:00:09. > :00:14.With the biggest sporting event in the world just a week away,
:00:14. > :00:20.millions of us are striving for our own personal best. Powerade,
:00:20. > :00:24.hydrating the 2012 Olympic athletes. There is a booming market in drinks,
:00:24. > :00:34.trainers and supplements promising to help us on our way. Faster,
:00:34. > :00:36.
:00:36. > :00:38.But what's the truth behind the marketing hype for those pricy
:00:38. > :00:41.trainers? Did you find any good evidence on
:00:42. > :00:46.trainers about some of the claims that they made? None whatsoever.
:00:46. > :00:51.Would we be better off running barefoot instead? See how nice and
:00:51. > :00:55.smooth that curve becomes? At the liments of your ability...
:00:55. > :01:00.Are sugary sports drinks better for exercise than water? If they
:01:00. > :01:02.avoided the sports drink, they'd get thinner and run fast Marissa
:01:02. > :01:12.Mayemmairmair. One world record break Marissa Mayemmairmair gives
:01:12. > :01:13.
:01:13. > :01:17.us his secret recipe for success. One, bread, two, jam. The world's
:01:17. > :01:22.toughest soldiers tell us how much they drink to maximise enshurns.
:01:22. > :01:27.How far would you have to walk with this?
:01:27. > :01:30.50 kilometres. 50 kilometres! We ask if we can boost sporting
:01:31. > :01:34.performance and recovery with dietary supplements. This has
:01:34. > :01:38.become yet another fashion accessory for exercise and a rather
:01:38. > :01:44.expensive way of getting a bit of milk. Or are we all really being
:01:44. > :01:47.taken for a ride? We have to ask, do we want science or show
:01:47. > :01:57.business? Tonight on Panorama, we put the advertising claims to the
:01:57. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:07.test to find out the truth about As a nation, we may be getting
:02:07. > :02:10.fatter, but record numbers are also trying to get fitter. Nearly one in
:02:10. > :02:19.five of us go to the gym, and around 12 million people in the UK
:02:19. > :02:21.take part in some kind of sport. So there's an eager market for
:02:21. > :02:27.performance-enhancing sports products, but are the marketing
:02:27. > :02:32.claims made in the name of science all they're cracked up to be?
:02:32. > :02:36.Muscle performance and ruts. When I wear Merrell bare foot, I am
:02:36. > :02:38.strengthening my leg and foot muscles. Now an independent team of
:02:38. > :02:41.researchers from Oxford University's Centre for Evidence
:02:41. > :02:49.Based Medicine and the British Medical Journal is testing the
:02:49. > :02:54.research behind the hype. And Panorama has gained exclusive
:02:54. > :02:58.access to this, the first-ever study of its kind. Look at all the
:02:58. > :03:01.data and the research. Some of these advertisers are cherry-
:03:01. > :03:06.picking particular studies The team is painstakingly sifting through a
:03:06. > :03:11.range of health and fitness magazines, scrutinising every claim
:03:12. > :03:15.made about performance or recovery. Over a thousand ads in all. Here is
:03:15. > :03:19.an example of Lucozade Luke telling you it's faster, stronger, longer -
:03:19. > :03:23.so that's a general claim, if you like.
:03:23. > :03:25.The team is testing whether claims like this one are backed up by
:03:25. > :03:29.sound scientific evidence. If that's not clear from the ads
:03:29. > :03:32.themselves, they're chasing the companies for more information.
:03:32. > :03:42.They say it's supposed to make you fast Marissa Mayemmairmair or
:03:42. > :03:50.
:03:50. > :03:54.strong Marissa Mayemmairmair... It's months of meticulous research.
:03:54. > :03:58.35,000 runners are descending on leafy Greenwich for the start of
:03:58. > :04:01.the London Marathon, from serious athletes to first-time charity
:04:01. > :04:07.runners. There is one question that bonds them - what should they drink
:04:07. > :04:13.to get them around the course? runners are just about to start.
:04:13. > :04:16.It's going to be a long journey for a lot of them who haven't run
:04:16. > :04:19.marathons before. They're all clutching their water, their sports
:04:19. > :04:25.drinks. I don't know whether the fact today is sunny is going to
:04:25. > :04:29.make a difference to how much they're going to drink. You're
:04:29. > :04:34.clutching at their water, their sports drinks. Is that what you're
:04:34. > :04:40.going to drink? A few of those, but mainly water. Water, plenty of it,
:04:40. > :04:45.sticking with water. The makers of the UK's top-selling sports drink
:04:45. > :04:48.are doing their best to persuade runners they need more than water.
:04:48. > :04:54.Lucozade has a huge presence here with drinks stations along the
:04:54. > :04:58.whole route. The runners are off on their
:04:58. > :05:01.endurance test. I am now going to go along to the finishing line to
:05:01. > :05:11.see what sort of condition they're in. Luckily for me, I am getting a
:05:11. > :05:19.
:05:19. > :05:22.At the end of the gruelling 26-mile course, many of the exhausted
:05:22. > :05:27.runners are grateful for the break in the weather to cool them down,
:05:28. > :05:31.and it turns out, plenty are also glad of the carbs boost from
:05:31. > :05:35.Lucozade Sport along the way. time there is water, every time
:05:35. > :05:39.there is a Lucozade station, I drink about a quarter of the
:05:39. > :05:48.bottles that went around. I've picked up water most stops and had
:05:48. > :05:53.some Lucozade Sport as well because I've heard that it replenishes your
:05:53. > :05:57.glycogeneral, which is muscle fuel. Mo Farrah is one of the faces of
:05:57. > :06:07.Lucozade Sport, the UK's best ever distance runner is going for more
:06:07. > :06:10.
:06:10. > :06:17.gold this summer. Faster, stronger It works for top athletes like him,
:06:17. > :06:21.but do Lucozade Sport's claims hold true for the rest of us? The team
:06:21. > :06:27.from Oxford and the BMU looked for evidence in the ads for Lucozade
:06:27. > :06:28.Sport, but couldn't find any, so they wrote to the manufacturer,
:06:28. > :06:38.pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline for more
:06:38. > :06:38.
:06:38. > :06:43.information. What they got back is what scientists call a data dump.
:06:43. > :06:48.This is actually 40 years worth of Lucozade sports research from 1971
:06:48. > :06:52.right up until today - 176 stud Idies, of which within there were
:06:53. > :06:57.101 trials that we specifically obtained and looked at. It's an
:06:57. > :07:01.overwhelming task for the ordinary consumer, but the team methodically
:07:01. > :07:05.sifted through each of the studies with three key questions in mind:
:07:05. > :07:09.What's the quality of the evidence? What's the size of the effect? And
:07:09. > :07:14.who does it apply to? And in this case, the quality of the evidence
:07:14. > :07:17.is poor. The size of the effect is often miniscule, and it certainly
:07:17. > :07:20.doesn't apply to the population at large who are buying these products.
