Sports Medicine

Medicine > Doping

Artificial Performance Enhancement

There are many ways used by athletes to try and cheat and gain an unfair advantage over their competitors. Fortunately the scientific and medical community have been advancing as fast as the drug cheat's laboratories, and hopefully even catching up. Here is a discussion about a few of the methods that are used or have been used in the past.

Testosterone and other anabolic steroids

Testosterone, a male sex hormone, helps build muscle and improve stamina. A recent case of an athlete using this is American Floyd Landis who was caught with elevated level in a urine sample given after one of the stages on the 2006 Tour de France. Testosterone is a substance produced by the body, and artificial doping is considered when elevated levels are found above what is normally expected or if a synthetic form of testosterone found. The drug testers compare the ratio of the amount of testosterone and epitestosterone as this changes when the person boosts their natural testosterone levels. Carbon isotope ratio testing involves a mass spectrometer and can also determine the presence of synthetic testosterone - they can determine the difference between endogenous (naturally produced) and exogenous (came from an external source) testosterone.

Beneficial effects have also been found with similar compounds that also have muscle building effects.

Erythropoietin ( EPO)

EPO is sometimes used by endurance sport athletes such as cycling and long distance running to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. EPO acts by increasing the body's own production of red blood cells. It can be dangerous when abused as it can result in thickening of the blood.

Related Pages

• Interesting and amusing excuses from the drug cheats
• drug testing procedures