Uso de suplementos alimentares por praticantes de musculação em academias do Brasil: uma revisão de literatura

Abstract

In Brazil, aesthetics is among the main motivations for people to practice bodybuilding. Supplements are one of the resources used to help you get to the desired body. However, indiscriminate consumption can cause harm to health. Therefore, this study aims to investigate in the literature the prevalence of the use of dietary supplements in gyms in Brazil and the characteristics involved. The present work is an integrative review of the literature, in which the search strategies (“gyms” AND “supplements”) and (“bodybuilding” AND “supplements”) were used to select articles in the Scielo databases. and LILACS. The inclusion criteria were defined as: original articles with texts available in full and free of charge, published in the last 10 years, in Portuguese. As exclusion criteria, articles repeatedly indexed in different databases; articles that do not meet the objectives of the study. All 10 articles included in the sample are cross-sectional in nature. The South region stands out as the site of most research. The number of study participants ranged from 22 to 1,401 individuals, of both sexes, aged between 18 and 71 years. There was a prevalence of up to 71% in the consumption of dietary supplements, mainly by males. The consumption of products based on proteins and amino acids stands out. It was also revealed that the main reason for supplementation was to gain muscle mass and the recommendation is most often made by unqualified professionals, such as physical educators. Furthermore, articles that assessed knowledge about nutrition considered participants as having “good” to “moderate” knowledge, in addition to overvaluing protein consumption. Therefore, it is concluded that the prevalence of indiscriminate supplement consumption is high. Therefore, we must pay attention to the importance of the nutritionist's role as a professional qualified to prescribe dietary supplements, aiming to guarantee their safe use.