Performance Enhancing Drugs
Ben Johnson, Montgomery Williams, CJ Hunter, Barry Bonds, Dwain Chambers, Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones all have one thing in common. They have all, at one time or another, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs with Marion Jones being the latest of these athletes to fail the IAC (International athletics committee) testing.
Some of you may have heard of all or some of the names mentioned above and some of you may not but regardless of whether you have or you haven’t you would have heard of performance enhancing drugs and possibly read about the controversy surrounding them (unless you have been living on Mars for the last 10 years).
So what are performance enhancing drugs? Well obviously they aim to increase performance by assisting/aiding the bodies natural processes (building muscle, transporting oxygen, making red blood cells) to gain an advantage in competition.
The first and most commonly recognised is Anabolic Steroids. Anabolic Steroids are the synthetic derivatives of the naturally occurring male anabolic hormone testosterone. These are taken to build muscle tissue and strength and thus aiding performance. These can be injected in a liquid form which helps to localise the area you are wishing to target or orally which is distributed more evenly throughout the body. The drugs are taken in Cycles as opposed to continuously (called Cycling). Cycling involves taking multiple doses over Weeks or Months and then having a break and presumably is the reason some Athletes think they will not get caught as the Steroid has returned to normal levels in the body and the gains in strength, speed, muscle mass have been obtained. The health hazards associated with Steroids can include liver tumors and cancer, jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids), fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol), and decreases in HDL (good cholesterol). Other side effects include kidney tumors, severe acne, and trembling.
The second and lesser known PED is Erythropoietin or EPO. Erythropoietin (pronounced, ah-rith-ro-poy-tin) is a relatively recent entry into the deceitful pursuit of glory. EPO is a protein hormone produced by the kidney. After being released into the blood stream it binds with receptors in the bone marrow, where it stimulates the production of red blood cells (erythrocytes). Medically, EPO is used to treat certain forms of anemia (e.g., due to chronic kidney failure). Logically, since EPO accelerates erythrocyte production it also increases oxygen carrying capacity. More Oxygen to working muscles the more work that can be performed. Simple!!
EPO is injected but as with the Steroids I think that it is taken continuously. There is only so many red blood cells that the body can produce so the synthetic EPO is taken until these upper limits are reached. The reason that EPO is dangerous is because of increased blood viscosity. Basically, whole blood consists of red blood cells and plasma (water, proteins, etc.). The percentage of whole blood that is occupied by the red blood cells is referred to as, the hematocrit. A low hematocrit means dilute (thin) blood, and a high hematocrit mean concentrated (thick) blood. Above a certain hematocrit level whole blood can sludge and clog capillaries. If this happens in the brain it results in a stroke. In the heart, a heart attack. Unfortunately, this has happened to several elite athletes who have used EPO.
Using any type of PED comes down to a couple of factors a) does the risk out way the gain and b) How badly does the athlete want to be the best. Although not all the athletes mentioned above are from Athletics backgrounds (Barry Bonds plays Baseball) most are but do not let you think that it is not rife in lots of sports these days. It is just unfortunate that if you are the Worlds fastest Man or Woman you are going to be under considerable pressure from fans and competition alike.
There are more PED’s out there but I have used the 2 that have been in the media recently. If you require any more information about PED’s then DO NOT ask for any information from the Invigorate staff…….;) Kennedy