Sports and nutritional supplement use in USMC recruits: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
This is a pilot study to describe patterns of nutritional supplement use by recruits entering the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC).


METHODS
A survey asking USMC recruits to self-report nutritional supplement use was administered upon entry to basic training. Simple descriptive statistics and prevalence ratios were used to describe patterns of supplement use.


RESULTS
The response rate was 65%. Half of respondents reported nutritional sports supplement use at some point before boot camp. The five most commonly supplements were: protein powder (43%), postrecovery workout drinks (36%), vitamin supplements (26%), creatine (26%), and nitric oxide (16%).


CONCLUSIONS
Nutritional supplement use is frequent among recruits entering the USMC. The impact of supplement use on recruit fitness, training, and injury rates is not known.
Young
Colin R
CR
Department of Family Medicine, Uniformed Services University, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
Stephens
Mark B
MB