Ergogenic Aids

Question 1

Discuss Maughan et al (2011)??

Answer 1

Observed that out of 310 athletes at 2010 world championships, 86% supplement - mAinly to aid recovery from training (71%), only 29% was to compensate for a poor diet

Question 2

What were the risks of supplement use (Maughan et al, 2011)?

Answer 2

Contamination, poor QC in manufacturing and storage
Absence or lower than declared levels of ‘actives’
Presence of undeclared doping agents
Harmful to health and performance

Question 3

Discuss the Attipoe et al (2016) paper?

Answer 3

Showed there was a variability of -7% to +266% regarding the caffeine content in 6 dietary supplements

Question 4

HFL sport science (2008-2009) reviews over the counter supplements what did they find?

Answer 4

Out of 152 nutritional supplements purchased, >10% were contaminated with prohibited steroids/stimulants

Question 5

Discuss Watson et al (2009)??

Answer 5

Looked at urinary nanadrolone metabolic detection after ingestion of a nandrolone precursor.

Provided 500ml water with 5g creating + 1.0/2.5 or 5 ug of precursor.
Results - 1.0ug 0% failed, 2.5ug 25% failed, 5ug 75% failed.

Question 6

What did Maughan et al (2011) state were the only effective supplements??

Answer 6

Alkalising agents (i.e. Sodium bicarbonate, sodium citrate), l-arginine, beta - alanine , caffeine , creatine and nitrate

Question 7

Discuss Hultman et al (1996) creatine loading strategies??

Answer 7

Showed that creatine stays elevated at a superior level when loading for 6 consecutive days @ 20g, then consuming 2g/day afterwards compared for just 6 consecutive days.

There is individual variability in response to creatine

Question 8

Discuss Casey et al (1996)??

Answer 8

Looked at creatine and maximal intensity and intermittent exercise performance .
Showed the total work to be significantly higher for both bouts of exercise of exercise following creatine supplementation of 4 days x 5g

Question 9

Discuss Vandenberghe et al (1997)?

Answer 9

Looked at creatine and res ex following 10 weeks of res training.

Showed max strength to change significantly more for leg press /leg ext and squat vs a placebo.
Fat free mass also changed significantly between placebo and creatine (LBM ⬆️60% more in creatine)

Question 10

Discuss Van Loon et al (2003) work looking at creatine and endurance performance??

Answer 10

Looked at power (w) in a 20 min TT, performed after 1h of submax exercise.
Showed no differences in time between creatine and placebo after 6 weeks of creatine loading.

Question 11

Discuss creatine side effects (Tarnopolsky, 2010)??

Answer 11

• ⬆️ body mass (1-3kg), fluid retention not ideal for BW supported sports
• 5% of athletes report nausea, GI distress

Question 12

Discuss Desbrow et al (2007)??

Answer 12

Looked at caffeine variability in 99 retail outlets.

Found a mean of 106mg with a range of 25-214 mg

Question 13

Discuss Sadek et al (2017)??

Answer 13

Gave p’s 50mg of caffeine from either instant coffee or caffeine gum.
When looking at plasma caffeine, it took the drink 38 mins to reach peak and the gum 40 mins.
Regarding half life - took drink 4.7+-1.26h and took gum 4.9+-1.4h

Question 14

Discuss caffeine properties (Tarnopolsky, 2010)??

Answer 14

• Readily absorbed in the mouth and intestines
• time to peak plasma conc of 30-90 min, with half life of ~5h
• metabolised in the liver by the cytochrome p450 oxidase system
• 1-3% metabolised in the liver.

Question 15

Discuss the key caffeine meta analysis (40 studies) by Doherty and smith (2004)??

Answer 15

Looked at short term, high intensity , graded exercise test, endurance test.
Found a 12.3+-13.8 % improvement in performance.
The endurance exercise improvement was greater than GXT or short-term.
TTE improvement was greater than TT.
Appears no improvement effect of training status, caffeine dose, habitual consumption, caffeine abstinence.
Improves endurance performance and cognitive function

Question 16

Discuss Desbrow et al (2012)??

Answer 16

Shows caffeine does improve performance.

Both 3mg/kg BW and 6mg/kg were significantly superior to placebo.

Question 17

Discuss Graham et al (2000)??

Answer 17

Had 10 men cycle at 70%VO2 max with either 6mg/kg or placebo 60 mins before exercise.
- the results showed caffeine does not alter CHO or FAT metabolism in human skeletal muscle during exercise.

Question 18

Discuss the work looking at caffeine and muscle fibre excitability from Tarnopolsky and Cupido (2000)??

Answer 18

In vitro caffeine can lead to contracture through :
- increases in calcium influx from the extra cellular space, increases in calcium release from the SR, increases in the sensitivity of myofilaments to calcium. This may potentiate human muscle force output.

They showed caffeine ingestion attenuated the decline in force output during low frequency titanic stimulation of the calf muscle.

Question 19

Discuss the psychological effects of caffeine (Doherty and Smith, 2005)??

Answer 19

Showed that the performance benefits of caffeine are often observed without any metabolic differences.
Meta analysis shows caffeine can reduce RPE by ~6% and this can explain 29% of the performance effect.

Question 20

What did Davis et al (2003) find??

Answer 20

Found that central caffeine increased treadmill endurance, whereas central NECA (adenosine agonist) reduced endurance.

Pre treatment with caffeine reduced the effect of NECA on endurance.
This suggests : caffeine can work through central effects and this may be related to the blocking of adenosine receptors.

Question 21

Discuss Stephens et at (2007)??

Answer 21

Paper showed that carnitine plays a role in mitochondrial LCFA transport and acts as an acetyl - group buffer .

Also shows that as % VO2 max increases, free carnitine decreases and acetyl carnitine ratios increases (more muscle carnitine).

Question 22

What did Wachter et al (2002) find??

Answer 22

Showed that 4g L-carnitine/d for 3 months did increase both total and free carnitine
- unknown whether this is significant or not (see pAper)

Question 23

Discuss Vukovich et al (1994)??

Answer 23

Showed that muscle carnitine does not increase with supplementation.

Reasons for this :- poor bioavailability, transport into the muscle occurs against a very large concentration gradient , the Km for the carnitine transport is 4.3 umol/l

Question 24

What did Vukovich et al (1994) find when looking at oral carnitine and exercise fuel selection??

Answer 24

Showed no difference in substrate utilisation during 60 min cycling at 70%Vo2 max following 7-14 days of L-carnitine supplementation in healthy men (6g/d)

Question 25

Discuss Stephens et al (2006) looking at insulin and l-carnitine accumulation in human skeletal muscle ?

Answer 25

Looked at total muscle carnitine content before and after 5h of hypercarnitinaemia (500umol) accompanied by IV insulin injection.
The results showed a 15% increase in total muscle carnitine

Question 26

What did Wall et al (2011) find??

Answer 26

Looked at chronic l-carnitine + CHO supplementation .

Showed a significantly higher total carnitine after 24 months , and significantly greater work output in this group

At 80%VO2 max, 24 h post, the change in lactate was sig less for carnitine, PDCa was sig higher for carnitine