Research Update #10

by Hypertrophy

As we approach the new millennium we find the science of building muscle progressing faster than ever before. Long gone are the days of simple trial and error when it comes to building muscle. The modern bodybuilder demands more than just "hear say" if they are to adopt a new training routine or nutritional supplement. This column was created to keep today’s bodybuilder on the cutting edge of scientific research that might benefit them in their quest for body perfection.

Is Blood Testing the Next Step in Doping Control?

Title: The ethics of blood testing as an element of doping control in sport.

Researchers/Authors: Alister Browne, Victor Lachance, and Andrew Pipe

Division of Health Care Ethics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia; and the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport, Ottawa, Ontario; Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Ottawa Heart Institute & Department of Family Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, CANADA

Source: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (1999) Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 497-501

Summary/Discussion: This isn’t exactly a "study" per se. It is a commentary that appeared in the April 99 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. I felt it was relevant to this column because it represents the current state of affairs with respect to blood testing for doping control in sports.

The following is the abstract of the article as it appeared in Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 31(4): 497-501, 1999.

"Sport authorities continue to confront a variety of perplexing issues as they attempt to address effectively and efficiently the problems posed by doping. The emergence of the phenomena of blood doping and the administration of erythropoietin have added to the challenges faced by doping control authorities. Some sport organizations have introduced blood tests in an attempt to deal with these issues despite the absence of any effective test for the detection of the administration of homologous blood products or erythropoietin. A number of ethical issues are raised by such developments. Even in the presence of an effective test it is suggested that the decision to implement a specific testing approach can be reached by considering the wishes of a hypothetical "Fair Competitor" and an analysis of the costs involved. In this respect the Fair Competitor assumes in the sport community the role that the "reasonable person" occupies in law, permitting an analysis of a proposed course of action. In making any decision regarding the implementation of any test, a Fair Competitor would be guided by considerations of the postulated advantage and incidence of a doping technique, the likelihood of false positive and negative results, the risk of unwanted consequences of a testing process, and a concern that a specific test not accelerate the likelihood of the use of other doping methods. This approach is applied to a consideration of the appropriateness of blood testing in sport. It is concluded, using such an analysis, that in their present state of development, blood tests should not be implemented. It is recognized that certain sport authorities currently use blood tests to exclude competitors whose blood values exceed certain predetermined levels on the grounds of concerns regarding health and safety. Screening of this kind is beyond the purview of this discussion."

Blood sampling has been conducted by several prominent sporting organizations to date including the International Ski Federation which took samples and performed analysis at the Cross-Country Ski World Championships in 1989 as well as at the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994. The International Olympic Committee did not conduct this testing at the Lillehammer games. The International Amateur Athletic Federation also conducted blood testing at a number of Europian Grand Prix meets in 1993 and 1994. Most all other sporting organizations including the IOC refuse to adopt blood testing for doping control until ethical and legal issues are fully explored.

The authors present several advantages of using blood as the matrix for testing procedures. These advantages are as follows:

• The procedure for collecting a sample is relatively rapid.
• It is a minimal requirement for the detection of homologous (infusion of whole blood or blood products from another person) blood doping.
• It provides the best medium for detecting autologous blood doping (i.e. the use of erythropoietin "EPO" or ones own blood that was previously withdrawn and stored).
• Blood may be useful to confirm the presence of exogenous testosterone detected in the athletes urine.
• Blood plasma provides advantages in identifying the presence of certain peptide hormones such as rHGH or rIGF-1.
• There are existing population based reference guides for clinical hematological tests.
• It reduces the possibility of manipulation of samples.

