Henning April D
National Development and Research Institutes.
J Amat Sport. 2015;1(2):51-77.
Participants at the non-elite level of road running often take up the sport for purposes of health, as a way of taking responsibility for their own well-being. Often, these runners use dietary supplements as a way to improve health and to potentially enhance running performance. Supplements are distinct from banned performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), as they are legal and widely available, though very loosely regulated. Research demonstrates that the line between supplements and banned PEDs is increasingly blurry as cases of cross-contaminated and mislabeled supplements continue to be found. Such products may pose health risks to unsuspecting consumers. Despite anti-doping agencies' warnings to elite runners about these risks, non-elite runners are rarely told by any sport or anti-doping body to be wary of supplements. They are, however, inundated with media coverage of doping scandals usually involving only a few of the substances banned in sport. In short, these runners are often left to navigate supplement use on their own and many conflate supplement availability with safety. This article explores these routine dietary supplement practices among non-elite runners. Drawing from interviews with 28 non-elite runners in New York City, I discuss the perceptions and understandings of doping and dietary supplement use within the context of health culture. Interview data reveal that the social acceptance of dietary supplements and their widespread use among the broader public reinforce the notion among non-elite runners that such products are objectively safe and healthy. I argue that based on their assumptions of supplement safety, non-elite runners view dietary supplements as distinctly different from PEDs and that this difference encourages their use as health and performance aids.
非精英水平的路跑参与者常常出于健康目的而投身这项运动，将其作为一种对自身幸福负责的方式。通常，这些跑步者会使用膳食补充剂来改善健康状况，并有可能提高跑步成绩。补充剂不同于被禁止的提高成绩的药物（PEDs），因为它们是合法的且广泛可得，不过监管非常宽松。研究表明，随着受交叉污染和标签错误的补充剂案例不断被发现，补充剂与被禁止的PEDs之间的界限越来越模糊。此类产品可能会对毫无戒心的消费者构成健康风险。尽管反兴奋剂机构已就这些风险向精英跑步者发出警告，但非精英跑步者很少被任何体育或反兴奋剂机构告知要警惕补充剂。然而，他们却被媒体大量报道的兴奋剂丑闻所淹没，这些丑闻通常只涉及少数几种被体育界禁止的物质。简而言之，这些跑步者常常只能自行摸索补充剂的使用方法，而且许多人将补充剂的可得性与安全性混为一谈。本文探讨了非精英跑步者中这些常规的膳食补充剂使用行为。通过对纽约市28名非精英跑步者的访谈，我在健康文化背景下讨论了对兴奋剂和膳食补充剂使用的认知与理解。访谈数据显示，膳食补充剂在社会上被接受以及它们在更广泛公众中的广泛使用，强化了非精英跑步者的一种观念，即此类产品在客观上是安全且健康的。我认为，基于他们对补充剂安全性的假设，非精英跑步者将膳食补充剂视为与PEDs截然不同的东西，而这种差异促使他们将其用作健康和提高成绩的辅助手段。
