|
|
[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
Channel 4 criticised over programme showing effects of doping
TV show that tests drugs on athletes sparks official fury
By Steve Bloomfield A controversial television experiment in which amateur sportsmen are injected with anabolic steroids to test their effectiveness has been branded "irresponsible" by UK Sport, the official body that deals with drug testing. The production company behind Cheating at Athens - Is it Worth It?, to be screened on Channel 4 on Thursday, a day ahead of the opening ceremony at the Athens Olympics, deny the allegation. They say the programme forms a groundbreaking scientific experiment into the effects of taking performance-enhancing drugs. The doctor who carried out the experiments told The Independent on Sunday yesterday there were risks involved but they were worth it because of the value of the results the programme has thrown up. Cheating at Athens will show the damaging side-effects of taking steroids and other such drugs, which include depression, hair loss, increased aggression and shrinking of the testes. Amateur athletes - many regular gym-goers - from the UK, Australia, United States, Canada and New Zealand spent six weeks at a secret training camp near Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia, where they were monitored by doctors from an Australian university. Of the 24 guinea pigs - all men - 18 received regular injections. Nine were given steroids, while the other half were injected with a harmless placebo. Crucially, neither the athletes, coaches, nor scientists running the experiment knew which athletes had been injected with anabolic steroids. The other six men were given legal performance-enhancing drugs, such as creatine, caffeine and colostrum. The final results have in part surprised the scientists. In some cases, those men injected with a placebo did better over six weeks than some of those injected with steroids, indicating that some of the effects of steroids might be in the mind or else that steroids do not work for all athletes. UK Sport last night poured scorn on the programme-makers' claims that it was a worthwhile scientific experiment. A spokesman said: "We certainly have issues about the principles surrounding the programme. It troubles us, particularly from an ethical and health point of view. "It's just irresponsible. What sort of message does that send out to young, up-and-coming athletes?" A spokesman for the programme's producers, Mentorn, denied that it was irresponsible, pointing out that it highlighted the side-effects to taking steroids more than their performance-enhancing qualities. "It should make anyone watching think very seriously about the potential harm they may do to themselves by taking these drugs." The experiment was overseen by Robert Weatherby, a leading doping expert at Southern Cross University in New South Wales. Dr Weatherby admitted that the volunteers had been put at risk but claimed it was worth it. "There is always a risk," he said. "But if we want to find out more about such drugs we really don't have any choice but to administer it to people in the safest possible way." After three weeks of intense training and injections, several athletes began to feel the effects. Dan Davis, 29, an Australian, saw a dramatic increase in the amount he could lift in the gym. "It does feel good," he said. "I'm 95 per cent certain I'm on the steroids. It makes you more outgoing." Not everyone was happy, though. One athlete worried the steroids had made him more angry, while another said: "I don't really like the person I'm becoming." "Big Dan", from Canada, was so worried that his mood swings and acne were caused by steroids that he decided to leave the programme after four weeks. It was only once he had left the experiment that Dr Weatherby informed him that he had actually been given the placebo. Mentorn had invited UK Sport to be involved, but the government body declined. The programme, which will also be screened in Australia, has come under heavy criticism there. Two of Australia's greatest Olympians, swimmers Dawn Fraser and Kieran Perkins, have warned the programme may encourage young people to take steroids. Michele Verokken, one of the world's leading authorities on anti-doping, who used to be head of drug testing for UK Sport, said that despite concerns over the ethics of such a programme, it could prove to be a worthwhile experiment. She said: "I wouldn't condone the programme as a good way forward, but it might help to get the message through. It could help show these aren't magic potions." Source: Independent Steroids boost performance in just weeks
