Abstract
Prior studies have revealed how some nutritional supplements used to enhance performance in sports are considered problematic because they are associated with doping. In this study, frame analysis is applied to scrutinise interviews conducted with 24 ambitious youth athletes enrolled in elite sport schools. The analysis enables exploration of the athletes’ understanding and meaning-making concerning the so-called grey zone supplements in terms of two major frames. The first performance frame is expected as the context is elite youth sport, and many aspects of the athletes’ lives revolve around athletic progress. However, the more interesting finding is that this performance frame permeates almost all aspects of the young athletes’ lives, including how food is both understood and consumed. The second frame implies the framing of nutritional supplements as food. Here, the use of supplements is rationalised by practical concerns such as hectic training and teaching schedules that leave little time for meals, with supplements becoming a quick fix to meet energy needs. Hence, meaning-making concerning the grey zone supplements gives rise to an alternative framing linked to food and eating, although an overarching logic of performance also exerts a significant impact.
Introduction
Food and eating are relevant to a wide range of aspects of human life. First and foremost, the necessity of consuming food represents a fundamental need. It is also noteworthy that food and eating can be viewed as means of social gathering and forms of habits, traditions and symbols (Bourdieu, 1987), while the regularity of meals can comprise a structure around which everyday life revolves (Douglas and Nicod, 1974). In modern society, food and eating have been assigned additional functions, including improving health, appearance and performance of various kinds.
In the elite sports context, particular emphasis is placed on the performance-enhancing potential of food (Close et al., 2016). Athletes and their support staff are constantly searching for the perfect balance between the training load, food and rest (Doherty et al., 2023). Thus, from a very young age, athletes are encouraged to eat the correct amounts of certain food types at the correct times. Moreover, as athletes progress into an elite sport career, their intake of various food supplements increases (Alonso and Fernández-García, 2020; Garthe and Maughan, 2018). This growing consumption indicates the need for a closer look at what falls into this category, although it must be acknowledged that there is currently no universal definition of what qualifies as a supplement. Indeed, there are many different kinds of supplements, which can be grouped into, for example, dietary, nutritional and sports supplements (Close et al., 2022).
In their consensus statement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expert group suggested the following definition of a supplement: ‘A food, food component, nutrient, or non-food compound that is purposefully ingested in addition to the habitually consumed diet with the aim of achieving a specific health and/or performance benefit’ (Maughan et al., 2018: 439). The IOC's definition illustrates the link between food, supplements and performance enhancement. While some studies have suggested that nutrition plays only a minor role in performance when compared with factors such as physical fitness, skills and tactical dispositions (Garthe and Maughan, 2018), others have argued that supplements can be beneficial or even necessary in specific situations (Close et al., 2022). In this paper, we explore how youth athletes engage with this topic, focusing on their meaning-making processes.
The meaning-making among youth athletes concerning supplements is intriguing for several reasons. One general point to consider is that athletes aged 17–19, as in the case of our sample from Norwegian elite upper-secondary sport schools, are at a pivotal stage of development, where they are forming their adult identities, attitudes and behaviours. In addition, the debate surrounding various supplements is extensive, positioning them as a risk factor for doping (de Hon and Coumans, 2007; Hurst, 2023; Hurst et al., 2023; Lauritzen, 2022) and as a potential grey area where the lines between acceptable and non-acceptable performance-enhancing substances (PESs) blur (Fincoeur et al., 2020).
Many previous studies that investigated nutritional supplements in the context of sport have stemmed from the field of social psychology and have been rooted in moral disengagement theory or theories related to the normalisation and neutralisation of the phenomenon. We view food, supplements and eating as playing a crucial role in athletes’ lives, extending beyond mere personal choice and behaviour. Therefore, the focus of this study is on athletes’ meaning-making processes. In this regard, understanding athletes’ meaning-making requires consideration of the broader frames that reflect their experiences within their shared context (Goffman, 1974). Typically, as we shall see, the frames related to nutritional supplements are less linked to questions of moral disengagement and more to ‘neutralising’ the supplements in discourses regarding food and eating, the athletic body and performance.
These research motivations are among the outcomes of interviews with 24 youth athletes about how they ascribe meaning to the umbrella term ‘performance-enhancing substances’, which includes prohibited and permitted substances. Aside from concerns about performance enhancement and the risk of contamination, both food and eating seem to be central to youth athletes’ construction of meaning related to nutritional supplements. This paper looks into the framing of supplements in young athletes’ lives in more detail in an effort to answer the following research question: How are nutritional supplements framed by youth athletes in an elite sport school context?
Previous research: Supplements and food in the context of sport
The majority of the research on PES in sports has been derived from quantitative studies (Backhouse et al., 2015). This also concerns literature on youth athletes, which has also mainly been presented from a psychological or social-psychological perspective (Kristensen et al., 2022). Prior studies have mostly investigated nutritional supplements as a potential stepping stone to doping and based on the ‘gateway hypothesis’—that is, the hypothesis that the use of these supplements lowers the threshold for using other (possibly banned) substances (Backhouse et al., 2013) and that such use represents a risk factor for inadvertent doping (de Hon and Coumans, 2007).
Christiansen's (2005) qualitative research into cyclists’ socialisation and relationships with food and training, their use of vitamin injections and their perspective on doping emphasised the cultural aspects of athletes’ meaning-making. More specifically, Christiansen (2005) argued that cyclists’ attitudes towards doping, which are formed by what is taken for granted within a culture, do not necessarily appear as dichotomous either/or attitudes and actions, instead unfolding on a continuum. More recently, qualitative studies on doping issues have been conducted using frameworks that emphasise socialisation during face-to-face interactions with regard to doping issues (Andreasson and Johansson, 2019; Ohl et al., 2013; Sandvik et al., 2017). In fact, qualitative studies using interviews and observations have revealed various nuances in terms of athletes’ views and how they are influenced by social interactions with different actors and in different contexts (Christiansen, 2005; Ohl et al., 2013; Pappa and Kennedy, 2012).
As with the PES research, most social science studies on food and eating among athletes have been based on quantitative data. There is a significant body of research on the risk of developing eating disorders and their prevalence among athletes, including evidence of an increased risk in elite young athletes (Martinsen and Sundgot-Borgen, 2013; Papathomas and Petrie, 2014). Some studies have examined nutrition knowledge (Calella et al., 2021) and eating habits (Cavadini et al., 2000) among various groups of athletic and non-athletic teenagers. The role of significant others has also been explored. For example, Scott et al.'s (2019) review of research exploring teammates’ role in athletes’ eating attitudes and behaviours showed that teammates represent important sources of influence and that those influences can be protective against or foster an increased risk of disordered eating.
Less research has applied a qualitative, interpretative approach (Busanich and McGannon, 2010; Papathomas and Petrie, 2014) to explore athletes’ broader understanding of eating, food and performance enhancement (Ventresca and Brady, 2015). Still, among other aspects, quantitative studies have provided insights into the relationships between nutritional supplement use and doping, as well as the association between nutritional supplement use and the intention to dope. However, the quantitative research design does not permit exploration of the processes involved. By contrast, our qualitative study enables exploration of the meanings that athletes ascribe to their practices in everyday life, which is central to understanding their eating habits and the eventual changes therein.
A number of qualitative studies have investigated the cultural construction of meaning concerning food, body and exercise. For instance, based on narrative interviews, Busanich et al. (2012) explored long-distance runners’ understandings of the body, food and exercise, finding that athletes use two opposing narratives. On the one hand, they identified a ‘just do it’ narrative, which is characterised by running for fun and health, while on the other hand, they found a ‘just do it better’ narrative, which is characterised by running to improve performance and prevail over others. The runners who relied on the ‘just do it better’ narrative also demonstrated a limited view of body, food and exercise. Williams (2012) conducted a similar study, exploring how and why the experience of being an athlete manifests in dietary decisions. One of his main findings was that the athletes expressed fulfilment when their nutritional practices fortified their athletic identity. Williams (2012) suggested that this nutritional practice is informed by and constructed in line with a ‘discourse of excellence’ within which concern for food and nutrition is primarily related to performance enhancement. In a critical overview of prior research on disordered eating in sports, Papathomas (2018) concluded that the culture of sport, in many ways, contributes to troubled eating through the emphasis on surveillance, sacrifice and success.
Previous quantitative research has explained doping as a shift in moral orientation and argued that a step-by-step process forms the gateway from nutritional supplement usage to doping, although sociological research has demonstrated that this phenomenon is actually more complex. Changes in moral orientation and the possible gateway to doping cannot be understood without insights into the social contexts in which athletes train and live. When delving into how athletes understand and make sense of the use of supplements, Goffman's (1974) frame analysis can serve as a useful tool. Ventresca and Brady (2015) suggested that ideas concerning nutrition exert a particular impact in a sporting context characterised by relatively rigid dietary plans and regimens. They claimed that sport-related food, nutrition and dietary practices have been sparsely researched from the perspective of the critical and sociocultural research traditions, which seems strange when considering their description of ‘food and eating as cultural sites through which important questions can be raised about the connections between sport, the body, and athletic performance’ (Ventresca and Brady, 2015: 414). While not specifically based on frame analysis, Ventresca and Brady's (2015) study provided significant insights for our analysis.