:07:20. > :07:25.Basically, when you look at the evidence in the general population,
:07:25. > :07:30.it doesn't say that, actually, exercise has improved. Performance
:07:30. > :07:33.is improved by carbohydrate drinks. For the ordinary person taking
:07:33. > :07:38.exercise, the Oxford team simply couldn't find evidence to support
:07:38. > :07:40.Lucozade Sport's claims. In reply, GlaxoSmithKline said:
:07:40. > :07:43."As a company dedicated to healthcare, we approach all claims
:07:43. > :07:45.with the highest scientific rigour. Over 40 years of research
:07:45. > :07:48.experience and 85 peer-reviewed studies have supported the
:07:48. > :07:50.development of Lucozade Sport and all our claims are based on
:07:50. > :08:00.scientific evidence that has been reviewed and substantiated by the
:08:00. > :08:11.
:08:11. > :08:14.And more of that authority's findings later. Another of the
:08:14. > :08:18.Oxford researchers looked beyond Lucozade at the general body of
:08:18. > :08:22.research on sports drinks. Again, he says good studies were race, but
:08:22. > :08:26.the best one he found on marathon runners had a surprising conclusion.
:08:26. > :08:31.There was a well-conducted study where they gave 50 runners sports
:08:31. > :08:35.drinks and the other 50 runners had water, and they looked at their
:08:35. > :08:40.performance through the marathon, and that showed no significant
:08:40. > :08:43.benefit of the sports drink on speed of finish the marathon, which
:08:43. > :08:50.is an outcome that the marathon runner would probably be interested
:08:50. > :08:54.What do the experts who study nothing but sports performance make
:08:54. > :09:01.of the Oxford findings? I'm going to the place where sports drinks
:09:01. > :09:05.began - way back in the 1930s. MUSIC
:09:05. > :09:10.The first ever sports drink was created here in South Africa by an
:09:10. > :09:15.ultra-marathon runner, and it turns out, 90 years on, that the biggest
:09:15. > :09:18.critic of these drinks is also based here, so I'm going to meet
:09:18. > :09:22.him. For more than 30 years, Professor Tim Noakes has been
:09:22. > :09:28.researching what sports people should drink. He's carried out
:09:28. > :09:32.dozens of studies at Letts of all ability levels to try to establish
:09:32. > :09:36.the perfect fluid balance. What we find is there is a direct
:09:36. > :09:40.relationship to how much you drink and your performance. If you don't
:09:40. > :09:45.drink at all, your performance is definitely impaired, but
:09:45. > :09:49.interestingly Gyou drink too much, your per -- did you drink too much,
:09:49. > :09:56.your performance school impaired. So it's important to get the fluid
:09:56. > :10:02.balance right. Drink, but not too much, if you want to be your best.
:10:02. > :10:05.But what should we drink? Water? Or do we need a specially formulated
:10:05. > :10:09.sports drink? It's enough that you have to just push through pain all
:10:09. > :10:19.the time... British Olympic hopeful Jessica Ennis is a Heptathlon gold
:10:19. > :10:19.
:10:20. > :10:25.medallist. She drinks Powerade. Four minutes, 20.894, the world
:10:25. > :10:29.record -- Powerade Ion 4 resplenishes. They contain
:10:29. > :10:34.electrolytes and carbohydrates - salt and sugar to you and me. So
:10:34. > :10:38.does this really give them the edge on water, like the adverts claim?
:10:38. > :10:43.We've shown that the amount of electrolytes present makes no
:10:43. > :10:46.impact on performance. However, carbohydrates do definitely make an
:10:46. > :10:52.effect, but the effect takes a long time to show, so one has to cycle
:10:52. > :10:55.for two or three hours to show an effect. One lap to go, 250 metres
:10:55. > :10:59.separating Graeme Obree from his finest moment... Graeme Obree is a
:10:59. > :11:02.man who has pushed his own performance to the limit. The
:11:02. > :11:08.Flying Scotsman came from no-where in 1993 with his handmade bike and
:11:08. > :11:14.distinctive riding style to smash first the world record then the 400
:11:14. > :11:20.metres pursuit. The world record, and he beats the
:11:20. > :11:24.Frenchman comfortably. He has since broken two more world records
:11:24. > :11:31.fuelled by his own special combination of fluid and carbs.
:11:31. > :11:37.Tonight, exclusively on Panorama, he's agreed to share his recipe.
:11:37. > :11:43.One, bread, 2, jam. So what you do - you get an application device,
:11:43. > :11:49.and what you do is this - you actually scoop the jam onto the
:11:49. > :11:53.sandwich, spread it in an even manner. He doesn't use sports
:11:53. > :11:59.drinks. His energy booster - nothing more sophisticated than a
:11:59. > :12:04.jam sandwich and plain, old- fashioned water. The jam provides
:12:04. > :12:09.basically sugar - a very short chain carbohydrate. Now, a long-
:12:09. > :12:16.chain carbohydrate, the long part has the quick rush of the sugar,
:12:16. > :12:21.but the long bit breaks downzymes automatically. You actually broke
:12:21. > :12:25.the records just using that? That's what I did, that and water. Graeme
:12:25. > :12:31.Obree rejects sports drink, but they have been shown to give
:12:31. > :12:36.enshurns athletes a boost after hours of exercise, when the sugar,
:12:36. > :12:42.stored as glycogen in muscles runs out. But what about the rest of us?
:12:42. > :12:48.Tim Noakes says that's where it fades away.
:12:48. > :12:52.They do - laboratory studies of highly adapted athletes who are
:12:52. > :12:56.good athletes who can sustain high exercise for long periods - in that
:12:56. > :13:01.group, it does work. They never go and study a person who trains two
:13:01. > :13:08.hours a week and walks most of the marathon, which is the major users
:13:08. > :13:18.of sports drinks. But Cocozza -- Coca-Cola Great Britain deny this.
:13:18. > :13:46.
:13:46. > :13:49.The European Food Safety Authority takes a different view of who
:13:50. > :13:55.sports drinks should be aimed at. They recently examined more than a
:13:55. > :13:59.hundred claims by the makers of sports drinks and supplements. They
:13:59. > :14:03.approved just six. They were persuaded that sports drinks can
:14:03. > :14:12.help maintain high-intensity exercise that lasts for more than
:14:12. > :14:15.an hour. If sports drinks are only really
:14:15. > :14:19.beneficial for hard-core endurance exercise, you might expect to find
:14:19. > :14:26.them in specialist shops, but no, they're here in supermarkets
:14:26. > :14:29.alongside fruit juices and other soft drinks.
:14:30. > :14:34.Clever marketing means we spent more than a quarter of a billion
:14:34. > :14:42.pounds on sports drinks last year, so it can't only be endurance
:14:42. > :14:45.athletes who are buying them despite the recent decision by EFSA.
