Performance-Enhancing Substances

11.1

• Performance can be enhanced by the use of nutritional supplements, pharmacological aids and physiological aids.

• Nutritional supplements include vitamins, mineral, protein/amino acid supplements, creatine, caffeine etc.

• Pharmacological aids include pain-killers, steroids, prohormones & certain hormones and erythropoietin.

• Physiological aids include blood doping and drug masking.

Vitamins and Minerals • Not well regulated and may commonly have no effect on

performance beyond placebo.

• In general, a healthy diet will supply all the vitamin and minerals a person needs. Moreover, vitamin and mineral supplements are typically in doses much higher (~1000x) than those recommended and may cause harm.

• Certain amino acids may lead to increased muscle development; however, as discussed previously, an excess of amino acids or proteins can lead to increased urea and ammonia production and kidney damage.

Protein and amino acid supplements • Carnitine is marketed as a fat burner

– improves anaerobic respiration (escorts long chain fatty acids to the mitochondria for use in the Kreb’s cycle)

• Creatine is marketed as an aid to muscle development. – In small quantities its ingestion may aid in performance

for short, high energy activities that rely on the ATP-PC chain;

– large quantities are excreted. – Adverse side effects are not well documented, – Linked to body odour and testicular shrinkage.

Caffeine

• well known performance aid found naturally in coffee, tea and chocolate.

• In low to moderate doses, caffeine will increase blood pressure, alertness and decrease fatigue.

• Routine ingestion will raise the body’s tolerance to its effects (body will actually depress blood pressure before routine caffeine consumption) leading to the perception of addiction.

Parmocological Aids

• “doping”

• Pain-masking drugs

• Anabolic steroids

• Prohormones

• Human growth hormone (hGH)

• erythropoietin

Pain-masking drugs

• Many pharmacological aids are banned by major sporting bodies as they may give athletes an unfair advantage.

• Pain-killers called narcotic analgesics can mask the pain of injuries by blocking the body’s pain receptors. – Include morphine & heroine.

• Habit-forming and can lead to more injuries when the normal signals of damage are ignored.

Anabolic steroids• Based on testosterone (mimic)

• Used by athletes to increase muscle mass and quicker recovery

• Side effects include liver damage, aggression, breasts in males and the masculinisation of females.

Prohormones

• Androgenic steroids (Androstenedione)

• Mark McGwire broke the homerun record while using “Andro” in 1998

• Can become or simulate testosterone or androgen.

• Marketed as being similar to that of anabolic steroids, while side effects include acne, baldness, feminization of males and aggression.

http://www.slideshare.net/schwartzm/anabolic-steroid-use?type=powerpoint

Human growth hormone (hGH)

• Believed to aid in increasing muscle mass and bone strength while maintaining body mass

• Can lead to heart problems, excessive growth of the extremities and organs.

• More difficult to detect than steroids due to natural levels in body

Barry Bonds and Acromegaly

Erythropoietin (EPO)

• “Blood doping” replaced real blood doping

• Used to increase haemoglobin levels and therefore the blood’s ability to carry and deliver oxygen.

• • Useful for endurance athletes, especially since it is very

difficult to detect.

• Can lead to blood clots and cyclists have died from using EPO

• Other restricted pharmacological substances include alcohol, marijuana, local anaesthetics, corticosteroids and beta blockers.

Physiological aids• fall into two classes: blood doping and drug masking.

• Blood doping involves the removal and storage of blood 6-8 weeks pre-competition, then reintroducing it within the week before competition. EPO has replaced this practice

• Drug masking is the use of legal drugs or substances to mask illicit or restricted substances.

• include diuretics, which increase the volume and frequency of urination in order to decrease the concentration of drugs detected in urine testing.