Thyroid Therapy or Dysfunction in Athletes: Is it Time to Revisit the Clinical Practice Guidelines?

Recent media have highlighted the controversy surrounding treatment of elite athletes for hypothyroidism. The World Anti-Doping Agency denied a request by the United States Anti-Doping Agency to ban the use of thyroid medication. At present, there is no scientific evidence that thyroid medication has the potential to enhance performance.

Use of the TRH Stimulation Test to Assess Long Term Changes of Thyroid Function in an Olympic Athlete.

This case report presents the utility of the thyroid-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation test for assessing endocrine disease in athletes. On two occasions, 4 years apart (1992 and 1996), a TRH stimulation test was performed to corroborate clinical symptoms and observation. On the first occasion, the patient's symptoms were not attributed to thyroid disease.

Dietary Supplement Use in a Large, Representative Sample of the US Armed Forces.

Background: Dietary supplement (DS) use is prevalent among the US Armed Forces personnel, but representative cross-service comparisons and characteristics of personnel using DSs are limited.

Objective: Examine DS use and characteristics associated with use in a representative sample of US Armed Forces personnel (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard) using data from the 2011 Department of Defense Survey of Health-Related Behaviors.

Design And Participants: A stratified random sample of service members (SMs) was contacted and asked to complete a questionnaire assessing personal characteristics and DS use.

Surveillance of the armed forces as a sentinel system for detecting adverse effects of dietary supplements in the general population.

Objective: Half the US population takes dietary supplements, but surveillance systems available to regulatory and public health authorities to determine whether specific dietary supplements present a risk are inadequate and numerous severe injuries and deaths have occurred from their consumption. Uniformed military personnel regularly use dietary supplements and are more likely to use potentially dangerous supplements than civilians. Recently, the supplement 1,3-dimethylamylamine (DMAA) was marketed for physical performance-enhancement and weight loss.

Caffeine consumption among active duty United States Air Force personnel.

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicated that 89% of Americans regularly consumed caffeinated products, but these data did not include military personnel. This cross-sectional study examined caffeine consumption prevalence, amount of daily consumption, and factors associated with caffeine intake in active duty United States (US) Air Force personnel. Service members (N = 1787) stationed in the US and overseas completed a detailed questionnaire describing their intake of caffeine-containing products in addition to their demographic, lifestyle, and military characteristics.

Demographic factors associated with dietary supplement prescriptions filled by United States Military Service Members 2005-2013.

Background: Dietary supplements (DSs) can be purchased over-the-counter but may also be prescribed by medical personnel for specific therapeutic reasons. Few studies have examined this latter source of DSs despite the fact that 79% of physicians and 82% of nurses have recommended DSs to their patients. This investigation examined demographic factors associated with temporal trends in oral DS prescriptions filled by all United States (US) service members (SMs) from 2005 to 2013 (n = 1,427,080 ± 22,139, mean ± standard deviation per year).

Temporal trends in dietary supplement prescriptions of United States military service members suggest a decrease in pyridoxine and increase in vitamin D supplements from 2005 to 2013.

Dietary supplements (DSs) can be obtained over-the-counter but can also be prescribed by health-care providers for therapeutic reasons. Few studies have documented this later source despite the fact that 79% of physicians and 82% of nurses have recommended DSs to patients. This investigation assessed prevalence and temporal trends in oral DS prescriptions filled by all United States service members (SMs) from 2005 to 2013 (n = 1 427 080 ± 22 139, mean ± standard deviation (SD)/y).

Longitudinal trends in use of dietary supplements by U.S. Army personnel differ from those of civilians.

Prevalence and patterns of dietary supplement (DS) use by U.S. Army soldiers differ from the civilian population.

Caffeine Use among Active Duty Navy and Marine Corps Personnel.

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicate 89% of Americans regularly consume caffeine, but these data do not include military personnel. This cross-sectional study examined caffeine use in Navy and Marine Corps personnel, including prevalence, amount of daily consumption, and factors associated with use. A random sample of Navy and Marine Corps personnel was contacted and asked to complete a detailed questionnaire describing their use of caffeine-containing substances, in addition to their demographic, military, and lifestyle characteristics.

Demographic, Lifestyle Factors, and Reasons for Use of Dietary Supplements by Air Force Personnel.

Background: Dietary supplement (DS) use is common among U.S. Army personnel to purportedly improve health, provide energy, and increase strength.

Prevalence, Adverse Events, and Factors Associated with Dietary Supplement and Nutritional Supplement Use by US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel.

Background: About 50% of Americans and 60% to 70% of US military personnel use dietary supplements, some of which have been associated with adverse events (AEs). Nutritional supplements like sport drinks and sport bars/gels are also commonly used by athletes and service members. Previous dietary supplement and nutritional supplement surveys were conducted on Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard personnel.

Soldier use of dietary supplements, including protein and body building supplements, in a combat zone is different than use in garrison.

United States Army personnel in garrison who are not deployed to combat theater report using dietary supplements (DSs) to promote health, increase physical and mental strength, and improve energy levels. Given the substantial physical and cognitive demands of combat, DS use may increase during deployment. This study compared DS use by garrison soldiers with DS use by personnel deployed to a combat theater in Afghanistan.