:14:45. > :14:50.It's the endurance sports people - the people involved in endurance
:14:50. > :14:54.events who would be the target for these claims. But how are they the
:14:54. > :14:59.target if these drinks are sold in supermarkets? Well, that's a matter
:14:59. > :15:03.for the manufacturers to deal with. But it is quite important because...
:15:03. > :15:08.Yes. They are sold alongside soft drinks. Yes, but the information
:15:08. > :15:11.that will be on these products when these claims that are now permitted
:15:11. > :15:20.- when they carry these claims - will make it quite explicit, for
:15:20. > :15:30.So will tightening the claim on the label narrow the market for sports
:15:30. > :15:31.
:15:31. > :15:34.drinks? Or might it actually encourage more of us to buy them?
:15:34. > :15:37.There is a tiny niche market for these products. And they certainly
:15:37. > :15:39.do not need to be used by the mass market of people who are currently
:15:39. > :15:42.using them. Powerade inner gear. Sports kit for
:15:42. > :15:45.your insides. The sadness is that because people
:15:45. > :15:53.think now I am an athlete, I must now take a sports drink. In fact if
:15:54. > :15:56.they avoided the sports drink, they would get thinner and run faster.
:15:56. > :16:01.An after school kick-about in south London and even these eight-year-
:16:01. > :16:07.olds have got sports drinks. I like to drink Lucozade's cherry.
:16:07. > :16:16.Why? I don't really see the difference, but it must work
:16:16. > :16:22.because all the professionals use All the good ones drink it,
:16:22. > :16:25.Powerade and others like that. is this something that if you want
:16:25. > :16:27.to be a good footballer you should drink? Yeah, because it gives you a
:16:27. > :16:31.boost. Powerade contains essential
:16:31. > :16:34.nutrients to provide fast and effective hydration.
:16:34. > :16:40.These drinks may boost top footballers. But how healthy are
:16:40. > :16:45.they for children? The labels do list the high level
:16:46. > :16:53.of carbohydrates contained within these drinks. What some of them are
:16:53. > :16:55.less forthright about is that that means sugar. And lots of it. So
:16:55. > :17:01.this single bottle of Lucozade Sport contains the equivalent, in
:17:01. > :17:04.calories, of eight teaspoons of sugar. One of those bottles of
:17:04. > :17:09.Lucozade Sport, how much would you think was in it, how many teaspoons
:17:09. > :17:12.of sugar are in a bottle of Lucozade Sport? Five? Eight. Eight!
:17:12. > :17:17.That's an awful lot of sugar, isn't it? I would say six teaspoons at
:17:17. > :17:19.least, probably. It's eight. That's even worse then. They are bound to
:17:19. > :17:23.drink the whole thing within a session, so that's an awful lot of
:17:23. > :17:29.sugar. Do children who're exercising
:17:29. > :17:31.benefit from a sugar boost like this?
:17:31. > :17:34.Most parents are wise to the sugar rush which you can get from fizzy
:17:34. > :17:43.drinks and sweets, but they might imagine that a sports drink is
:17:43. > :17:46.healthier than that. Well if they do think that, they would be wrong.
:17:46. > :17:48.These drinks contain an awful lot of sugar, about one third, if not
:17:48. > :17:52.slightly more, than one third of a child's daily required amount of
:17:52. > :18:01.sugar. The speed that the sugar is taken up means that is it not good
:18:01. > :18:04.for child energy requirement. If you want to give your child energy,
:18:04. > :18:06.give them something like a banana. If you want to keep them hydrated,
:18:06. > :18:16.give them water. The makers of Lucozade Sport, GSK, told us they
:18:16. > :18:39.
:18:39. > :18:42.label contents clearly and that the One of the GPs on the Oxford team
:18:42. > :18:52.is worried about the public healthy impact of making sports drink more
:18:52. > :19:00.
:19:00. > :19:04.appealing. I've seen myself in surgery,
:19:04. > :19:07.children, young people, getting more obese and more obese. And this
:19:07. > :19:09.particular claim of drinks being good for you is very, very worrying
:19:09. > :19:11.because it could completely counteract young people exercising
:19:11. > :19:13.more, playing football more, going to the gym more. Hang on, though,
:19:13. > :19:18.the industry has an answer for the sugar question. Buy an artificially
:19:18. > :19:20.sweetened drink instead. Coca-Cola Great Britain told Panorama that
:19:20. > :19:30.Powerade Zero is designed for light workouts like a 45-minute run, and
:19:30. > :19:34.
:19:34. > :19:44.But what's the point of a sugar- free sports drink? How does a low
:19:44. > :19:46.
:19:46. > :19:52.calorie sports drinks give us more What in diet drinks is supposed to
:19:52. > :19:56.give us more energy? The very presence of low calories
:19:56. > :20:00.sports drinks kind of disproves the value of sports drinks. You either
:20:00. > :20:02.get the energy from the carbohydrates, or you don't.
:20:02. > :20:10.Coca Cola Great Britain says Powerade Zero hydrates, but then so
:20:10. > :20:13.does water, and you can get that free from the tap.
:20:13. > :20:17.So, for all but the most hard core athlete, the science suggests you
:20:17. > :20:20.could be wasting your money on sports drinks. But there is one
:20:20. > :20:28.sporting product that most of us regard as essential. A decent pair
:20:28. > :20:31.of trainers. Last year in the UK, we spent more
:20:31. > :20:33.than one and a quarter billion pounds on sports shoes.
:20:33. > :20:36.I usually buy a pair of trainers probably every six months,
:20:36. > :20:41.something like that. Usually between �60 and �100
:20:41. > :20:47.probably. About �80 for a pair of trainers. How much did these ones
:20:47. > :20:54.cost you? Three pounds. Three pounds? That's a bargain.
:20:54. > :20:56.The adverts emphasise stability and cushioning. The very things these
:20:56. > :21:02.gym-goers say they're looking for. What do you think is important in a
:21:02. > :21:08.trainer to prevent injury? Just to make sure that they have the air
:21:08. > :21:11.bubble in and just more shock absorbent style trainer. Cushioning
:21:11. > :21:13.is important because if you are doing a lot of high impact running
:21:13. > :21:18.on concrete surfaces, on roads, that puts a lot of stress of your
:21:18. > :21:22.knees. So you think the shock absorbers do much? I am not sure, I
:21:22. > :21:26.am not sure whether they help with running, but they look quite good.
:21:26. > :21:29.Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world. He set his world record
:21:29. > :21:38.wearing Puma. This is "no coincidence" says Puma's marketing
:21:38. > :21:42.blurb. The website says their shoe is: "Designed to minimise injury,
:21:42. > :21:47.optimise comfort and maximise speed." Strong claims. So can the
:21:47. > :21:50.team from Oxford and the BMJ find data to back them up?
