Adherence
Athletes who purchase nutritional supplements outside of their athletic department's provided inventory are at significantly higher risk of using non-third-party tested (TPT) supplements compared to those who rely on department-provided products.
If you buy supplements from your school's athletic department, you are statistically much safer regarding contamination risks than if you buy them yourself at a store or online. If you must buy your own, you are at higher risk of using untested products; prioritize finding and ordering from verified third-party tested sources.
purchasing supplements outside of what the athletic department provides... increased the chance of inconsistent TPT use.
Why this rating
Based on a large cross-sectional study (n=320 training) with statistically significant logistic regression results (p=0.068 for the variable, part of a significant model).
Source
Development of a screener to assess athlete risk behavior of not using third-party tested nutritional supplements
Floris C. Wardenaar et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2024
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →