Health Experts Warn Parents of Dangers with Fitness Supplements in Teens

Many kids are putting together their holiday wish lists and some of those items may include fitness supplements. New research found that 26 percent of teenagers made decisions about performance enhancing supplements based on content that they've seen on social media. And research from the University of Michigan points to a sharp rise in creatine use among adolescents. So what's driving this growing interest in supplements among teenagers and are young people putting their health? At risk. I talked with Christy Simmons, a nutrition director of virtual services at the Eating Recovery Center, about what parents need to know. How much is social media influencing why teens might think that they need to build muscle or improve their performance? Yeah, it's a great question. What we're finding is that research shows that teens like six out of 10 teenagers say that they have made a health based decision from what they've seen on social media. So social media is influencing everything. And what we also know is that the more time that they're spending online, the more that they're scrolling and seeing messages about Health and performance and body size and shape. And so there's a lot of misinformation too and perhaps unrealistic comparisons. So that's a big thing that we are seeing with teens that they're just very influenced by what's online. Creatine specifically, what exactly is creatine and why are we seeing more teens taking it? Yeah, creatine is a well-known performance supplement. It's widely used, and that's why it's really popular. The big difference for adolescents is that we know that it is not well-researched or understood on developing bodies. So the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend that anyone under the age of 18 takes it. And that's one of the risks of just social media in general when it comes to influencing health decisions, is that there really isn't much information about the research side. And it can be very dangerous to a young developing body and impact just musculature and growth. And what are some signs or just behavioral changes that might show that supplement use is becoming obsessive? I mean, what are some signs that parents should look out for? Yeah, real changes around kind of how they're making food choices. So perhaps cutting out entire groups of food, really paying attention and becoming anxious about ingredients or tracking their macros. We often notice if someone becomes Overly regimented about their exercise. So getting really upset when they have to change their plan or perhaps not being willing to take a day off for an injury or illness and just ways that they're engaging with their appearance. So frequent checks in the mirrors, taking a lot of selfies and having to edit them. And a big one I think for parents is you know your kid. And so if you start to see them just showing up differently, perhaps they're isolating more, They're more agitated and they're just avoiding things that they've always. always loved those can be big warning signs.