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 said they saw adolescents who needed medical attention due to performance-enhancing products, including both legal and illegal substances, during 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.

Legal performance-enhancing substances include dietary supplements such as whey protein, creatine, amino acids and "pre-workout" drinks or powders which are readily available in grocery stores,

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