New Scientist Even a low dose of testosterone can give athletes a big performance boost - and in a fraction of the time thought necessary, a study initiated by New Scientist has found. The finding will reinforce calls for drug-testing regimes to be radically stepped up. The received wisdom is that testosterone must be injected weekly for at least 10 weeks. Yet sports scientist Robert Weatherby of Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, who conducted the study, found the biggest increase in performance came after just three weeks. Power boost Taking testosterone for short periods only, taking smaller doses, or doing both, would reduce the chances of athletes getting caught by drugs testers. "Athletes have probably already figured this out, and we are just confirming that scientifically," says Randall Urban of the University of Texas at Austin, who has studied the effects of testosterone on older men. While much attention has focused on synthetic anabolic steroids such as the recently discovered THG, various forms of the natural hormone testosterone are widely abused by athletes and bodybuilders. "Testosterone use is still rampant in sport," says Christiane Ayotte of the Montreal Doping Control Laboratory in Canada. There is also a high level of testosterone abuse in teenagers who want to boost their looks or improve their performance. One survey suggests that an alarming 3.5 per cent of high-school students in the US use steroids like testosterone. It is fair to assume that at least that proportion is also true for the sporting community, says David Cowan of the Drugs Control Centre at King's College London. "We may only be catching 10 per cent of those using the drug," he says. Muscle size The first rigorous study of the performance-enhancing effects of testosterone in young men was not carried out until 1996. Volunteers were given weekly injections of either 600 milligrams of testosterone enanthate or a placebo for 10 weeks (bodybuilders usually take much larger doses). Performance tests done at the end of this period showed the hormone had improved muscle size and strength in those doing strength training, and to a lesser extent in those who did not exercise. The only other comparable study, in 2001, looked at the effects of different doses, but the volunteers were only tested after 20 weeks. No one has ever looked at testosterone's effects over shorter periods. In the latest study, Weatherby monitored the performance of 18 male amateur athletes over a six-week training regime. Nine were given weekly shots of testosterone enanthate at a dose of 3.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight for six weeks (equivalent to roughly half the dose of the 1996 trial), and nine were given a placebo. The controversial trial, produced by New Scientist, the UK's Channel 4 and production company Mentorn for a television show broadcast in Australia, Canada, France and the UK this week, was approved by the ethics committee of Southern Cross University. Less empathic Weatherby measured the men's muscle size and performance at the beginning of the trial, and after three and six weeks. Those conducting the tests did not know who was receiving testosterone and who was on the placebo.
The team also looked at the effect of testosterone on the volunteers' mood, personality and immune system. Unsurprisingly, given the low dose and short duration, no dramatic effects showed up. The personality tests suggest that those on testosterone became less empathic and considerate towards others, and the activity of their immune systems seemed to decline slightly, but there was no significant effect on mood. There was, however, a dramatic improvement in the performance of the athletes taking testosterone. The most unexpected finding was that the greatest increases in muscle size and power occurred just three weeks into the trial (see graphics). "I'm surprised it worked that quickly," says Cowan. Most professional athletes can expect to be tested from once every two years to as frequently as 20 times a year, depending on the level at which they compete. "In the random testing scenario, it could conceivably make it more likely you could slip through without being detected," he says.