Youth athletes negotiate their social landscape: A theoretical framework
The use of frame analysis has proved helpful in studying sporting cultures (Stenling and Sam, 2020) and how athletes relate to banned substances and doping (Sandvik et al., 2017). For instance, a study by Ohl et al. (2024) explored the framing processes that took place in the anti-doping system when the Global Athlete Organisation advocated for becoming a necessary and long-awaited voice for all athletes. Their analysis was based on several types of texts, including Global Athlete's media releases, sport websites, observations at relevant events and interviews. To investigate how supplements are framed by youth athletes in an elite sport context, we will pursue a similar line of research, with a symbolic interpretative perspective and methodology. However, we will rely solely on interviews with youth athletes and explore the meaning-making process as a negotiation characterised by a narrower localisation.
The symbolic interactionist perspective provides a micro-sociological lens with which to examine athletes’ interactions with their networks, such as their teammates, coaches and teachers, during daily life. The premise is that athletes’ social construction of the meaning concerning supplements forms the basis for how they act in relation to supplements (Blumer, 1969). Our objective is to investigate how athletes organise their experience through the theoretical lens of frames, as presented by Goffman (1974). Hence, in the Method section, we will elaborate on how frame analysis guided our analytical approach, but first, we will present our theoretical premises.
From a symbolic interactionist perspective, meaning is not inherent in people or objects; rather, meaning is constructed via social interaction. Indeed, through interaction and interpretation, humans ascribe meaning to objects or people (House, 1977: 167). On the basis of this perspective, we examine athletes’ meaning-making regarding supplements as socially constructed and created during their face-to-face interactions within their networks. More specifically, according to the interactionist perspective, in face-to-face interactions, people continually take part in the interaction order, which Goffman (1983: 5) described as ‘the consequences of systems of enabling conventions, in the sense of the ground rules for a game, the provisions of a traffic code or the rules of syntax of a language’. As part of the maintenance of this interaction order, people also work to ensure the impression they convey to others. Goffman (2005) defined the related strategies as impression management, whereby people seek to ensure that they are perceived in the way they want. In our context, the meaning-making concerning nutritional supplements as forms of food (and not grey zone PES) can be understood as a form of impression management.
Goffman's (1964–1983/2020) work, especially his perspective and emphasis on the mundane and immediate aspects of daily life, as well as his frame analysis exploring how people organise their experiences within a shared context, are relevant to understanding how athletes live their lives. The meaning of food and eating in athletes’ daily lives can often be overlooked. Our study reveals that both food and eating are intricately woven into specific frameworks and interpretations. Goffman (1974: 8) argued that frames come into play when humans are confronted with any situation and seek to understand ‘What is going on here?’. Thus, frames are used by individuals to locate, perceive, identify and label experiences. He further suggested that ‘the primary frameworks of a particular social group constitute a central element of its culture, especially insofar as understandings emerge concerning principal classes of schemata, the relations of these classes to one another, and the sum total of forces and agents that interpretive designs acknowledge to be loose in the world’ (Goffman, 1974: 27). As a result, frames are social products, facilitating and organising individual experiences. Goffman (1974) suggested that an overview of a group's framework of frameworks illuminates that group's belief system. Taken together, these circumstances have consequences for how individuals construct reality (Berger and Luckmann, 2000).
In our study, through the interviews, we analyse how young athletes frame and ascribe meaning to nutritional supplements. One way of identifying both frames and frame transformations is through what Goffman (1974) referred to as the ‘key’ and ‘keying’. He defined the key as ‘the set of conventions by which a given activity, one already meaningful in terms of some primary frameworks, is transformed into something patterned on this activity but seen by the participants to be something quite else’ (Goffman, 1974: 43–44). For instance, the framing of the activity of using nutritional supplements might change slightly, although the answer participants would give to ‘What is going on?’ would be totally changed (Goffman, 1974: 45).
In this study, we are interested in how athletes make sense of supplements, especially in the context of food and eating. According to Scrinis (2008), contemporary Western society is dominated by a view of food that focuses on its nutrient composition, which he termed nutritionism. Scrinis (2008) claimed that this view shapes a specific relationship between food and the body. Despite the uncertainties and contradictions related to nutritional knowledge, we rely heavily on expert advice, creating a discourse with the image of precision and control. Thus, nutritionism has become a dominant discourse in the framing and interpretation of people's dietary behaviour.