The authors also provided the disadvantages to testing blood in sports:

• It is an invasive procedure requiring trained personnel (i.e. a phlebotomist).
• Blood analysis requires the handling of blood which exposes technicians to blood born viruses making the practice much more hazardous than urine analysis.
• It requires preparation and the refrigerated transport of the sample.
• Reference ranges for various peptide hormones are yet to be established.
• The concentrations of certain compounds, in particular anabolic steroids, are much greater in urine than in blood.
• Autologous blood doping or the administration of EPO or ones own blood, cannot be reliably detected.
• Hematological parameters may be altered by altitude and/or intense training.
• Concentrations of drugs with low molecular weights are lower in blood than in urine by a factor of 100 - 1000.
• There are serious ethical and legal questions still remaining: Blood testing is invasive, and there is a significant potential for the invasion of privacy (e.g., other health problems will be detected, and unauthorized testing may be done for other conditions such as HIV).
• Additional complications arise about blood testing of minors, who make up a sizable portion of competitive athletes.

The authors approach the issue of whether we are ready for blood testing or not from the standpoint of a hypothetical "Fair Competitor". They propose that this fair competitor would need to consider six issues when weighing the cost and benefit of blood testing. Remember that this is from the viewpoint of someone not using any illegal substances.

1. Is the doping strategy used by other competitors all that effective? In other words, are the people winning mostly because they are doping? If the doping strategies being used by other competitors makes it virtually impossible for the "fair competitor" to win, blood testing would be desirable even with the risk of false positives.
2. How rampant is doping in a particular sport? If doping is relatively rare, the risk of getting a false positive would not be worth a fair competitor submitting to blood tests.
3. What is the likelihood of false positives? In and of itself a fair competitor would not care about "why" false positives occur but would be very interested in whether other athletes can use various doping techniques and still pass the tests.
4. What is the likelihood of false positives? As with false negatives, the fair competitor would not care why they occur but would be concerned about the chances of he/she getting a false positive. This would ruin a career in most sports as well as tag you as one to avoid when it comes to lucrative endorsement contracts.
5. How easily can Unfair Competitors adopt other methods of doping that are effective yet undetectable by current testing technologies. This issue is futile for the Fair Competitor to worry about especially if you are not a drug user or not willing to use other doping techniques.
6. The risk to the Fair Competitor that he/she will suffer unfair or unwanted consequences as a result of participating in the testing process (e.g., the risk of public or semi-public revelation that he/she is a carrier of Hepatitis B or C, HIV, or other communicable disease; the potential for the blood sample to be frozen, stored, and used for other purposes without the express permission of the athlete).

One other issue that comes into play is the cost of the tests. If the financial cost of the test makes it impossible to be widely practiced, what good is it to the Fair Competitor? How much a sporting organization is willing to invest in an expensive testing procedure depends not only on the cost in dollars, but also on the benefit to the Fair Competitor.

Finally the authors offer three recommendations.

1. They recommend That Blood Testing Not Be Conducted as Part of the Protocols for Doping Control Procedures in Sport.
2. They recommend That A Vigorous Educational Program to Articulate and Inculcate the Advantages or Drug-Free Sport Should Go Forward.
3. They recommend That Scientific Research Designed to Facilitate the Development of Valid, Reliable Methods of Detection of Prohibited Performance-Enhancing Substances and Techniques Should Continue and Be Appropriately Supported.

At this point I am tempted to ramble about the improbability of drug testing policies in other athletic organizations to effect professional bodybuilding. After all, pro-bodybuilding is all about who’s body looks best with heavy sustained use of anabolics. On the other hand, we can’t forget those of you who are not bodybuilders but are competitive athletes. This article has everything to do with you and your fellow competitors. Because of the risks, both to reputation and privacy, it is not only the hypothetical cheater that need worry about the future developments in doping control efforts in organized sports.

Not by the Hair of My Chinny Chin, Chin!

Look for the "Bald Look" to be more than a fashion statement in the near future!

Title: Detection of anabolic steroids in head hair.

Researchers: Deng XS, Kurosu A, Pounder DJ

Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Dundee, Royal Infirmary, Scotland.