Self-reported side-effects associated with use of dietary supplements in an armed forces population.

Approximately 60-70% of Armed Forces personnel consume a dietary supplement (DS) at least once a week and there have been numerous reports of severe adverse events among DS users. This study assessed patterns of DS use and self-reported side-effects among 4400 Armed Forces personnel using a paper-and-pencil survey. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations between patterns of DS use and self-reported side-effects.

Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Use by Athletes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Dietary supplements (DSs) are commercially available products consumed as an addition to the usual diet and are frequently ingested by athletes.

Objective: Our objective was to examine the prevalence of DS use by athletes.

Data Sources: PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, OVID Healthstar, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health were searched for original research articles published up to August 2014.

Predictors of Dietary Supplement Use by U.S. Coast Guard Personnel.

Background: Personnel in Armed Forces entities such as the US Coast Guard (USCG) engage in strenuous tasks requiring high levels of physiological and psychological fitness. Previous reports have found increased prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) use by military personnel to meet the demands of their occupation.

Objective: This study assessed DS prevalence and patterns of use in USCG personnel and compared these findings to reports from other Armed Forces personnel.

Monitoring Training for Human Performance Optimization.

Physical fitness can significantly impact the mission success of Special Operations Forces (SOF). Much like athletes, Operators have multiple training components including technical, tactical, physical and mental conditioning, which must simultaneously be developed for mission success. Balancing multiple physical stressors to ensure positive results from training can be achieved through periodization?the intentional planning for success.

Multivitamin and protein supplement use is associated with positive mood states and health behaviors in US Military and Coast Guard personnel.

Approximately 60% of Armed Forces personnel regularly consume dietary supplements (DSs). We investigated the association of mood and health behaviors with multiple classes of DSs in military and Coast Guard personnel (N = 5536). Participants completed a survey of DS use and the Quick Mood Scale to assess mood domains of wakeful-drowsiness, relaxed-anxious, cheerful-depressed, friendly-aggression, clearheaded-confused, and well coordinated-clumsy.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of dietary supplement use by military personnel.

Background: Although a number of studies have been conducted on the prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) use in military personnel, these investigations have not been previously summarized. This article provides a systematic literature review of this topic.

Methods: Literature databases, reference lists, and other sources were searched to find studies that quantitatively examined the prevalence of DS use in uniformed military groups.

Concomitant dietary supplement and prescription medication use is prevalent among US adults with doctor-informed medical conditions.

Information on patterns of concomitant dietary supplement (DS) and prescription medication (PM) use among US adults is limited. Thus, the prevalence of concomitant DS and PM use as a function of doctor-informed medical conditions (DIMC) was determined in a cross-sectional, observational study of a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized, civilian adults aged ≥20 years in the United States (N=9,950) from the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Data were weighted for the complex, multistage, probability sampling design.

Efficacy and safety of protein supplements for U.S. Armed Forces personnel: consensus statement.

To provide evidence-based guidance regarding the efficacy and safety of dietary protein supplement (PS) use by members of the U.S. Armed Forces, a panel of internationally recognized experts in the fields of protein metabolism and dietary supplement research was convened by the Department of Defense Center Alliance for Dietary Supplement Research and the U.

Analysis of 1,3 dimethylamylamine concentrations in Geraniaceae, geranium oil and dietary supplements.

1,3-Dimethylamylamine (DMAA) is a sympathomimetic compound currently incorporated into some dietary supplements. Significant controversy exists regarding the 'natural' origin of DMAA, as claimed by manufacturers of supplements. Manufacturers often refer to its presence by the name Geranamine® implying that DMAA is found in the plant species Geranium and Pelargonium known collectively as Geraniaceae.

Predictors of the relationships between nutritional supplement use and weight-modification goals of U.S. Army soldiers.

Background: U.S. Army Soldiers must meet body weight and composition standards and consequently may use nutritional supplements (NS) purported to assist in weight modification (WM).

Effect of carbohydrate-protein supplement timing on acute exercise-induced muscle damage.

Purpose: To determine if timing of a supplement would have an effect on muscle damage, function and soreness.

Methods: Twenty-seven untrained men (21 +/- 3 yrs) were given a supplement before or after exercise. Subjects were randomly assigned to a pre exercise (n = 9), received carbohydrate/protein drink before exercise and placebo after, a post exercise (n = 9), received placebo before exercise and carbohydrate/protein drink after, or a control group (n = 9), received placebo before and after exercise.

Comparison of oxygenation in peripheral muscle during submaximal aerobic exercise, in persons with COPD and healthy, matched-control persons.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare peripheral muscle oxygenation in persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to healthy control persons, during submaximal exercise.

Methods: Eight persons with COPD (forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1] = 1.00 +/- 0.

Reliability of near-infrared spectroscopy for determining muscle oxygen saturation during exercise.

Near-infrared spectroscopy is currently used to assess changes in the oxygen saturation of the muscle during exercise. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of near-infrared spectroscopy in determining muscle oxygen saturation (StO2) in the vastus lateralis during cycling and the gastrocnemius during running for exercise intensities at lactate threshold and maximal effort. Test-retest reliability was determined from an intraclass correlation coefficient obtained from a one-way analysis of variance.