Based on the above-mentioned theoretical premises and recommendations, we will now provide more detail about the methods applied in this study, before presenting and discussing our findings later in the paper.
Method
This study of youth athletes’ interactions, specifically their meaning-making concerning nutritional supplements, was conducted during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Initially, the study was to involve both interviews and observations; however, due to national and social restrictions, only interviews were possible. Still, the detailed interview guide and relatively high number of interviews provided a rich pool of data with which to explore youth athletes meaning-making in detail.
Participants and context
A total of 24 athletes aged 17–19 years from three private elite upper-secondary sport schools (PEUSS) in Norway participated in this study. Sport schools can be either public or private in Norway, and they combine athletic development with education. The schools share the vision of developing gold medal winners and of contributing to local society. PEUSSs are recognised as an important part of the Norwegian elite sport system. In this study, only private schools participated. The school administration of each school was contacted with a request to participate in the research, and the first three schools approached agreed to take part. The administration forwarded the informed consent form to athletes, and the first author received a list of possible participants. The first author then established and had direct contact with the athletes, and the interviews were planned to fit their schedules. Twenty-two interviews were conducted on campus, while two interviews were conducted online.
The participating athletes practice various sports: ice hockey, handball, biathlon, motocross, track and field, swimming, cross country and football. Most of the athletes have moved away from home to attend a specific PEUSS. This means that, in addition to working to progress in terms of their sport performance, they must establish new habits and routines related to everyday life, including eating, sleeping and prioritising their spare time. The athletes are encouraged by the schools to see themselves as 24/7 athletes, which implies also acting in line with their athletic identity in their lives outside of their sport.
Interviewing youth athletes
Given the theoretical underpinnings of this study, we perceive interviews as ‘windows into collective thought processes’ (Smith, 2003: 705). Hence, we consider the interviews to not only reflect individual experiences but also to provide insights into what is meaningful in the social context wherein the youth athletes find themselves. Meaning is, therefore, not perceived as something ‘behind’ each interviewee's statements or as a stable individual essence (Järvinen, 2005). From an interactionist perspective, we view language as both reflecting and creating social reality, and we perceive meaning in line with Blumer's (1969: 5) definition: ‘as social products, as creations that are formed in and through the defining activities of people as they interact’.
The first author conducted the interviews, transcriptions and analyses. The interviews lasted from 40 to 70 min. All of the interviews were semi-structured, ensuring that the same topics were covered in each interview and, at the same time, accommodating the variety in the athletes’ stories. In addition, many of the interview questions were exploratory, with the intention being to reveal the differences in the athletes’ associations. The topics included the athletes’ knowledge of various PES, whom they contact when seeking assistance and with whom they engage in informal discussions or other forms of interactions related to PES, with a particular emphasis on nutritional supplements. The interviews were all tape-recorded, allowing the interviewer to focus on the conversation and ask follow-up questions. Immediately after each interview, the interviewer wrote down thoughts and impressions, which facilitated the subsequent analysis and stressed reflection on the interviewer's position and perspective (Berger, 2015).
In each interview, after a ‘ritual warm-up’, which aims to build rapport and create a relaxed atmosphere, the conversation was directed towards questions such as the following: Who do you talk to about various forms of PES? Where do you seek knowledge? What do you know about PESs? What do you find challenging? Many of the athletes offered questioning responses, associating PES with doping and with prohibited substances. The interviewer's main aim was to open up the discussion and underline that PES can be seen as a broad umbrella term that includes both permitted and prohibited substances.
The initial observation was a certain degree of restraint when it came to discussing these topics. As prior research has revealed, the hegemonic anti-doping discourse influences athletes, leaving little space for discussion (Sandvik et al., 2017). However, we found more nuances, as all of the athletes turned the conversations about PES and supplements towards food and eating in various ways. The use of supplements, for example, was related to whether the athletes had enough food and enough energy, and also to practicalities regarding the preparation of food.
In addition, the athletes talked about different supplements. Most were familiar with several kinds, although they offered little detail about what supplements are and what they think about them. On several occasions, the athletes’ responses were brief, involving short descriptions and explanations. Going into the interviews, the aim had been to generate ‘rich’ and detailed descriptions based on the initial open questions. This turned out to be challenging, and several sub-questions from the interview guide had to be used to draw out more detailed descriptions.
