Sports supplements that are worth it, and the ones that are not

The supplement market is large and the number of products with credible evidence is small.

Here is the honest sorting, with the plant-based angle where relevant.

The ones with genuine evidence

Creatine monohydrate. The best-evidenced sports supplement in existence, and of particular relevance here.

Creatine occurs almost exclusively in animal foods. Plant-based individuals have lower muscle stores and consistently show larger responses to supplementation than omnivores.

Three to five grams daily, indefinitely. Cheap, safe for healthy people, well studied over decades. Vegan-suitable products are standard.

If you do resistance training or repeated high-intensity work and eat no animal products, this is the one to take.

Caffeine. Substantial evidence for endurance performance and reasonable evidence for strength and power.

Three to six milligrams per kilogram, around an hour before. Plant-based by default.

Individual sensitivity varies enormously, and the effect on sleep persists longer than most people account for.

Beta-alanine. Buffers muscle acidity, with evidence for efforts lasting roughly one to four minutes.

Requires daily loading over weeks. Causes harmless tingling at higher single doses, addressed by splitting the dose.

Dietary nitrate, usually as concentrated beetroot juice. Evidence for endurance performance and efficiency, with larger effects in recreational than elite athletes.

Note that antibacterial mouthwash reduces the effect, since the conversion depends on oral bacteria.

Sodium bicarbonate. Buffering, with evidence for high-intensity efforts. Notorious for gastrointestinal distress, which limits its use.

Protein powder, which is food in convenient form rather than a supplement in the pharmacological sense. Useful for hitting high targets.

Carbohydrate products for during exercise, which are not really supplements but which have the best evidence of anything for endurance performance.

The ones addressing deficiency rather than enhancing performance

Different category, and important.

B12, essential for anyone plant-based.

Vitamin D, where deficiency is common and affects muscle function.

Iron, where deficiency is common in endurance athletes. Only on the basis of testing.

Algal omega-3, to address the conversion issue.

Iodine and zinc, where dietary intake is likely marginal.

These do not improve performance in people who are replete. They restore performance in people who are deficient, which is a different and frequently more consequential thing.

The ones with weak or no evidence

Branched-chain amino acids, for anyone consuming adequate total protein. Extensively marketed, poorly supported.

Glutamine, for healthy athletes.

Most testosterone boosters, which either do nothing or correct a deficiency in someone who was deficient.

Fat burners, beyond the caffeine they contain.

Most pre-workout blends, which are caffeine plus a proprietary mixture of ingredients frequently at doses below anything shown to work.

If you want caffeine and beta-alanine and creatine, buying them separately is cheaper and you know the dose.

Ketone esters, where the evidence is mixed and the cost is substantial.

Collagen supplements, which are animal-derived and where evidence for tendon and joint outcomes is developing and not established. Plant-based alternatives claiming equivalent effects have no evidence at all.

Most recovery supplements beyond carbohydrate, protein, fluid and electrolytes.

The antioxidant caution

Worth its own note.

High-dose antioxidant supplementation after training has been shown in several studies to blunt the adaptive response — the oxidative signalling from exercise is part of how adaptation occurs.

This applies to high-dose vitamin C and E supplements rather than to antioxidants from food, which are fine and beneficial.

Plant-based athletes generally have high dietary antioxidant intake, which is good. Adding high-dose supplements on top is not.

Contamination, which matters more than efficacy for some

The supplement industry is poorly regulated in most jurisdictions.

Products have repeatedly been found to contain undeclared substances, including compounds banned in sport.

For any athlete subject to anti-doping testing, third-party certification against contamination is not optional. Athletes are responsible for what is in their body regardless of how it got there.

For everyone else, third-party testing is still the reasonable filter, since it is the only assurance that the product contains what it says.

The order of operations

Supplements are the last few percent, and they only matter once everything else is handled.

Total energy intake adequate. Protein target met. Carbohydrate around training. Sleep sufficient. Training programme sound. Micronutrient status checked.

An athlete optimising their pre-workout formula while sleeping six hours and under-eating is working on the wrong variable by a wide margin.

The short list

For a plant-based athlete, the supplements actually worth considering:

B12. Vitamin D. Algal omega-3. Creatine. Iodine. Protein powder if the target is hard to hit. Caffeine if it suits you. Iron if testing indicates it.

That is the whole list, and most of it addresses nutritional adequacy rather than enhancing performance.

General information rather than individual advice. Athletes subject to anti-doping testing must use third-party certified products. Do not supplement iron without testing.