:21:50. > :21:56.That should be really underpinned by good quality evidence. Did we
:21:56. > :22:01.find any? No. Did they supply any? No. I can't quite understand how
:22:01. > :22:04.you get from the evidence to that claim. If you can't find research
:22:04. > :22:09.for it, how can you then make that claim? So they just didn't supply
:22:09. > :22:13.any evidence to you at all when you asked? Not only did they not supply
:22:13. > :22:16.it, when we looked for it, we couldn't find any evidence at all.
:22:16. > :22:26.The Oxford researchers found no evidence to support Puma's claims.
:22:26. > :22:28.
:22:28. > :22:30.Puma were contacted but declined the opportunity to reply.
:22:30. > :22:32.But how does this negative result stack up with experts in the
:22:32. > :22:35.science of running? Harvard Professor Irene Davis runs a sports
:22:35. > :22:38.injury clinic in Boston. For years, the buzzword in her field has been
:22:38. > :22:45."pronation". A medical term that describes how your foot rolls when
:22:45. > :22:50.it hits the ground. Control that rolling and injuries will be
:22:51. > :22:54.reduced, so the theory goes. If you go into a shoe store, they will
:22:54. > :22:57.take a look at your feet and say, OK, if you have a high arch, a
:22:57. > :23:01.rigid foot that tends to roll out then we need to give you a
:23:01. > :23:04.cushioned shoe that helps to facilitate you rolling in. If you
:23:04. > :23:08.have a very flat flexible foot like this one here, then they give you a
:23:08. > :23:11.motion control shoe. And then if you have neutral foot, a natural
:23:11. > :23:15.neutral arch, they will give you a stability shoe. Of course, a
:23:15. > :23:20.specially tailored shoe is also a good marketing opportunity.
:23:20. > :23:23.I'm off to have my own feet assessed.
:23:23. > :23:30.Looking at your right ankle here, when you stand up it does flex
:23:30. > :23:33.inward slightly. We don't want you over-pronating where the foot
:23:33. > :23:39.flexes in too far and causes pain and injury.
:23:39. > :23:45.That's great. There is just a little bit more
:23:45. > :23:47.collapse inwards than we would ideally want. You can see that the
:23:47. > :23:56.ankle is slightly flexed further inwards than it ideally should be.
:23:56. > :23:58.Ok. So a slightly more rigid shoe inside is going to control things a
:23:59. > :24:02.bit better. You will probably be more comfortable in the long run in
:24:02. > :24:06.a support shoe. This way of fitting trainers is
:24:06. > :24:15.recommended by specialist running shops and even the NHS. But do
:24:15. > :24:18.structured shoes actually reduce the risk of injury?
:24:18. > :24:22.The US Military carried out the biggest ever study to try to answer
:24:22. > :24:28.that very question. Dividing soldiers into two large groups, one
:24:28. > :24:38.was prescribed a shoe according to their foot type. The other was
:24:38. > :24:40.
:24:40. > :24:42.simply given a neutral shoe. Now if shoes prescribed based on
:24:42. > :24:45.the foot type are really preventing injuries, then you would expect to
:24:45. > :24:47.see a lower injury rate in the group that got the shoes prescribed.
:24:47. > :24:51.And they found absolutely no difference between the groups in
:24:51. > :24:54.terms of injury patterns. So that tells us that there is no evidence
:24:54. > :25:04.for prescribing footwear in that way.
:25:04. > :25:06.
:25:06. > :25:09.That surprising result was confirmed in two further studies.
:25:09. > :25:11.With no evidence on my journey so far to support the claim that
:25:11. > :25:16.structured trainers can help prevent injury, my next stop is
:25:16. > :25:18.Alberta Canada in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Why? Because I'm
:25:18. > :25:22.going to meet one of the leading experts in the science behind
:25:22. > :25:30.sports shoes. And he's had to completely rethink everything he
:25:30. > :25:32.thought knew to be true in the last few years. He's the granddaddy of
:25:32. > :25:38.training shoes and has been studying the biomechanics of
:25:38. > :25:48.running for more than four decades. Benno Nigg has worked with big
:25:48. > :25:50.
:25:50. > :25:55.brands like Nike, Reebok and Adidas. In the late '70s, the idea was that
:25:56. > :25:57.shoes, and running shoes especially, should cushion impact forces. That
:25:58. > :26:03.impact force is dangerous and because it's dangerous, what you
:26:03. > :26:08.want, you want to cushion or dampen that impact force. Second, it
:26:08. > :26:15.should control pronation. Because if you have high pronation, it was
:26:15. > :26:17.thought that this is related to more injuries.
:26:17. > :26:22.The idea that cushioning and control will reduce running
:26:23. > :26:25.injuries has dominated shoe design to this day. But much of that
:26:25. > :26:30.research was done using machines to recreate the effect on shoes of
:26:30. > :26:37.rolling or impact. Benno Nigg and his research team
:26:37. > :26:39.are now using real people wired up to multi-camera computer technology.
:26:39. > :26:47.The cameras will give us information on a third computer
:26:47. > :26:50.which is over on the desktop. are actually going to be able, when
:26:50. > :26:55.you crunch all this data, to see what kind of runner Stefan is?
:26:55. > :27:00.Exactly, exactly. And see if he is putting a lot more pressure in his
:27:00. > :27:02.forefoot than someone else. Or while wearing one shoe compared to
:27:02. > :27:04.another, he puts the pressure somewhere else. What they're
:27:04. > :27:12.discovering from this research is news that will make the marketing
:27:12. > :27:14.men weep. Turns out it's not all about the trainers.
:27:14. > :27:23.The most important predictors for injuries are distance, recovery
:27:23. > :27:26.time, intensity and those type of things. So these are all things
:27:26. > :27:30.that the runner controls himself or herself. You don't need an
:27:30. > :27:34.expensive pair of shoes to work that one out? Right. The shoes come
:27:34. > :27:40.way, way later as minor contributors.
:27:40. > :27:42.On my journey I've spoken to some of the world's top experts. I
:27:42. > :27:45.haven't been able find convincing evidence to support the claim that
:27:46. > :27:50.trainers reduce injury. Or that sports drinks improve performance
:27:50. > :27:53.in people who take moderate exercise.
:27:53. > :27:59.So why are we so easily persuaded to spend lots of money on these
:27:59. > :28:04.products? You have a little bit of evidence,
:28:05. > :28:06.you have athletes and sports people everywhere who are very suggestible.
:28:07. > :28:13.They're looking for that little extra touch, that magic ingredient
:28:13. > :28:15.to make them the winner, to make them better. And then you have the
:28:15. > :28:25.manufacturers and they're marketing the product, marketing the product.
:28:25. > :28:26.
:28:26. > :28:28.They have this opportunity, they have the market that's there.
