TORONTO - Researchers say pediatricians, family doctors and parents need to learn more about what kind of performance-enhancing substances kids are using when they work out or play sports.

Seventeen per cent of more than 800 Canadian pediatric specialists surveyed say they saw adolescents who needed medical attention due to dietary supplements or performance drugs over the previous year.

The majority of cases were boys and more than half of them were between 13 and 15 years old.

Almost a third of the patients were even younger — between 10 and 12 years old.

Co-lead researcher Kyle Ganson says the use of legal performance-enhancing supplements such as whey protein, creatine and pre-workout mixes — as well as illegal drugs such as anabolic steroids — has been on the rise among adolescent

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