Source: J Forensic Sci 1999 Mar;44(2):343-6

Summary/Abstract: Scientists in Scotland have developed a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method for detection and quantification of anabolic steroids in head hair. Following alkaline digestion and solid-phase extraction, the MO-TMS derivatives gave a specific fragmentation pattern with EI ionization. For stanozolol, the TMS-HFBA derivative showed several diagnostic ions. For androstanolone, mestanolone (methylandrostanolone), and oxymetholone two chromatographic peaks for cis and trans isomers of derivatives were seen. Recoveries were 35 to 45% for androstanolone, oxymetholone, chlorotestosterone-acetate, dehydromethyltestosterone, dehydrotestosterone, fluoxymesterone, mestanolone, methyltestosterone, and nandrolone; 52% for mesterolone, trenbolone; 65% for bolasterone; 24% for methenolone and 17% for stanozolol. Limits of detection were 0.002 to 0.05 ng/mg and of quantitation were 0.02 to 0.1 ng/mg. Seven white male steroid abusers provided head hair samples (10 to 63 mg) and urine. In the hair samples, methyltestosterone was detected in two (confirmed in urine); nandrolone in two (also confirmed in urine); dehydromethyltestosterone in four (but not found in urine); and clenbuterol in one (but not in urine). Oxymethalone was found in urine in one, but not in the hair. One abuser had high levels of testosterone: 0.15 ng/mg hair, and 1190 ng/mL urine. These researchers conclude that head hair analysis has considerable potential for the detection and monitoring of steroid abuse.

Discussion: When seeking to find out what chemicals are present in a sample (e.g., hair), you have to be able to effectively separate all the different substances it is made of. Usually this is done on the basis of differences in solubility, using fractional crystallization, or by differences in volatility, using distillation, of the different substances it contains.

Chromatography is the most widely used technique used in chemistry to separate substances. It can be used on liquid or gas solutions. It was originally used about 90 years ago to separate different color pigments in plants, hence the root "chroma" which is Greek for "color". Once a solution or gas is produced of the desired sample, the different chemicals in the sample will have different absorption characteristics in a solid or liquid phase medium. You may have heard or read the term "HPLC" when talking about testing the purity of supplements. HPLC refers to high-pressure liquid chromatography. With HPLC solutions are pumped through a column under very high pressure (3000/in2 or more). In this case researchers are using gas chromatography (GC). It is the same method used to test emissions on cars.

Mass spectrometry is another commonly used method of separating atomic sized particles in a gas based on weight. In mass spectrometry, a beam of gaseous ions is deflected in a magnetic field toward a collector plate. Lighter ions are deflected more than heavy ones. By comparing the accelerating voltages required to deflect the two ions to the same point on the collector plate, it is possible to determine the relative masses of the ions.

I’m sure most of you aren’t as interested in the technology as you are in the consequences of using it in drug testing. In this case researchers are using hair to determine what anabolics are or were taken.

Each hair on your body consists of a shaft and a root. The shaft consists of three principle parts. The inner medulla is composed of polyhedral cells containing granules of eleidin and air spaces. The middle cortex forms the major part of the shaft and consists of elongated cells that contain pigment granules in dark hair but mostly air in white hair. The cuticle of the hair, the outermost layer, consists of a single layer of thin, flat, scalelike cells that are most heavily keratinized.

It is these cells that contain metabolites of whatever anabolics you have been taking. The thing about hair is that it provides the investigator with a rather long history of the subjects drug use. Much longer than urine or blood. This is not the kind of test that can be fooled with masking agents. The only real way to beat this test at present is to remove all traces of hair from your body. Right now this study is only an indication of what can be done. It will be some time before this kind of testing would be adopted by major sporting organizations, if ever.

Koala Bear Delicacy Shows Promise as New Insulinotropic Agent!

