Athletes are always looking for the best treatment plans to get back in the game.
David Strickland, Glanbia Performance Nutrition's chief commercial officer detailed what clinicians should know about supplements and the future of nutrition.
Question: What should athletes and clinicians know about nutrition supplements?
David Strickland: At GPN, our position is food first. Muscles are made in the kitchen. Performance is made in the kitchen. So, it’s important to try and get the majority of your calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats from whole foods. This is going to give you the broadest range of nutrients — vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, antioxidants and fiber — to support maximum performance and recovery.
At the same time, there are two powerful reasons to consider supplements — especially with the demands of today’s busy world. First is convenience. If we are eating as well as we can to meet performance goals, but you’re pressed for time — especially when it comes to food preparation –— supplements can help fill in the gaps with convenience options you can take anywhere. These include bars, ready to drink beverages, and ready to mix powders. The second reason is to take your performance beyond food. For example, to get five grams of Creatine — what athletes look for in a serving — you would need to eat about one kilo or 2.2 pounds of red meat. To get three grams of CLA, which is a common daily amount, you would need to eat about 150 slices of American cheese.
Q: How do supplements and nutrition affect an athlete’s performance?
DS: At GPN, we focus on four ingredients that appear frequently in published research: protein, caffeine, creatine and beta-alanine. Assuming you are a healthy adult over the age of 18, these four ingredients offer benefits for just about every sport.
First, protein does not equal bulk. Protein equals recovery. All exercise causes micro-damage to muscles. The longer and harder the exercise, the more damage. Consuming protein, such as whey protein after exercise and casein protein before sleep, helps your body repair that muscle. The new muscle it makes is stronger, more efficient muscle. Caffeine for healthy adults used moderately an hour before exercise can help improve focus and attention. Creatine, which is something the body makes naturally and is found naturally in food, can help your body recycle and rebuild. ATP is the fuel that drives explosive movements like sprinting, jumping, kicking, throwing and lifting. Finally, beta-alanine, an amino acid found is certain foods, can help improve muscular endurance, helping athletes across all sports potentially train harder and longer.
Q: What trends are you seeing among competitors? And what is the future of Glanbia Performance Nutrition?
DS: We are seeing some very exciting trends. The first being a move toward more plant-based nutrition. But here’s the interesting part. In the U.S. only about 4 percent of the general population identifies as vegetarian and around 1 percent as vegan. So where is this rise coming from? We are seeing more documentaries talking about the environment and sustainability and how it plays into food choices, including with athletes. There’s new term coming from this phenomenon: flexitarian. Flexitarians are individuals who can eat however they want, but they are starting to look at what they call “better for me” exchanges. In other words, they will keep eating meat and dairy through the week, but a few times a day or a few times a week, they will substitute more plant-based nutrition and plant-based protein.
In regard to the future of GPN, as the world becomes more and more busy, we are very focused on establishing a leadership position around offering high-quality protein supplements in ready-to-consume formats that are available wherever athletes need them.
Note: Mr. Strickland was a speaker at the Chicago Sports Summit, Oct. 3 in Chicago.