Doping Is Now A Public Health Issue, Not Just A Sporting One

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Sports Medicine / Fitness
Also Included In: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 24 Sep 2012 - 12:00 PDT

Doping - using drug or blood products to improve athletic performance - has now become a public health problem, and not just a sporting one, experts explained at an anti-doping conference organized by the Arne Ljungqvist Foundation.

Dr. Timothy Armstrong, who works at WHO (World Health Organization) explained that about 3% of high school boys in America regularly take growth hormones or steroids. This amounts to a very large number of people and is definitely a public health problem, he added.

Dr. Armstrong said:

"Substance abuse in any shape or form has a physical and mental health aspect to it. The WHO, being the lead UN (United Nations) agency on health matters, takes this issue quite seriously."

Dr. Arne Ljungqvist, the Foundation's creator, agreed that doping has reached a scale that threatens public health. He hopes this conference may convince everybody that doping is no longer just a problem that exists in the Olympics or other major international events.

Ljungqvist said "This is a first attempt to highlight this matter as a public health issue, which in my view it is. "Elite sport plays an obvious role. They are the role models of youngsters and if they are drug takers, that is not the right role model for the coming society. "I am so happy today to see these international authorities coming together and sharing these concerns that are being expressed and I hope that we can find common ways to deal with them."

David Howman, Director General of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), said that events which occur among top athletes often have a knock-on effect that spreads into wider society. He emphasized the need for agencies, organizations and health care professionals to share information if we really want to reign in the doping problem.

Howman said:

"What we have learned in the last 10 years is that there is a trickle-down effect into recreational sports and into the high schools. In Australia now, the customs people share their information with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA), and already 40 percent of their anti-doping rule violations come from that sort of information. That's a very good example of how it can work when people work together."

An anti-doping drive, which occurred before the 2012 London Olympics, revealed several cases of doping, Howman said. The Anti-Doping Agency of the UK shared data with the police and customs authorities - these data were then forwarded to the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Games' anti-doping program was based mainly on that data.

The sharing of information between the various UK authorities led to several discoveries of doping in the out-of-competition phase.

Each organization, Howman explained, has only a small slice of the data cake and can only work on their own up to a limited point. However, if all the agencies, such as UNESCO, WADA, WHO, customs, police and the IOC joined forces, the chances of beating the growing doping problem is much more feasible. Howman said "We all require better data to inform prevalence - how many people are taking what substances and the adverse social and health effects as a consequence of that."

Homan mentioned the UNESCO Anti-Doping Convention, which 172 nations subscribed to, and how national governments could align their domestic policies with the Code. It is important that rules around the world regarding anti-doping in sport become harmonized.

Pilar Alvarez-Laso, the assistant Director General of UNESCO, said that as UNESCO and WADA join together at the international levels, this plague which harms athletes and undermines the fair-play of sports may be eliminated. Doping practices can cause serious harm to the credibility of sport.

Alvarez-Laso says it is crucial that young people be educated on the moral, legal and health consequences of doping.

What is doping, who decides, how do they decide?

Ex-chairman of the WADA List Committee, Dr. Gary Wadler, explained in the conference who decides what doping is, and how. He said that there is a Prohibited List.

For a method or substance to be considered for the Prohibited list, it must match two or more of the criteria below:

• It may enhance performance, or sports performance
• It may be hazardous to health
• Using it violates the spirit of sport

Prohibited substances or methods banned from the Olympics include:

• Banned androgenic agents
• Beta blockers
• Beta-2 agonists
• Blood doping
• Diuretics and masking agents
• Endogenous anabolic androgenic steroids
• Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents
• Exogenous anabolic androgenic steroids
• Glucocorticoids
• Hormone antagonists and modulators
• Hormones and related substances
• Metabolites and isomers
• Narcotics and cannabinoids
• Other anabolic agents
• Stimulants

Professor Arne Ljungqvist (born 1931), from Stockholm, Sweden, is a medical researcher as well as an ex-member of Sweden's Olympic team in 1952. He was Sweden's high jump champion. Prof. Ljungqvist left competitive sports to complete his medical training.

Prof. Ljungqvist is an internationally respected and famous doping hunter, and has been working actively worldwide in the fight against doping in sports for the last four decades. He is a member of the IOC and is vice-chairman of the WADA.

Some doping substances give an unfair advantage for several years

Researchers from Umea University, Sweden, found that power lifters who used to take anabolic steroids years ago, but no longer do, experienced changes in their shoulders and quadriceps which gave them advantages that still persisted. In other words, the unfair advantage offered by anabolic steroids continues for many years after the athlete has stopped using them.

Anabolic steroids are synthetic hormones derived from the human male hormone testosterone.

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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Visitor Opinions (latest shown first)

Oh, the irony!

posted by ian on 24 Sep 2012 at 1:46 pm

How ironic that you'd lead off this discussion with a comment by Dr. Armstrong!

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'Doping Is Now A Public Health Issue, Not Just A Sporting One'

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Stressed Black Girls Gain More Weight Than White Females

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Anxiety / Stress
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 20 Sep 2012 - 10:00 PDT

There is a stronger connection between stress and weight gain in American black girls than American white girls.

Although dealing with large amounts of stress for a period of 10 years predicts greater increases in body weight for both white and black girls, the experience of chronic stress appears to have a larger negative impact on the weight of black girls.

This finding, published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine may explain racial disparities in obesity levels.

The prevalence of obesity in black populations in the United States is 50% higher than in those of whites. This contrast is seen as early as childhood, and especially in the teenage years of females.

Ethnic minorities suffer from a great deal of psychological stress, more than whites, partly due to perceived racial discrimination.

Scientists have known that stress is associated with a higher change of depression, heart disease and infectious diseases. One particular study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that chronic psychological stress is associated with the body losing its ability to regulate the inflammatory response, which can promote the development and progression of disease.

In this current study, over a period of ten years, the experience of chronic stress in young girls was examined to determine whether it had an influence on their BMI (body mass index), and whether the same effect was seen in both white and black adolescents.

Data from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Growth and Health Study was gathered and analyzed, in order to assess the prevalence of obesity in 2,379 black and white girls. The girls were observed at age 10 and then followed up for 10 years. Experiences of psychological stress were closely observed.

By the end of the study, the team, led by Dr. Tomiyama of the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered that white girls reported more stress, but more black girls were overweight or obese.

Both groups saw an increase in their weight if their level of chronic stress was increasing. However, the effect of chronic stress was stronger for black girls, even though they reported less stress overall.

For example, black females with one unit increase in stress, led to 0.8 BMI unit increase every two years, while their counterparts with one unit of stress led to 0.55 BMI unit increase.

The authors wrote:

"Our study documents a relationship between chronic perceived stress and BMI over a decade of growth in black and white girls. However, the relationship between perceived stress and BMI is stronger in black girls. Psychological stress may lead to weight gain through behavioral pathways, such as increased food consumption and sedentary lifestyles, but also directly through prolonged exposure to biological stress mediators such as cortisol."

The research pointed out that stress may be playing a significant role in the obesity epidemic, while also contributing to racial disparities at the same time.

Written by Sarah Glynn
Copyright: Medical News Today
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