Should under 18s take supplements?

By Tom Francis·Updated 2026-09-03·3 sources·Editorial policy

Key takeaways

Does this site cover under 18s?

No. Everything here is written for adults, and the reference values and claim thresholds used throughout are adult figures.

Who should be asked?

A GP or a registered dietitian, who can account for growth, the whole diet and anything else going on.

What actually matters at that age?

Food, sleep and coaching. The gains available from those are larger than anything a supplement offers an adult, let alone a growing player.

Are youth players tested?

Testing exists at age grade level in both codes, and strict liability applies to a sixteen year old the same as anyone.

Why this page exists

Because the question gets asked constantly. A large share of the questions people type about rugby supplements are about teenagers: whether a fourteen year old should take creatine, what dose of something suits a fifteen year old, what a parent should buy for an academy player.

Those are reasonable things for a parent or a young player to want answered. They are not things a supplement site should answer, and a site that stayed silent while quietly selling into the same searches would be worse than one that says so.

What this site is written for

Adult club rugby players. Every figure used across the site is an adult figure: the 375mg magnesium reference value, the 250mg EPA and DHA threshold, the 15 percent NRV claim thresholds, the UK supplemental guidance levels.

Those are population reference values for adults. They are not scaled down for a growing fifteen year old, and applying them to one is not a matter of taking less. Growth changes requirements in ways a percentage adjustment does not capture.

The creatine question specifically

It comes up more than anything else, usually from a parent whose son has heard about it at a gym or from teammates.

Creatine has a genuine authorised claim for adults at 3g a day, and that claim was assessed in adults. Whether it is appropriate for a fourteen or fifteen year old is a clinical judgement about a growing person, and it is one this site is not qualified to make and will not attempt. A GP or a registered dietitian can, with the whole picture in front of them.

What actually matters at that age

Eating enough, which is the single most common gap in a growing player training several times a week. Sleep, which for a teenager is a larger requirement than for an adult and is routinely the first thing to go. And coaching, because skill and conditioning at that age compound in a way nothing bought does.

The honest position is that the gains available from those three at fifteen are larger than anything a supplement offers an adult, and considerably larger than anything it would offer a teenager.

The anti-doping point, which parents rarely consider

Testing exists at age grade level in both codes, and strict liability applies to a sixteen year old exactly as it applies to a professional. A young player is responsible for what is in their sample regardless of who bought the product.

That makes contaminated multi ingredient products a real risk for a group least equipped to assess it. If a young player is going to take anything, batch certified products are the only sensible position, and the club and governing body are the right people to ask.

Where the Futuro Labs products stand

Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil, Futuro Labs Marine Collagen and Futuro Labs Lion's Mane are food supplements sold for adults, and none of them is batch certified for sport.

This site describes them for adult club players and does not recommend them for anyone under 18. That is not a legal disclaimer at the bottom of a page, it is the reason this page exists near the top of the site.

Who to ask instead

1. A GP, particularly if there is any medical history or medication involved.
2. A registered dietitian, who can look at the whole diet rather than one nutrient.
3. The club or governing body, on anything to do with testing at age grade level.
4. The coach, on training load, which is usually the more useful conversation.
5. Not a supplement retailer, and not a teammate.

Why this is the most commercially tempting page on the site

Youth rugby is a large audience with concerned parents in it, and questions about teenagers and supplements are asked constantly. A site willing to answer them with product recommendations would reach a lot of people.

That is exactly why the line matters. The people asking are least equipped to judge the answer, the person taking the product is not the person buying it, and the figures every other page here relies on are adult reference values that do not transfer.

So this page occupies the question and declines to answer the version of it that would sell something. Futuro Labs products are described throughout this site for adult club players, and none of them is recommended for anyone under 18.

What a parent can usefully do instead

Ask what the actual problem is. A player who is tired, not gaining size, cramping or struggling in the last twenty minutes has a specific issue, and almost all of those resolve into food, sleep or training load rather than a nutrient.

Eating enough is the most common gap by a distance in a growing player training several times a week, and it is also the least visible, because a teenager who eats three meals can still be well short of what a growth spurt plus four sessions a week requires.

If a supplement genuinely seems warranted after that, a GP or registered dietitian is the right person to decide it, with the whole picture and the growth curve in front of them.

Where to go next

• Supplements for rugby playersThe adult picture, and what carries a claim.
• Banned substances and batch testingStrict liability, which applies at age grade level too.
• How much protein does a rugby player need?The food question, which is the one that matters most.

Questions players ask

Sources

• UK Anti-Doping, supplements
• Food supplements guidance, gov.uk
• EFSA register of nutrition and health claims