Marketing hype and trendiness can trick people into believing that sports gels, drinks and protein powders are needed for exercise and muscle gain, University of Newcastle molecular nutritionist Emma Beckett says.
Dr Beckett examined the latest research on sports supplements with Dr Patrice Jones, a researcher at Victoria University's Institute for Health and Sport.
In an interview ahead of the NewRun marathon and half marathon in Newcastle on Sunday, Dr Beckett said sports supplements can be useful for long-distance runners, cyclists, triathletes and players in "stop and start" sports such as soccer.
But she said these supplements are often "promoted to us by sportspeople".
"That makes us think we'll look and perform like a sportsperson and that's not true," she said.
"It is a marketing construct and a 'keeping up with the Joneses' kind of thing."
However, she said these products "have a purpose and point for some people and they're not just marketing".
"But it's the marketing that makes more of us think we might need them or they might enhance our performance in a way that they don't really."
Sports supplements aren't needed for ordinary exercise.
"It becomes a problem when kids at Saturday morning hockey play 30 minutes and come off and chug a bottle of high energy sports drink," she said.
"They don't need that extra sugar and salt in that environment."
Harvard Medical School research has found that "sports drinks predicted larger increases in BMI [body mass index] among both females and males".
Nevertheless, the effects of sports supplements depend on the individual, their lifestyle and "what else they're eating", Dr Beckett said.
But these supplements "all come with an added risk" when people consume too much.
And importantly, the benefits of supplements can be gained from ordinary food.
"This could be bananas, honey, dried fruit and anything with concentrated, simple and accessible sugars," she said.
"Technically junk food [like a chocolate bar] would do the same thing."
For intense exercise, people are seeking "a lot of energy really quickly".
Wholefoods provide the nutrients as well as the energy, which "obviously has added benefits for recovery".
"But I can see how gels work for certain people in certain environments."
University of Twente research in the Netherlands, published in the International Journal of Food Design, found "psychological effects of energy gels in marathon running".
It stated that gel packages were easy to use, which boosted mood.
The paper suggested further study into "how the branding of energy gel products and the gels' taste affect the psychology of marathon running".
Dr Beckett and Dr Jones published a piece on sports supplements in The Conversation on Friday.
"For casual, short or low intensity sporting pursuits, supplements might be overkill. But for activities of high intensity or long duration, they can have benefits," they wrote.
But Dr Beckett said some question packaged supplements when wholefoods can be cheaper, achieve the same effects and produce less waste.
She added that people are "obsessed with protein for muscle building".
"They take these specific protein supplements and think if they have more they'll build more muscle.
"But you have to work on the muscles for them to get built."
