Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: bigblind on 04/03/2013 18:17:16
-
Some time ago, the (in my opinion) awesome web comic http://xkcd.com (http://xkcd.com) posted the folowing cartoon:
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimgs.xkcd.com%2Fcomics%2Fsteroids.png&hash=f663123c3bb56791d720c8b5d3ef3733)
This comic raises the question which chemicals people take in are considered doping, and which ones are just food, or medicin? Who decides this, and how do they do this? They can't have a specific list of prohibited drugs, because if a sporter takes a drug that is not yet on the list, they have to allow it for that one time, before putting it on the list, and disallowing it then. So there must be some criteria that a drug must meet before it is consiered doping. What are these criteria?
-
Doping goes far beyond food.
For example, you can drink all the blood you want, which will be metabolized in your digestive system, but it isn't the same as injecting the blood into your veins.
A committee (or probably several of them), of course, analyses different doping methods,
192 Banned Performance Enhancing Substances and Methods with Pros & Cons of Their Health Effects (http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002037)
World Antidoping Agency 2013 "list" (http://list.wada-ama.org/)
Many of the drugs, and procedures can have serious side-effects and consequences.
I have to imagine that while there may be legal sports drinks, or sport protein supplements, which may or may not have a huge benefit, most athletes, trainers, or physicians know that the drug, supplement, or procedure goes beyond a normal diet.
And certainly, the majority of the substances on the list aren't growing on trees, but rather are being manufactured in laboratories.
Perhaps a question one should ask. Would you want your teenage children taking these drugs? Would you want them competing for scholarships against other children taking them?