The interviews were transcribed with MAXQDA. To the greatest extent possible, every word was transcribed, matching how each interview sounded. However, some changes were made to improve readability.
Interview analysis
To guide the interview analysis, we used Goffman's (1974) frame analysis. Questions that are often answered with a frame analysis include the following: What is going on here? What is being said? What does this mean? Moreover, the concept of frame articulation guided our analysis. In the literature, frame articulation is described as one of the cornerstones of frame analysis, which ‘involves the connection, or splicing together, and coordination of issues, events, experiences, and cultural items, including strands of one or more ideologies, so that they hang together in a relatively integrated and meaningful fashion’ (Snow et al., 2019: 397). Benford and Snow (2000: 623) described frame articulation as a discursive process that refers to the talk, conversations and written communications among people in a certain context.
The initial step in the analysis involved reading and re-reading the transcripts and listening to the original tapes to increase familiarity and prepare for a more systematic analysis. As previously mentioned, during the interviews, the interviewer experienced the conversations as sliding towards food and eating, developing an awareness of the athletes offering more elaborate accounts when talking about nutritional supplements in relation to food and eating. These observations formed the foundation for the analysis, which explored in more systematic ways the athletes’ framing of nutritional supplements. To scale down to what was meaningful and enable exploration of the possible patterns within and across the interviews, every quotation that related to nutritional supplements was extracted. Patterns in this context were interpreted as frames, as the athletes talked about nutritional supplements in a way that is meaningful in their context. After scrutinising all of the quotations and merging them into what we interpreted as meaningful categories, two major frames were identified: framing supplements as performance enhancement and framing supplements as food. It is important to emphasise that these frames consist of variations and nuances, although they still illustrate two different patterns for the athletes through which they make sense of supplements.
Ethical considerations
This research was approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD). In addition, all of the athletes signed an informed consent form prior to the interviews. The interviews were conducted in Norwegian, and the translations into English were performed with caution. The athletes used a lot of slang and ‘filler’ words that have meaning in Norwegian but, when translated, do not express the same meaning in English. Therefore, if needed, we changed the quotations to ensure that their meaning was retained. All names used in this study are pseudonyms
Findings
Overall, the athletes describe themselves as informed and knowledgeable about diet, food, supplements and what constitutes a healthy lifestyle in terms of nutritional consumption. Our analysis revealed two major frames that, by and large, summarise their understanding and organisation of supplements. In the following subsections, we will describe the frames—framing supplements as performance enhancement and framing supplements as food—and their occasional overlaps in more detail.
Framing supplements as performance enhancement
It appears that athletes differentiate between supplements and doping and have clear views about what is and is not acceptable. By contrast, in the anti-doping debate and the research literature, supplements are usually defined as a grey zone with blurred lines. In the interviews, we perceived two tendencies that connect supplements to such grey zones. First, the athletes report that supplements are communicated as unnecessary by coaches, nutritionists and parents, although other sources claim supplements to offer benefits. Since unnecessary and prohibited point to different issues, this leads the athletes to reflect and negotiate: They [school] have pushed the fact that we don’t need it [creatine], in addition to protein supplements, and I completely agree with them to a certain extent. There is a lot of research on creatine and things like that, showing that it can have a great effect for some people and that it can help. So I feel that it's a bit mixed who thinks it's okay and not okay and if it is necessary. (Mari) If you are unfortunate and it [protein powder] contains substances on the doping list, then it is your responsibility and your fault. You get a little scared by that. (Benjamin) You see some advantages in taking it [protein shake]. It's legal, it's a bit risky, but there's so little risk. There are several in the club who have been tested for doping and it's always negative. I think there is very little risk that it has been contaminated enough to fail a doping test. (Daniel)
In these quotations, supplements are considered to involve either a low or a high risk. Still, in a certain sense, both views fit within the performance frame. The youth athletes want ‘to save face’ and come across as athletes who properly evaluate risk (Goffman, 2005). An interesting aspect of our findings is that the framing of supplements as performance enhancers has parallels with how athletes understand their nutritional routines. The performance frame captures supplements as well as food and eating more generally: Before training, we eat a slice of bread. And right after, during a half hour afterwards, we eat a protein bar, but I feel in a way it's just to get enough so the training is worth something. You also eat proper food, so it isn’t, and we drink sugary beverages during training, just for energy. (Elizabeth)
Many of the athletes mention nutritional advice regarding correct food, as illustrated in Elisabeth's quotation above when she says that they also eat proper food in addition to a protein bar. In terms of nutritional education, there is also the notion that eating just after training allows the greatest benefit to be obtained: Food, it's a very big part. You should eat food right after training, have it right away. Maybe if you have an interval. We’ve learned that we should get it right after the interval, in addition to right after training, and then you should have a larger meal, perhaps after you have showered. (Ella)
