body; essential amino acids are derived from animal protein (meat and poultry), beans

UAN: Article type:++add book link at top++ -->This is adapted from the book, Eat Smart, Play Hard, by RW USA Nutrition Editor Liz Applegate. Log on to the Internet, flip through a fitness magazine, or cruise the supplement aisles in a health food

for your immune cells. Because physical stress and heavy exercise deplete glutamine from your plasma, some researchers suspect that supplementing with this amino acid may ward off colds and muscle soreness induced by endurance exercise.While few studies

, and cartilage. Chondroitin is a component of cartilage. According to the manufacturers’ claims, when taken together, these two supplements protect joints and tendons and relieve osteoarthritis pain.In the past few years, orthopedists and other physicians have

-related aspects of ailments such as heart disease and cancer. Studies also show that vitamin E supplementation – often at the level of about 400 IU a day – may help protect you from the oxidative damage caused by endurance exercise. This free radical

blood cholesterol. As a fitness enthusiast, you should be interested in fish oil for a different reason: its anti-inflammatory action. An omega-3 fatty acid supplement of 1 to 1 1/2 grams a day may reduce joint pain and rheumatoid arthritis symptoms