Doping with blood substitute has negative impact on performance
Posted June 28th, 2007 at 3:53 PM by Courtney Albon
Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Nutrition, Supplements, Health & Fitness, Drugs In Sports
Attempts to enhance performance with a doping agent called Hemopure, may not be worth the effort. According to a recent study, the blood substitute intended to strengthen patients with anemia, may actually do the opposite for elite athletes seeking a boost in endurance.
Hemopure is a blood substitute derived from cow’s blood that serves to deliver Oxygen throughout the body at a faster rate and is intended for individuals with a low count of red blood cells. The drug was approved in South Africa in 2001 and has recently been made available in some parts of Europe, but only to be used as a strengthening agent for anemic patients.
In the past, Athletes have used a product called EPO, also a drug used by anemic patients, but doctors say that the increased amount of oxygen that Hemopure delivers to the body, sets it apart from EPO and similar drugs.
Athletes who use Hemopure in search of strengthened endurance may be disappointed, however, as recent studies reported in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, have found that Hemopure does little to improve performance.
The study found that VO2 max, a measurement that indicates the amount of Oxygen one’s body can take during physical activity, showed no improvement when 12 physically active men were given the blood substitute. The men given Hemopure also experienced heightened blood pressure which, researchers say, was seen in previous studies.
The findings have led the study’s co-author, Dr. Yorck Olaf Schumacher, to denounce any potential health benefits the drug may provide endurance athletes. Schumacher noted that the potentially harmful side-effects of Hemopure such as the spikes in blood pressure seen in the study, make it even less productive for athletes and, in fact, dangerous to their health.
If the threat of ill-health is not enough to deter endurance athletes from doping with Hemopure, maybe the drug’s easy detection in anti-doping tests will. Schumacher noted that athletes who use the drug will not likely slip under the radar.
Research source and for more information: [Reuters]
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Tags: anemia, blood substitute, doping, Dr. Yorck Olaf Scumacher, drugs, drugs sport, endurance, epo, Hemopure, International Journal of Sports Medicine, negative impact, oxygen, performance, South Africa, vo2max
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