We perceive this idea that athletes should eat right after training as demonstrating an overarching enhancement logic, which in this example shapes the athlete's framing of supplements and food. We argue that the need to consume calories and energy within a short time frame causes stress for athletes, rendering alternatives more attractive and convenient: After training, it goes faster and it is also easier, and what is it called, digested? It is digested faster because it is only powder, you do not have to digest all the food. So, the recovery starts faster. (John)
Another expression of the performance logic in the athletes’ narratives can be seen in the recurring idea that there is sometimes a need for something extra—that is, an extra dinner, extra food or extra energy. For instance, a protein shake can be that extra if you want to gain weight: No, there aren’t that many people who use it [shake] regularly actually. It's more if someone, for example, needs to gain weight or something. Then it's an easy way if they don’t get enough, then it's an easy way to get a little extra. (Benjamin) In a shake like that, you have 1000 calories. It's an extra meal, it's an extra dinner, and it helps a lot if you think that you need to or if you want to gain weight, so it's nothing like that, it's not performance-enhancing and it's not like protein. It's just that it helps you get extra food or extra nutrition. (Lucas)
When the athletes frame supplements in line with the performance-enhancement frame, they do not seem to perceive the supplements as a ‘magic’ ingredient that will automatically make them better athletes; rather, they perceive supplements as tools that can make them stronger, gain weight or have more energy. Previous research has shown that athletes are willing to consider various means and methods to enhance their performance (Kristensen et al., 2022), and what they eat, and drink is no exception.
Framing supplements as food
Most of the athletes have moved away from home, and several point out that they now have many new tasks in addition to training and practising their sport, including grocery shopping, planning meals and making food. Many of the athletes describe the effort required to develop routines in order to handle the time pressure. Moreover, the few athletes who still live at home express appreciation for having parents who make their lunch and for the possibility of coming home to a cooked dinner.
These living circumstances influence the athletes’ framing of supplements. For instance, living alone creates challenges when it comes to eating enough food during hectic days. I live alone, I could, somehow it was difficult to get enough food […] it's not something like that, that it is performance-enhancing, but it's like something that can help me get enough nutrition or food. (Lucas)
Although the vast majority of the athletes express having adequate knowledge about food and nutrition, several, including Lucas, communicate that the time available after training sessions and school is insufficient to prepare ‘proper’, healthy meals. Supplements can provide a quick solution when the athletes are short on time: Hmm, after, for example, after training, it's much faster and easier to get a shake than to have a full meal, for example. (John)
Most of the athletes share the idea that supplements can never replace food and that they would ideally eat ‘proper’ food if the circumstances were different. Still, a shake can be an alternative to a meal: You replace the meal with a shake every now and then if you have missed something and you may be going to an extra work out that you didn’t know about, then you may replace it. (Jack)
Despite this, some of the athletes argue that protein powder can never replace food: I don’t know how many people use protein powder or not, but there are some who do, if you don’t get the extra nutrition you need. But you can’t replace food with protein powder, you must still have some food in your body. (Henry)
When expressing their views on food and eating, the athletes also refer to their education. They report that, in their first year, they attend teaching and lectures on nutrition, and they are continually encouraged to eat ‘proper’ and ‘normal’ food. These views seem to be internalised and communicated: He [the coach] has said directly that protein powder and creatine and stuff like that are just nonsense and that you get the same nutrients from real food. (Julian) I don’t think you should use something that isn’t really necessary, or something that you can get through food, then I think it's unnecessary. (Ella)
Moreover, focusing on what to eat, as well as how much and when, is an obvious part of the athletes’ performance projects. Scrinis (2008) argued that this view of food is widespread in the nutritionism era. He termed it the nutritional gaze, which is characterised by seeing food as composed of nutrients, thereby overriding other ways of experiencing food, such as smells and flavours. For the athletes, the nutritional components are central in both supplements and food: You also use different bars. I actually usually make the bars myself because I think they’re so expensive […] I think having a bar is the same as eating, like eating a piece of a slice of bread, so there's not really much in it, I think. So that's why I'd rather make bars so that I get enough carbohydrates and proteins. (Ella)
Another interesting aspect is that the athletes organise and frame quite similar products in different ways. In terms of nutritional content, protein bars, protein shakes, sports drinks and energy drinks have certain similarities. Still, in our interpretation, the athletes frame them differently, drawing a distinction between bars, shakes and gels: No one has a protein shake or something like a gel, no one has anything like that. It could be energy bars maybe and things like that, but nothing other than that. (Emma) I never see anyone drinking energy drinks in our class and it's mostly protein bars. It is like, what is a nutritional supplement in a way, it is nothing more than that, either that or energy bars. (Ella)
This frame adds a nuance to the grey zone knowledge, providing insights into athletes’ framing of supplements as food. It also contributes other explanations as to why athletes may consider the use of nutritional supplements. However, the athletes also perceive food and eating in other ways as when making food together and sharing recipes or a meal. Even though they live in a high-achievement ‘bubble’, food can represent other values, such as family traditions and social belonging.
