The continuing story of nutritional supplements and doping infractions: Table 1

Abstract

Nutritional supplements can be a source of positive doping cases as some supplements contain prohibited substances without showing this on their label. This problem has existed for some time and has been extensively studied in the past 8 years. The sport of tennis has played a particular role in this problem because of some peculiar doping cases within its community.This article focuses on this particular doping problem, explaining the background and reviewing the available literature. It presents the first 3 years of experience within the Netherlands Security System Nutritional Supplements Elite Sports (“Nederlands Zekerheidssysteem Voedingssupplementen Topsport” or NZVT) and explains the most extensive system established to combat this particular doping problem.The NZVT experience has shown that paper-based quality systems are still prone to possible contaminations, which leads to the conclusion that the best possible solution for athletes who wish to use nutritional supplements must include laboratory-based analysis for doping substances, preferably repeated for every new batch. The most important educational message, however, is to use a nutritional supplement only if it is deemed of benefit by a nutritional expert.

Doping awareness, views, and experience: a comparison between general practitioners and pharmacists

“…Th ese include even doping substances and several reports about positive tests after use of supplements exist [18][19][20]. Only 43% of our respondents reported being aware of this, compared with 60% reported by Laure [5].…”

“…Th is should be stated on the label, so that athletes may be advised to use controlled and approved dietary supplements. Similar initiatives in some other countries also include laboratory analyses in order to aid athletes in their decision when choosing between the large varieties of available supplements [19]. Even so, the ultimate responsibility still lies with the athlete [19,20].…”

Gateway to doping? Supplement use in the context of preferred competitive situations, doping attitude, beliefs, and norms

“…The use of prohibited substances, as a consequence of gradual involvement in assisted performance enhancement, places the emphasis on substances that may be used before and leading up to doping, such as over-the-counter medication and nutritional supplements. Causality has not been unequivocally established owing to the fact that, to date, the relationship between supplement use and doping use is only based on epidemiological data (de Hon & Coumans 2007). However, early research suggests that supplements may well be gateway substances to doping.…”

Performance-Enhancing Drugs

“…64 Therefore, dietary supplements may represent the greatest risk of a positive test for any athlete because of their lack of regulation, possible contamination (perhaps resulting from unclean mixing vats, questionable ingredients, or intentional spiking), and mislabeling. 65,66 Indeed, since the 1990s numerous prohibited substances have been found in a variety of dietary supplements, but not on their labels, including stimulants (eg, DMAA, ephedrines, fenfluramine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, sibutramine) 31,65,67,68 ; AAS (eg, androstenedione, boldenone, dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, methandienone, 19-norandrost-4-enedione, oxandrolone, stanozolol, T); designer AAS (dimethazine, methasterone, prostanozol) 65,67,[69][70][71] ; an aromatase inhibitor (androstatrienedione) 65 ; and GH-releasing peptide 2. 72 Pharmaceutical human insulin-like growth factor 1, a prohibited GH action mediator, was identified in deer antler velvet supplements, typically marketed as growth promoting.…”