By Kevin Gleason
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 06/30/10

Dr. William Rose is a Middletown pediatrician with children who have played college sports. Pat D'Aliso is a health teacher at Monroe-Woodbury and head coach of one of the top scholastic football teams in the state.

They believe supplements are largely useless and potentially harmful.

"There's not one supplement that we recommend,'' Rose says. "I don't think it helps.''

Dr. Jose Antonio represents the other side of the supplementation spectrum. He's so sure certain supplements are beneficial that he gives creatine to his 9-year-old twin daughters who play softball. "It helps with strength and power, speed and recovery,'' says Antonio, who lives in South Florida.

Antonio has pretty heady credentials. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the area of skeletal muscle plasticity. Antonio co-founded International Society of Sports Nutrition, which he says is "recognized as the only not-for-profit academic-based society dedicated to sports nutrition and growing the science of applied nutrition.''

Defending creatine

Antonio chuckles when asked why creatine has such a bad reputation. He says he's one of fewer than 50 sports nutrition scientists in the world, and that conversations with peers often involve the vast amount of misinformation regarding supplements. Antonio thinks most people don't understand science or are unfamiliar with data surrounding supplements.

"There are at least 200 studies that show creatine to be safe,'' Antonio says.

All three of Rose's sons have tried supplements. Chris Rose, 24, played basketball at Division III Williams College and brother Kevin will enter his senior year as a member of Williams' football team. Will Rose, 27, played high school baseball.

"I just never could get it into their heads,'' says Rose, a pediatrician for 31 years. "They thought it was going to help build muscle mass. I never saw a study show that it improved muscle mass more than just eating protein.''

Rose believes there could be an element of danger to taking supplements. There is the potential for kidney damage, he says, with using creatine and other supplements, and warns that using any supplement requires constant hydration.

"If you are dehydrated and there's a higher concentration of amino acids in the bloodstream, the kidneys have to filter it out,'' Rose says. "There's more potential to do damage'' if kidneys have to work harder to filter it out. "There are energy drinks out there that have caffeine or too much sugar that are pretty harmful,'' Rose says.

Antonio says creatine has been on the market for 20 years, that if its usage has harmful long-term effects, we would have seen them by now. "There is no evidence it's harmful,'' he says. "In fact it's quite safe.''

Rose tells parents and patients that a healthy diet works best.

Players constantly ask D'Aliso for advice on stuff they are taking or considering taking. He tells them there's no reliable data showing the pros and cons because the "guinea pigs'' haven't stopped taking it. When they react with a quizzical look, D'Aliso says, "The guinea pigs are you.''

"I use one rule,'' D'Aliso says. "You look at a supplement on the side of the container. If it says, 'not approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)' and there is no scientific data to prove it works, to me it doesn't work.''

He tells kids seeking advice on weight gain to increase the family's grocery bill. And like Rose, D'Aliso worries about potential dangers.

Many products 'worthless'

Longtime Division I college strength coach and local trainer Rick Scarpulla agrees that "a lot of products are worthless'' and that a sound diet is essential to building the proper athlete. Scarpulla trains dozens of young athletes out of his Fair Oaks gym. He has coached the Army powerlifting team to fourth place-or-better finishes in the past seven national collegiate meets.

He believes in certain products. And kids training under Scarpulla rave about the results."

It's proper training, supplementation and diet, and rest,'' Scarpulla says of the main factors involved in developing a quality athlete. "The number one factor above all else is training consistency.''

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