Discussion
Our aim with this paper is to explore how athletes make sense of supplements within the specific context of being aspiring youth athletes at a PEUSS in Norway. In this general discussion, we will highlight two noteworthy contributions of the analysis. First, the performance-enhancement frame emerges as the broader overarching logic in the elite sport context. While this is not surprising, previous research has only sparsely addressed how this has consequences for athletes’ meaning-making regarding food and supplements. Second, even if athletes distinguish between frames, the frames overlap and can cause tensions and contradictions with regard to the meanings ascribed to supplements and the beliefs about their effects.
To elaborate, we argue that the performance-enhancement frame reflects a broader overarching logic. Rather than seeing these behaviours as the result of coincidence, our impression is that this logic is disseminated in more or less all of the routines of the participating athletes. Both supplements and food are tangled up in notions of how to be a serious athlete and do things right. Ventresca and Brady (2015) pointed to food as part of the same system of knowledge that constructs the enhancement mindset. They suggested that athletes’ social construction of food can be understood as a continuum, with food on the permitted end and banned PES on the prohibited end. This helps to understand the idea of grey zones and why there are ‘blurry boundaries around the meanings ascribed to particular substances’ (Ventresca and Brady, 2015: 413). As seen above in the quotation concerning the acceptability of energy bars and the non-acceptable status of protein shakes, the meaning ascribed to supplements does not necessarily reflect precise knowledge of their contents and effects. However, given the social construction of supplements as existing in the blurry area of a permitted–prohibited substance continuum, this makes sense.
The performance logic has previously been explored and discussed in relation to disordered eating in the context of elite sport. Despite being termed differently, the ‘discourse of excellence’ (Williams, 2012) and ‘performance narrative’ (Papathomas and Lavallee, 2014) describe similar forces in the context of sport. Both this line of research and the present study have demonstrated that certain taken-for-granted ideas about food, the body and performance provide a useful context for understanding athletes’ actions regarding food and eating. Although we have not explored disordered eating in this paper, it seems obvious that athletes’ meaning-making concerning food and supplements can potentially be burdensome. Hughes and Coakley (1991) described dieting and eating disorders as confirming the sport ethic as positive deviance. This argument is widely used and also describes how over-confirming the sport ethic can lead to extreme and health-threatening diets, perhaps even to doping.
The second point to be addressed here relates to the fact that, while athletes distinguish between the food and performance framings of supplements, these framings also overlap and sometimes collide, causing tensions. From the frame analysis perspective, frame transformation processes can take place, which are described as being ‘keyed’ (Goffman, 1974), which we have demonstrated in the findings. In contrast to Ohl et al.'s (2024: 17) results and their view that Global Athlete's position is a ‘fabrication’ of a frame because the organisation frames its ‘engagement as an advocate and concealing its relations of power […]’, we consider the frame transformation described by the athletes to be credible. In other words, the frame transformation processes identified in the two studies differ based on the level of agreement among the parties involved, which influences how likely the frames are to break.
These processes involve the transformation of meaning regarding an activity, although there is often little change in the activity itself. This might explain why the frames are used interchangeably and often overlap. The athletes explicitly state that certain things are food, while certain things are supplements. However, the example given above concerning the framing of different protein products, where bars are considered acceptable and shakes unnecessary and potentially risky, illustrates the fine line between both products and the meanings ascribed to them. Bars are integrated into the ‘normal diet’ and the food frame, whereas shakes are not. This illustrates how supplements belong to a blurred area in which distinctions are negotiated and socially constructed. The athletes argue that some supplements form part of an athlete's diet and can be an option when there is no time or willpower to make a complete meal. It is clear from the interviews that the athletes have integrated many recommendations about the plate model (the distribution of different food types), as well as ‘proper’ and ‘ordinary’ food, but find it challenging to comply with the advice due to their shortage of time.