Title: Antihyperglycemic Actions of Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus) are Associated with Pancreatic and Extra-Pancreatic Effects in Mice

Researchers: Gray AM, Flatt PR

Source: The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 12 December 1998, pp. 2319-2323

Summary: Eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus) is used as a traditional treatment for diabetes. In this study, incorporation of eucalyptus in the diet (62.5 g/kg) and drinking water (2.5 g/L) reduced the hyperglycemia and associated weight loss of streptozotocin-treated mice. An aqueous extract of eucalyptus (AEE) (0.5 g/L) enhanced 2-deoxy-glucose transport by 50%, glucose oxidation by 60% and incorporation of glucose into glycogen by 90% in mouse abdominal muscle. In acute, 20 min incubations, 0.25-0.5 g AEE/L evoked a stepwise 70-160% enhancement of insulin secretion from the clonal pancreatic beta-cell line (BRIN-BD11). The stimulatory effect of 0.5 g/L AEE was unaltered by the presence of 400 µmol diazoxide/L and prior exposure to AEE did not alter subsequent insulin secretory response to L-alanine, thereby negating adetrimental effect on cell viability. The effect of AEE was not potentiated by glucose or demonstrable in cells exposed to a depolarizing concentration of KCl. Further study of the insulin-releasing effects of AEE revealed the activity to be heat stable, acetone insoluble, stable to acid, but abolished by exposure to alkali. Sequential extraction with solvents revealed activity in both methanol and water fractions, indicating the presence of more than one biologically active extract constituent. These data indicate that Eucalyptus globulus represents an effective antihyperglycemic dietary adjunct for the treatment of diabetes and a potential source for discovery of new orally active agent(s) for future therapy.

Discussion: Eucalyptus seems to be acting both on the pancreas as well as on peripheral tissues. When muscle tissue was isolated and then bathed in an aqueous solution of eucalyptus, both glucose uptake and utilization was enhanced. This was evidenced by a 50% increase in glucose transport, a 60% increase in glucose oxidation, and a 90% increase in glucose incorporation into glycogen. The researchers point out that there may have been residual insulin bound to receptors of the isolated muscle which may have influenced this observation. However, previous studies confirm that eucalyptus decreases blood glucose levels and is acting via the insulin signaling pathway. This is unlike Metformin (Glucophage) wich requires insulin to first bind with it’s receptor to exert its effects.

In addition to its effects on muscle tissue, eucalyptus stimulates insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells. After a meal, blood glucose begins to rise. Beta cells in the pancreas begin to release stored insulin and produce new insulin in response to increased blood glucose levels. Eucalyptus stimulates insulin release from these beta cells. It does this in a dose-dependant manner with maximal stimulation with a solution of about 0.5 grams eucalyptus per liter of solution. It should be noted that eucalyptus has an insulin stimulatory effect without the presents of glucose. Eucalyptus appears to act by a mechanism different from insulin stimulating drugs known as sulphonylureas. Sulphonylureas exert there effects by way of sulphonylurea receptors which then alter potassium-ATP channels, depolarization of membranes, opening of voltage dependant calcium channels and elevate intracellular Ca2+ levels. When using a drug (Diazoxide) that blocks the effects of sulphonylureas, eucalyptus was still effective. The exact mechanism by which eucalyptus stimulates insulin release is yet to be understood.

The exact constituents of eucalyptus with anti-hyperglycaemic properties have yet to be isolated. There appears to be at least two separate active compounds. This is demonstrated by separate solutions of methanol and water both showing anti-hyperglycaemic properties.

The researchers in this study showed great enthusiasm for the potential use of eucalyptus in the treatment of diabetes. Personally I don’t see this happening unless it is released in prescription form. The system that is currently in place for the treatment of diabetes fails to recognize the effectiveness of several currently and readily available compounds (vanadyl compounds for one example) which have been shown to be effective at lowering blood sugar and increasing non-oxidation glucose metabolism (i.e. glycogen formation). Eucalyptus has great potential for bodybuilders looking for an alternative to both sulphonylureas and peripherally active oral drugs like Glucotrol and Rezulin or Metformin respectively. Look for commercially available forms of eucalyptus as this research comes to the attention of raw material manufacturers and distributors.