:28:28. > :28:31.Not only is industry telling us we need expensive trainers and
:28:31. > :28:34.specially formulated sports drinks to exercise... Now, would you
:28:34. > :28:43.believe, they're actually telling us how to drink. If you look at the
:28:43. > :28:51.adverts, it's all about hydration. Coca Cola's big brand Powerade is
:28:52. > :28:56.the Games' official drink. And the advertising doesn't just
:28:56. > :29:06.promote the brand. It gives hydration the big sell. Powerade's
:29:06. > :29:17.
:29:17. > :29:20.So do we really need to be drinking before our thirst tells us?
:29:20. > :29:23.I'm off to meet one of the UK's top nutritionists and marathon runner,
:29:24. > :29:31.Professor Mike Lean. Dehydration only becomes a problem
:29:31. > :29:33.after about an hour of activity. And the reason for that is when you
:29:33. > :29:37.are exercising, your body is using up stored energy and glycogen and
:29:37. > :29:43.releasing water into the body. So you are actually keeping yourself
:29:43. > :29:45.hydrated from your own stores. So it's only really unless you are
:29:45. > :29:52.exercising in very hot, humid conditions, it's probably only
:29:52. > :29:54.after about that time that it becomes an issue at all.
:29:54. > :30:02.For peak performance during intense exercise, should we be drinking
:30:03. > :30:05.even when we're not thirsty? These guys should know.
:30:05. > :30:15.The elite soldiers of the South African Special Forces are used to
:30:15. > :30:17.working out hard in extreme heat, day after day.
:30:17. > :30:22.They are busy with some physical exercises for their morning routine
:30:22. > :30:26.before breakfast. They will do it every day. And a session can last
:30:26. > :30:30.anything between an hour and an hour and a half. And they have a
:30:30. > :30:36.nickname for this place. Yes, a direct translation from Afrikaans
:30:36. > :30:43.would be "the garden of pain". And the garden of pain is just for
:30:43. > :30:53.starters. A typical day sees them out for hours at a time, with up to
:30:53. > :30:54.
:30:54. > :30:57.60 kilos on their back. Here we go.
:30:57. > :31:05.Oh, my goodness! How far would you have to walk with this?
:31:05. > :31:07.kilometres. 50 kilometres! Goodness me, I couldn't even walk 50 metres.
:31:07. > :31:15.Backbreaking stuff, yet the soldiers just do what comes
:31:15. > :31:17.naturally. They drink when they're thirsty.
:31:18. > :31:20.What astonishes me is that we never tell our cats and dogs when they
:31:20. > :31:24.must drink and there is not one other animal in the whole of god's
:31:24. > :31:28.earth who has to be told how much to drink. You lose water, you get
:31:29. > :31:34.thirsty, you drink. End of story. The industry had to develop a
:31:34. > :31:36.disease. Like any pharmaceutical company, you have to develop a
:31:36. > :31:40.disease that you have the treatment for. Industry developed this
:31:40. > :31:47.disease of dehydration. Dehydration is not a disease. It is a normal
:31:47. > :31:52.biological response to exercise. Keeping hydrated now comes with a
:31:52. > :31:54.complicated set of instructions. Powerade's website recommends
:31:54. > :32:04.staying ahead of your thirst and warns against losing weight through
:32:04. > :32:15.
:32:15. > :32:19.For the last four years, the South African Army has done its own
:32:19. > :32:24.research to establish safe drinking guidelines for its soldiers, and
:32:24. > :32:29.the results fly in the face of industry advice. Drinking according
:32:29. > :32:33.to your thirst, listening to your body is a key recommendation we
:32:33. > :32:40.recommend not only for our soldiers but the person going to the gym,
:32:40. > :32:45.the person running a marathon or even the elite athlete out there.
:32:45. > :32:48.It's not just Powerade who say you should lose no more than 2% body
:32:48. > :32:55.weight through sweat. The International Olympics Committee
:32:55. > :33:01.gives that same advice to athletes, and who sponsors their hydration
:33:01. > :33:05.advice? Powerade. Hydrating the 2012 Olympic athletes. But back in
:33:05. > :33:11.Oxford, the team found that the research behind that claim is
:33:11. > :33:14.limited and could encourage drinking too much. To do a story to
:33:14. > :33:19.say 2% of the figure, you'd have to look at thousands of people and
:33:19. > :33:22.actually come to a conclusion that beyond this measure, you have
:33:22. > :33:27.proven it's harmful and performance deteriorates. That's not been shown
:33:27. > :33:31.by the evidence. And do you worry about them giving out such specific
:33:31. > :33:35.advice? Yeah, because you can't action that advice. How am I going
:33:35. > :33:40.to do that? Walk around with a calculator in my pocket? So what I
:33:40. > :33:44.tend to do is do the opposite, make sure I drink so I don't hit that 2%
:33:44. > :33:47.mark. Coca-Cola Great Britain who make Powerade say:
:33:47. > :33:57.Scientific evidence shows that the onset of thirst is a delayed
:33:57. > :34:21.
:34:21. > :34:25.response." And at a weight loss of The organisers of the London
:34:25. > :34:29.Marathon don't mention weight loss to their runners. Instead, like the
:34:29. > :34:33.South African Army, they say follow your thirst, but the relentless
:34:33. > :34:41.industry advice to keep on drinking is still being swallowed. Did you
:34:41. > :34:47.drink quite a lot? I didn't try and drink too much, but yeah, I drank
:34:47. > :34:51.when I - when - before I felt thirsty. Before you felt thirsty?
:34:51. > :34:56.What a lot of runners don't realise is drinking too much can be
:34:56. > :35:03.dangerous - in rare cases, fatal. One experienced long-distance
:35:03. > :35:05.runner, Dr Jonathan Williams found this out the hard way at the London
:35:05. > :35:08.Marathon. The information I'd absorbed from running magazines and
:35:08. > :35:14.adverts and so on that to keep drinking was important and to stay
:35:14. > :35:18.ahead of your thirst. It was a hot day. I think I started
:35:18. > :35:22.drinking at mile three from every mile station. By about mile 14, I
:35:22. > :35:31.started to feel bloated, heavy, nauseated, lightheaded. It was
:35:31. > :35:34.really the worst I'd ever felt in my seven marathons. As a doctor, he
:35:34. > :35:38.eventually realised his symptoms were caused by drinking too much.
:35:38. > :35:44.He didn't have anymore fluids and managed to finish the race. One
:35:44. > :35:49.other runner that year wasn't so lucky. Fortunately, it didn't cause
:35:49. > :35:54.me any serious health issues, unlike the more unfortunate chap, a
:35:54. > :35:59.22-year-old fitness instructor who in the same race collapsed and died.
