Don Hooten Jr.

Performance and Appearance Enhancing Drugs

Don Hooten Jr.

Episode 40

Welcome to Healthy Youth Sports, a podcast by the National Youth Sports Health and Safety Institute (NYSHSI), a community impact program of the American College of Sports Medicine.

In this episode Eric Utterback sits down with Don Hooton Jr., President of the Taylor Hooton Foundation, to explore the growing crisis of Performance and Appearance Enhancing Drug (PAED) use among young athletes.

🎧 This conversation covers:

  • Warning signs, cultural influences, and prevention strategies
  • The most commonly used PAEDs by youth
  • The difference between performance and appearance enhancement

Listen now—and share with your community of parents, coaches, and providers.

Learn about the Taylor Hooten Foundation.

Listen to The ALL ME® Podcast from the Taylor Hooten Foundation.

Looking to make a lasting difference in youth health and performance? Get certified as a Youth Fitness Specialist with ACSM/NYSHSI’s self-paced online course and earn 13 CECs.

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GSSI Pre-Conference

The Physiology of Hydration: More Than Water Alone

This session explores the physiology of hydration through an integrated lens—examining how carbohydrate, sodium, flavor, and fluid interact to influence intake, absorption, retention, and performance. We’ll review current research on fluid balance, osmotic drivers, and palatability, highlighting mechanisms that underpin voluntary intake and thermoregulation. Attendees will gain insight into individualized strategies, including sweat profiling and timing approaches, to optimize euhydration and mitigate performance decrements associated with >2% body-mass loss. Practical applications will be linked to laboratory- and field-based research, ensuring translation from bench to field. This pre-conference equips you with evidence-based tools to support athlete hydration across diverse environments and sporting contexts. 

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  • Session 1: Sweating the detail: New insights on hydration considerations for athlete performance
    • Lewis James, PhD, Associate Professor in Human Nutrition in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University
  • Session 2: Functional ingredients in fluid replacement beverages for athletes
    • Lindsay Baker, PhD, Director at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute
  • Session 3: The hydration toolkit: Practical approaches to athlete support
    • Floris Wardenaar, PhD, Associate Professor at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University