Use of creatine and protein powders linked to alcoholism later in life, study claims

Using performance-enhancing substances such as protein powders or creatine is linked to alcoholism in later life, a study suggests.

Young adults between the ages of 18-26 who used such substances were significantly more likely to report several problematic alcohol use and drinking-related risk behaviours seven years later, the researchers found.

The relationship was found to be particularly strong among men.

“The results from our study are concerning given the common use of legal performance-enhancing substances among young people, particularly boys and men,” said the study’s lead author, Kyle T Ganson, PhD, MSW, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.

“Risky alcohol use is a serious problem for adult men, who have higher rates of death associated with alcohol use compared to women. Problematic alcohol use ultimately impedes economic and employment success, and increases health care and law enforcement costs.”

By analysing a sample of over 12,000 US participants, the researchers found men who used legal performance-enhancing substances were more likely to experience alcohol use problems and risk behaviours.

Such behaviours included as binge drinking, getting hurt or engaging in risky behaviours while drunk, experiencing legal problems while drunk, continually using alcohol despite emotional or physical health problems, and reducing activities and socialisiation that interfered with alcohol use.

Dr Ganson said he thinks the social pressure boys and men feel to achieve a lean and muscular body type may explain the different results between genders.

“For most boys and men, this body ideal is unattainable, leading to performance-enhancing substance use,” he says. “This body image contrasts with the thin ideal for girls and women.”

In the US, legal performance-enhancing substances are unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, senior author Jason M Nagata, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Pediatrics, said.

“These substances are also commonly mislabeled and may contain harmful ingredients, such as anabolic steroids, which can lead to heart, liver, and kidney problems and worsen mental health.”

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, called for government oversight and regulation of legal performance-enhancing substances.

Another study, led by Dr Nagata and published in JAMA Pediatrics, also showed a relationship between legal performance-enhancing substances and later use of illegal anabolic-androgenic steriods.

The authors said health professionals and policy makers need to adjust their practices and goals to account for the gateway-like relationship they have observed between alcohol use and legal performance-enhancing substances.

“Health professionals should screen for these behaviours and counsel young people about potential health risks,” Dr Ganson said. “We also need state and federal policymakers to begin to take these substances seriously and recognise the adverse effects they have on youth.”