:35:59. > :36:04.Dr Williams did his own survey at last year's marathon. He found that
:36:04. > :36:09.one in eight runners plan to drink potentially risky amounts. 16
:36:09. > :36:17.marathon runners across the world have actually died, and 1,600 have
:36:17. > :36:20.been left critically ill from overdrinking. Dr Arthur Seigel is
:36:20. > :36:24.investigating why. The dehydration has gotten all the
:36:24. > :36:30.press and attention, but in fact, dehydration is not life lettening,
:36:30. > :36:34.and there isn't a case of any athlete in any sporting event who
:36:34. > :36:40.has died of dehydration, but overhydration is much more
:36:40. > :36:46.dangerous, and therefore runners need to be aware of it, and in
:36:46. > :36:52.general are not. Now we're dealing with tens of thousands of novices
:36:52. > :36:57.and people that are running for charities who are really out there
:36:57. > :37:01.for twice or three times as long as at the front of the pack, and if
:37:01. > :37:06.they are programmed to fear dehydration and are thinking, drink,
:37:06. > :37:09.drink, drink, they will get water intoxication. And while the
:37:09. > :37:15.drinking industry stands accused of creating the problem, yet again,
:37:15. > :37:19.they're also selling the solution. The makers of Powerade suggest its
:37:19. > :37:22.salt content can protect against the effects of overdrinking. The
:37:23. > :37:32.website advice: "Drink more sports drinks or drinks
:37:33. > :37:36.
:37:36. > :37:39.The Oxford team says there's no convincing evidence that the small
:37:40. > :37:45.amount of salt in sports drinks makes any difference, but the
:37:45. > :37:50.evidence does show that drinking too much of any liquid can be risky.
:37:50. > :37:54.What runners need to understand is you can overdrink sports drinks,
:37:54. > :38:04.and overdrinking sports drinks is just as dangerous as overdrinking
:38:04. > :38:24.
:38:24. > :38:27.water. Coca-Cola Great Britain told However, to provide clarity to
:38:27. > :38:36.customers the company has now updated its website to say athletes
:38:36. > :38:41.should not over-consume any liquids. GlaxoSmithKline pushes the science
:38:41. > :38:45.of hydration to marathon runners, but also to children. GSK offers a
:38:45. > :38:50.school science programme for 11 to 14-year-olds to coincide with the
:38:50. > :38:55.Olympics. The teaching source doesn't name Lucozade Sport, but it
:38:55. > :38:59.includes a class experiment benefiting the highlights of sports
:38:59. > :39:03.drink. The work sheet warns of the dangers of overdrinking, but only
:39:03. > :39:09.in relation to the consumption of water. Water will enter by osmosis
:39:09. > :39:15.and stop the muscles, nerves and brain from working properly. In
:39:15. > :39:20.extreme cases, water intoxication can occur and may lead to death.
:39:20. > :39:24.The British Medical Journal wrote to GSK asking why it doesn't
:39:24. > :39:34.explain there is a similar danger from over-drinking sports drinks.
:39:34. > :39:43.
:39:43. > :39:46.GSK has now removed the page from So far, we have failed to find
:39:46. > :39:50.convincing evidence to back advertising claims that to exercise
:39:50. > :39:55.properly, we need shugry drinks, special trainers and complicated
:39:55. > :39:59.advice on how to drink. Hydrates better than water.
:39:59. > :40:09.Now there's an even more surprising claim about what to wear on our
:40:09. > :40:12.feet when we run - nothing. Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman is an
:40:12. > :40:15.evolutionary biologist who thinks we were born to run barefoot.
:40:15. > :40:19.Everybody likes to take their shoes off when they go for a walk on the
:40:19. > :40:22.beach or the lawn. It just feels good. We have come out of touch
:40:22. > :40:26.with our bodies, and many people are surprised that if you take your
:40:26. > :40:30.shoes off and go for a run, it feels good. It really does because,
:40:30. > :40:35.again, there is no impact if you do it properly. It's a light and
:40:36. > :40:40.gentle way of running. It's a interswaisive theory, but there is
:40:40. > :40:43.even less scientific evidence to underpin barefoot running, maybe
:40:43. > :40:47.because much of the research into barefoot running is funded by
:40:47. > :40:51.companies that make trainers. haven't done much work comparing
:40:51. > :40:59.training shoes to not wearing training shoes. We're not thinking
:40:59. > :41:02.about whether or not it's normal to be barefoot in the first place.
:41:02. > :41:07.that's changing. Irene Davis and her team don't take money from
:41:07. > :41:09.industry, but with US Government grants, they're using the latest
:41:09. > :41:14.technology to study barefoot running.
:41:14. > :41:18.So Shelley, why don't you step right up? If you want to bin your
:41:18. > :41:23.trainers, though, you'll have to learn to run in a different way,
:41:23. > :41:27.and it's not easy. OK. All right. Let's have a go.
:41:27. > :41:31.What you're seeing here, Shelley, is, this is the ground reaction
:41:31. > :41:35.force, and this is the force that your body experiences with each
:41:35. > :41:39.foot strike. You can see that you've got that initial spike in
:41:39. > :41:44.your force, and that is associated with your heel striking the ground
:41:44. > :41:49.- 70 to 80% of people who run in standard running shoes land on
:41:49. > :41:56.their heels and have that very distinct impact. So what happens
:41:56. > :42:00.when I take my shoes off? Will I change the way I run? So most
:42:00. > :42:03.people when they become barefoot and they run - they don't land on
:42:03. > :42:10.their heel because if you landed on your heel, it goes all the way up
:42:10. > :42:15.through your knees and your hips, OK? See how nice and smooth that
:42:15. > :42:19.curve becomes? Yep. It's very different. So how did that feel?
:42:19. > :42:24.Well, it was strange. So now without the support of the arch in
:42:24. > :42:27.your shoes, your muscles have to work much harder. You've kind of
:42:27. > :42:31.deconditioned your feet by putting the - supporting them all the time.
:42:31. > :42:37.It's like wearing a neck brace for life,ed a then you take that off,
:42:37. > :42:41.and all of a sudden you're floppy. So what's her verdict on running
:42:41. > :42:44.barefoot? I think we're better off letting the foot move the way it's
:42:44. > :42:48.designed to move. I think we really do it a disservice when we start to
:42:48. > :42:53.contain it and support it and to control it. But where's the money
:42:53. > :43:00.to be made in running without shoes? Well, just like the sugar-
:43:00. > :43:04.free sports drink, now we have the barefoot shoe. Barefoot shoes set
:43:04. > :43:07.me free. I now move as nature intended. Inevitably, the same
:43:07. > :43:12.companies that sold us structured trainers are now developing a new
:43:12. > :43:17.market for shoes designed to mimic barefoot running. I move faster
:43:17. > :43:22.during my workouts. Companies like Merrell are taking us back to the
:43:22. > :43:26.future. I am more efficient and a better athlete, and I'm kicking
:43:26. > :43:30.butt. I think you're going to see maybe a return closer to the
:43:30. > :43:35.footwear we had back in the '60s and '70s so really just coming full
:43:35. > :43:44.circle. If you look at the footwear of people like Roger Banister,
:43:44. > :43:48.those shoes were very much like the minimal footwear today. The tape is
:43:48. > :43:56.broken. Merrell claims its barefoot shoes... Help you find the natural
:43:56. > :43:59.way you were born to run, provide traction and protection for a
:43:59. > :44:03.smoother ride." The team from Oxford and the BMU asked for
:44:03. > :44:07.research to support these claims. Did they send you evidence that
:44:07. > :44:10.appeared to back it up? No, we didn't. We have managed to find the
:44:10. > :44:14.link in their website to two studies, actually, for the barefoot
:44:14. > :44:19.trainers, and actually, the studies didn't even test the trainers.