It seems that, in the sense-making concerning supplements, it is just a short walk from the food frame to the performance frame, and there are several examples of athletes expressing both frames in their reasoning. This illustrates Goffman's (1974) general point that, when humans construct meaning, the frames might overlap. A focus on nutrition is found in both frames. Supplements are talked about in relation to the nutritional components and being a convenient meal. This links to Scrinis’ (2008) idea of the ideology of nutritionism and can explain why the overarching nutrition idea is present in both frames. Coveney (2011: 14) suggested that nutritionism represents an epistemological level, arguing that it is ‘organising principles which allow us to know what we know, and who we are, and to validate those beliefs within particular moral frameworks’. Coveney's (2011) view of nutritionism is very much in line with Goffman's (1974) frames, as it disposes of certain meanings and, therefore, of a certain version of reality (Satheesh and Benford, 2020).
From an interactionist perspective, framing something in a certain way can help to ‘save one's face’ (Goffman, 2005: 9). Goffman (2005) described this as a process where you try to convey the impression to others that you operate in line with socially acceptable framings. In our case, it is plausible to think that the athletes frame supplements as food rather than a means of performance enhancement because they want to be perceived as fair athletes. Given the intense focus on anti-doping and being a clean athlete, the athletes will likely have interacted with each other and the interviewer to sustain that image. Goffman (2005: 9) described these acts as the expressive order or a set of meanings sustained in an interaction. We are not suggesting that the athletes deliberately use the food frame to disguise their actual views of practice or to lie. Still, the framing of supplements as food should be understood as a collective explanation and a social ritual intended to ensure that the right impression has been conveyed.
Based on our frame analysis, two distinct impressions of what it means to be a ‘right’ athlete that athletes are constantly negotiating and expressing through impression management. On the one hand, there is the aspect of being a dedicated athlete who incorporates performance-oriented logic into their dietary habits, while on the other hand, there is the notion of being a fair athlete, thereby aligning with commonly accepted views of supplements. Our research indicates that the athletes continually navigate these frames, striving to convey the appropriate image.
Simultaneously, while the athletes negotiate the perception of the ‘right’ athlete, they also discuss their relationships with food and eating in broader terms. They share experiences such as cooking dinner together, exchanging recipes and enjoying greasy foods or making a cake while watching a game on the television. This illustrates that food and eating serve as a connection to regular, everyday life outside of sport and to non-competitive social gatherings and enjoyment. If these stories are meant to convey a different impression, it may suggest that the athletes want to be seen as ‘ordinary’ youths who do as they please and do not always conform to the expectations placed on them.
Limitations and practical implications
For the analysis in this study, we scrutinised the interview transcripts because fieldwork during the COVID-19 pandemic was impossible, given the athletes’ high dependency on maintaining a healthy body. We acknowledge that being able to observe the athletes in their context and witnessing communication between them and others would have added valuable insights to this study. However, due to the theoretical frame, we argue that the interviews also provided access to the athletes’ meaning-making (Tavory, 2020).
As the interviews were conducted at one point in time in the athletes’ lives, we cannot say anything about how the identified frames are developed and to what extent they change over time. Still, there are good reasons to believe that the enhancement logic will not fade for athletes who are going into elite sport, as the competition becomes harder and the reward greater. This performance logic is likely to enforce the performance self/identity while also leaving the athletes vulnerable if they become injured or are hindered in other ways from practising their sport.
There could be good reasons for the leadership of elite sport schools to cultivate alternatives to the enhancement frame, for instance, a food frame that emphasises non-competitive social gathering and enjoyment. Prior research has demonstrated that having several identities or roles can be protective against risk-taking and vulnerability for youth athletes (Schnell et al., 2014). By following the lead of the athletes’ stories, exploring their meaning-making concerning supplements in relation to food and exploring meanings that are still not considered, we argue that the qualitative research approach offers particular advantages (Aspers and Corte, 2019). Indeed, qualitative data provide insights into how youth athletes articulate and construe their sporting experiences. Additionally, the qualitative approach offers significant benefits to educators and coaches aiming to foster both athletic prowess and holistic well-being among athletes.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, Anti-Doping Norway, and Child and Youth Sport Research Centre.
Ethical approval
This research was approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD).
Informed consent
All of the athletes signed an informed consent form prior to the interviews.