Active and inactive Testing for testosterone is difficult. With synthetic steroids, all you have to do is prove their presence. But because testosterone is a natural hormone, testers usually have to rely on a few tricks. The standard method is to measure the ratio of the active and inactive forms of testosterone in an individual's urine, called the TE ratio. On average, this ratio is 1. When people are taking testosterone, the TE ratio can rise to 10 or more, and after they stop it can fall below 1, because the body stops making testosterone while people are taking big doses. The time it takes for the TE ratio to return to normal once people come off the hormone depends on the size of the doses and how long they were taken for - it can be several months. Until 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency, which issues global regulations on drug abuse in sport, only regarded a TE ratio above 6 as suspicious. Last week new regulations came into effect that recommend investigating any abnormal level of testosterone, however low. The analysis of urine samples from the athletes in the Australian study is not yet complete, but the results of other studies suggest that the TE ratio of people even on this relatively low dose would be high enough for them to be caught out. However, if athletes or coaches have learned by trial and error to use low doses for short periods only, there is less chance of them being caught. Their TE ratios should also return to normal faster, further reducing the chances of detection even under the new testing regime. Cowan and Ayotte think a complete overhaul of the testing system is due. "What we really need to do is collect data on individual athletes frequently and over a prolonged period of time to build up testosterone profiles, so that we can explain why they have changes and what their normal levels are," says Cowan. "We want to catch the cheats, but we also want to get away from pointing the finger at athletes without any proof." Serious new side effects of performance enhancing drugs
News-Medical.Net As the countdown continues to the Athens Olympics, a new Australian study by a team of Southern Cross University (SCU) scientists has revealed serious new side effects of performance enhancing drugs. The SCU study, led by Dr Robert Weatherby, has revealed that the use of anabolic steroids may significantly increase susceptibility to viral infections and cancers and raises questions about the dangers of long-term use of the banned substances. The study, completed over six weeks under strict ethical and health controls, was carried out in conjunction with Mentorn, Channel 4 (UK) and New Scientist. The experiment formed part of the documentary “High Performance”, which screens on Foxtel tonight (Wednesday, August 11). Dr Weatherby said the study revealed that using anabolic steroids, even at doses 50 times less than those commonly used by steroid abusers, significantly increased susceptibility to viral infections and cancers by weakening a vital part of the body’s immune system. The researchers also found that steroids could cause a change in the users’ psychology, reducing their empathy for other people, and making them less sensitive to the effect of their actions on others. Unlike other drugs, which merely alter mood for a short time, this new evidence indicates steroids may cause a change to human personality, which is normally stable throughout life – a result that has potential implications for those convicted of criminal offences related to so called “roid rage”. “Athletes have used these drugs for a long time, hoping to improve their performance, but now for the first time we’ve been able to show that androgenic anabolic steroids have a seriously detrimental effect on a specific part of the human body’s immune system,” Dr Weatherby said. “Even at the doses we gave – 3.5 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight per week – 50 times less than those commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders, and for a period of only six weeks - the body’s ability to defend itself against viruses and cancers is likely to be significantly lessened. “Anyone taking steroids over a long period of time - to improve their athletic performance in the short term - is potentially seriously endangering their health.” The study involved a group of 24 multi-national volunteers who were based at a training camp in NSW. The volunteers were divided into two groups. One group was injected with an anabolic steroid (testosterone enanthate) and the second group injected with a placebo. The test was “double blind” so that neither the volunteers nor the scientists knew who was given what. The volunteers were then put through a training regime under the supervision of an Olympic standard coach. Dr Weatherby said the study found that the effectiveness of NK (natural killer) cells, a type of white blood cell crucial to the body’s immune system, was reduced by 20% in those administered with the testosterone. This means that for the first time, a test on humans has linked androgenic anabolic steroids with a reduction in the NK cells’ ability to destroy diseased body cells – such as those infected with a virus or tumour. This reduction comes on top of the already reduced immune system that many athletes have through stressing their bodies with intensive training. It is believed that the reduction in NK Cell activity would be even greater at the higher level of steroids normally taken by bodybuilders and sports people. The scientists also discovered significant psychological changes in those administered with testosterone, including effects on personality. These included a reduction in a psychological factor called sensitivity. This finding is significant because very few drugs cause an actual change to the personality, rather than just heightening mood swings after which the user returns to normal. The changes to personality result in a less empathetic, more compliant person who would take less responsibility for their actions. This may have legal implications, as for the first time, people using steroids who are charged with a criminal offence may be able to argue a defence of diminished responsibility. Dr Weatherby said the results of the study demonstrated the need for further studies into the side-effects of performance enhancing drugs and SCU was considering avenues for ongoing research. The SCU team of scientists was led by Dr Weatherby and included Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, Associate Lecturer Ms Rosanne Coutts, Senior Lecturer Mr Rudi Meir and Mr Shane Rogerson. Other SCU academics and researchers took part in the project. |
|
|