:44:19. > :44:23.they weren't even studies of their shoes? No. The studies were in
:44:23. > :44:33.people running barefoot, not in Merrell's shoes. Merrell told
:44:33. > :44:47.
:44:47. > :44:52.Dr Lieberman told Panorama he's never worked with Merrell, and he
:44:52. > :44:56.doesn't endorse any particular footwear for running. Nobody knows
:44:56. > :44:59.really what's the right thing to do. Everybody's got opinions. There's a
:44:59. > :45:03.lot of anecdotal evidence. There is some scientific research on how
:45:03. > :45:08.shoes work and how barefoot running works, but I think what really
:45:08. > :45:12.matters a, frankly, is not what's on your feet, but how you run.
:45:12. > :45:17.if you're not tempted to run in bare feet, with such a wide array
:45:17. > :45:21.of shoes on sale, how should we decide which pair to buy? Try them
:45:21. > :45:26.on. See whether they are comfortable. See whether you enjoy
:45:26. > :45:31.your running. If you can find a shoe where you just enjoy that
:45:31. > :45:35.activity and you are comfortable in them, that's all you need. So there
:45:35. > :45:45.you have it - it's not rocket science. Ignore the advertising
:45:45. > :45:48.
:45:48. > :45:54.There's one range of sports products that uses scientific-
:45:54. > :46:04.sounding advertising claims more than any other. Nutritional
:46:04. > :46:09.
:46:09. > :46:11.supplements. Today, it's big business.
:46:11. > :46:14.Once regarded as niche products, these pills, foods and powdered
:46:14. > :46:16.shakes are now sold on every high street. Last year their promises to
:46:16. > :46:24.boost sporting performance and recovery made us part with more
:46:24. > :46:27.than �100 million. They claim to increase the muscle mass, they
:46:27. > :46:31.claim to allow you to lose weight or lose body fat. They get you
:46:31. > :46:35.ripped and lean in time for summer. There are also all sorts of claims
:46:35. > :46:41.about time scales as well. You know, you can get this body in x amounts
:46:41. > :46:45.of weeks by using x product. Quite seductive, I should imagine? Very.
:46:45. > :46:49.A chocolate protein shake, please. It's not just bodybuilders who use
:46:49. > :46:51.nutritional supplements. These protein shakes and workout boosters
:46:51. > :47:01.with scientific-sounding ingredients are now sold in gyms
:47:01. > :47:02.
:47:02. > :47:05.everywhere. I use a protein shake which is good because I have a very
:47:05. > :47:08.busy schedule in work. And I don't have much time for a proper meal.
:47:08. > :47:12.So the protein shakes are something which help me a lot to get enough
:47:12. > :47:20.protein and calories that I need for my day.
:47:20. > :47:22.The market-leader in sports supplements is GlaxoSmithKline.
:47:22. > :47:25.Some of Britain's top athletes endorse its Maxinutrition range,
:47:25. > :47:32.from the Olympic triathlon team to the English Rugby Union. But do any
:47:32. > :47:34.of us really need them? Some of GSK's products contain branch chain
:47:34. > :47:44.amino acids, which are found in muscle protein. The company says
:47:44. > :47:47.
:47:47. > :47:52.Once again, the team from Oxford and the BMJ looked for the science
:47:52. > :48:02.behind those claims. Branch end amino acids is an
:48:02. > :48:05.interesting one. The evidence doesn't stack up and the quality of
:48:05. > :48:07.the evidence doesn't allow us to say these do improve performance or
:48:07. > :48:10.recovery and should be used as a product widely. So you don't think
:48:10. > :48:14.the evidence is there to make those claims? Yeah, we certainly don't
:48:14. > :48:19.think that that's there. They couldn't find good evidence that
:48:19. > :48:23.branch chain amino acids boost recovery or performance. Yet a tub
:48:23. > :48:33.of them can set you back 34 quid. Another triumph of marketing over
:48:33. > :48:33.
:48:33. > :48:36.science, says Professor Lean. There is limited evidence, again in
:48:36. > :48:39.high level high performing athletes, that certain amino acids which form
:48:39. > :48:42.part of proteins, may improve muscle strength. This is absolutely
:48:42. > :48:52.fringe evidence. And I think that that is, almost totally irrelevant,
:48:52. > :48:53.
:48:53. > :48:55.even at the top level of athletics. The advertising and the marketing
:48:55. > :48:58.is all out there, and this has become yet another fashion
:48:58. > :49:08.accessory for exercise. And a rather expensive way of getting a
:49:08. > :49:34.
:49:34. > :49:40.You can get all the nutrients you need from food. So what research
:49:40. > :49:42.underpins products like these? When you look at it, it's such low
:49:43. > :49:45.quality that actually, there's no evidence to suggest that that's any
:49:45. > :49:49.better than eating a diet that's rich in protein and carbohydrates.
:49:49. > :49:52.That's the best way to receive these nutrients. Canadian company
:49:52. > :49:56.Vega Sport sells a range of plant- based shakes and supplements over
:49:56. > :50:03.the internet. Another of the Oxford researchers took a closer look for
:50:03. > :50:05.the science behind them. This company has made claims like, "Get
:50:05. > :50:08.in the zone with energy to burn", "push harder and last longer",
:50:08. > :50:14."recharge and repair so you can do it all again sooner." Quite bold
:50:14. > :50:17.claims. Certainly. Then what we did is we went through the websites and
:50:17. > :50:20.looked to see if it referred to any research that backed up these
:50:20. > :50:25.claims. Generally what we found was that the references referred to
:50:25. > :50:31.research evidence that was of fairly low quality. What like?
:50:31. > :50:41.me give you an example of one, which is a study from 1930. 1930?
:50:41. > :50:47.
:50:47. > :50:49.Yeah, that's right. It's a study in rats from 1930.
:50:49. > :50:52.What's really important to us, looking at the quality of evidence,
:50:52. > :50:54.is not actually that it's from 1930, it's that it was in rats. Because
:50:54. > :50:58.if the company is making the claim that this product enhances human
:50:58. > :51:08.sports performance, doing a study in rats doesn't really back that up.
