Nutritional ergogenic aids for Weight Loss and Performance Enhancement from myth to document

An ergogenic aid is any training technique, mechanical device, nutritional practice, pharmacological method, or psychological technique that can improve exercise performance capacity and/or enhance training adaptations. This includes aids that may help prepare an individual to exercise, improve the efficiency of exercise, and/or enhance recovery from exercise. Ergogenic aids may also allow an individual to tolerate heavy training to a greater degree by helping them recover faster or help them stay healthy during intense training. Research has clearly shown that athletes that do not ingest enough calories and/or do not consume enough of the right type of macronutrients may impede training adaptations while athletes who consume a good diet can help the body adapt to training. Moreover, maintaining an energy deficient diet during training may lead to loss of muscle mass, increased susceptibility to illness, and increase prevalence of overreaching and/or overtraining. The purpose of this review is to examine the usefulness of the commercially available supplements used for weight loss and Performance Enhancement according to the International Society of Sport position categorized them to four distinct category: Apparently Effective, Possibly Effective, Too Early To Tell and Apparently Ineffective to separate myth from scientific documentation.