:51:08. > :51:22.
:51:22. > :51:24.Nutritional supplements offer a shortcut to best performance. And
:51:24. > :51:28.according to football's top governing body, that promise has
:51:28. > :51:38.influenced those even at the top of the game.
:51:38. > :51:43.
:51:43. > :51:45.It's quite widespread. I would say that at the professional level,
:51:45. > :51:47.somewhere between 20 to 40 % of the players would take regularly
:51:47. > :51:52.dietary supplements. That's a lot, are you surprised by that?
:51:53. > :51:55.course I am surprised. Because we would assume that the well balanced
:51:55. > :52:05.diet would supply you with all the necessary ingredients you need for
:52:05. > :52:08.
:52:08. > :52:09.a healthy life. FIFA's main concern is making sure
:52:09. > :52:13.the supplements players take aren't tainted with banned substances,
:52:13. > :52:23.like steroids. But they also want to know if they work. FIFA asked
:52:23. > :52:24.
:52:24. > :52:26.top scientists from around the world for evidence. One of the
:52:26. > :52:32.issues was does dietary supplement add anything positive, to the
:52:32. > :52:35.wellbeing number one, and two, to improve the performance. And there
:52:35. > :52:45.was a unanimous consensus that the dietary supplements do not make you
:52:45. > :52:52.
:52:52. > :52:54.a better footballer. Even though there's such a lack of
:52:54. > :52:56.evidence that these supplements improve performance, it doesn't
:52:56. > :52:59.stop manufacturers approaching FIFA for endorsement. Our answer is
:52:59. > :53:02.always the same, prove it. Provide the scientific evidence, publish it
:53:02. > :53:05.in a peer reviewed journal, well respected journals. And then we can
:53:05. > :53:13.discuss. And when you issue that sort of challenge, what response do
:53:13. > :53:23.you get from the companies? Usually I don't hear much, not something
:53:23. > :53:28.
:53:28. > :53:29.which we would be a science, we are talking about.
:53:29. > :53:38.Record-breaking cyclist Graeme Obree shares FIFA's concern that
:53:38. > :53:41.these performance enhancing products are a waste of money. You
:53:41. > :53:44.can achieve the same results, for less cash, with a balanced diet.
:53:44. > :53:46.Before I went out training, if I was going to go out on a two hour
:53:46. > :53:50.ride today, I would actually prepare sardines, bread ready in
:53:50. > :53:58.the toaster and a pile of broccoli and carrots. I'd come straight in
:53:58. > :54:01.and go right, toast, sardines on it, and my veggies in the microwave.
:54:01. > :54:03.That's my recovery drink, an actual proper meal. I think he's talking
:54:03. > :54:13.complete common sense and he's talking from personal experience at
:54:13. > :54:14.
:54:14. > :54:16.the very top end. And as a man who has held world records. And in
:54:16. > :54:19.principal says none of these supplements are going to make any
:54:19. > :54:24.difference at all. The idea you've got to drink something to recover
:54:24. > :54:26.is a relatively new concept and it's a good money spinner.
:54:26. > :54:27.recent European Food Safety approval means that misleading
:54:28. > :54:36.labelling for sports drinks and nutritional supplements will have
:54:36. > :54:38.to be removed by the start of next year.
:54:38. > :54:44.The EFSA review only found evidence to stand up performance-enhancing
:54:44. > :54:46.claims for two ingredients - caffeine and the nutrient, creatine.
:54:46. > :54:53.We had many claims for supplements that would increase muscle strength
:54:54. > :55:03.or help recovery from exercise. None of these we found to be
:55:04. > :55:05.
:55:05. > :55:08.supported by good science. Supplements seem to be a bit of a
:55:08. > :55:10.Wild West in terms of sports products. Did you find lots of
:55:10. > :55:13.claims that just really could not be substantiated at all? Yes, we
:55:13. > :55:23.had quite a number for which there was very little evidence to support
:55:23. > :55:25.them. But Oxford's Centre for Evidence
:55:25. > :55:27.Based Medicine is critical of the research that underpins EFSA's
:55:27. > :55:28.recent decision to approve the labelling of sports drinks
:55:28. > :55:34.specifically for endurance events. The scientific basis for approving
:55:34. > :55:37.these claims seems to be very meagre. We can see that the studies
:55:37. > :55:43.that EFSA have looked at are mostly very small studies. And they're low
:55:43. > :55:49.quality. And to think that the claims are being approved based on
:55:49. > :55:51.just these studies is very concerning. Because we know the
:55:51. > :55:55.claims are going to be used in labelling, marketing, advertising,
:55:55. > :55:58.not just in one country, but for a population of 500 million in Europe.
:55:58. > :56:05.So it's worth doing it properly at least the first time.
:56:05. > :56:08.Well, I can't comment on what the Oxford group did. I've heard
:56:08. > :56:10.they've done an assessment, but I haven't heard their report.
:56:10. > :56:15.they've looked at the same studies and they're not impressed, and
:56:15. > :56:18.they're quite worried that claims have been approved on this basis.
:56:18. > :56:21.Well I don't know whether they've looked at the same studies that
:56:21. > :56:24.we've looked at or not. I couldn't be sure of that because I haven't
:56:24. > :56:32.seen their report, but I would like to see it. To see how they have
:56:32. > :56:35.judged the evidence compared to how we have judged it.
:56:35. > :56:43.The team from Oxford and the British Medical Journal set out to
:56:43. > :56:45.measure the gap between the science and the sell. And it was huge. They
:56:45. > :56:51.could find no supporting evidence for half of the 431 advertising
:56:51. > :56:59.claims they looked at. In fact the number of high quality studies they
:56:59. > :57:03.did find was just three. public's not getting a true picture,
:57:03. > :57:06.the regulators are not getting a true picture. And there's only one
:57:06. > :57:08.way to do this, to take a product, obtain all the evidence, whether
:57:08. > :57:12.it's published or unpublished and then combine it to come up with the
:57:12. > :57:14.answer. What does this mean and who does it apply to?
:57:14. > :57:20.The Oxford team are independent, but most of the studies they have
:57:20. > :57:23.looked at have been paid for by the sports industry. If we want better
:57:23. > :57:31.science, who is going to pay for it? Maybe we need to think in a
:57:31. > :57:34.different way. Maybe we need to think, just as we support sport and
:57:34. > :57:36.we fund sport through a different funding mechanism than we fund
:57:36. > :57:39.through health, maybe we should fund sports science and medicine
:57:39. > :57:46.through a different funding stream also. We have to ask, do we want
:57:46. > :57:49.science or show business? For now, the evidence we do have seems to be
:57:49. > :57:55.leading those of us who aren't top athletes to a rather common sense