Nutritional Ergogenic Aids

Question 1

Ergogenic aid

Answer 1

substrates, products, or techniques that enhance physical performance

Question 2

Nutritional ergogenic aid

Answer 2

any supplement/food product or dietary manipulation that enhances work capacity or athletic performance

Question 3

Physiological ergogenic aid

Answer 3

any practice/substrate that enhances the functioning of the body’s systems and improves athletic performance

Question 4

Psychologic ergogenic aid

Answer 4

any practice/treatment that changes your mental state

Question 5

Biomechanical ergogenic aid

Answer 5

any device, piece of equipment or external product that can improve athletic performance

Question 6

Pharmacological ergogenic aid

Answer 6

any substance/compound classified as a drug/hormonal aged

Question 7

Example of nutritional ergogenic aid

Answer 7

carb loading, creatine phosphate, a.a supplementation

Question 8

example of physiological ergogenic aid

Answer 8

bicarb buffering, blood doping, practice of warming up

Question 9

example of psychological ergogenic aid

Answer 9

visualization, pep talks, relaxation techniques

Question 10

example of biomechanical ergogenic aid

Answer 10

weight belts, oversized tennis rackets/golf clubs

Question 11

example of pharmalogical ergogenic aid

Answer 11

hormones, caffeine

Question 12

what type of ergogenic aid is glucosamine?

Answer 12

physiological ergogenic aid

Question 13

Glucosamine

Answer 13

• naturally produced by the body to maintain cartilage in the joints
• not a nutrient and not obtained directly from foods
• decreases pain and delays osteo-arthritis progression
• in trials not proven to be better than a placebo

Question 14

Human Growth Hormone

Answer 14

• produced by the body to trigger tissue synthesis
• increases protein synthesis and muscle mass accretion
• may also spare glycogen
• side effects: heart disease, impotence, osteoporosis, death

Question 15

what type of ergogenic aid is human growth hormone?

Answer 15

pharmacological ergogenic aid

Question 16

Off label use

Answer 16

when a drug/NHP is used for a purpose that has either not been approved by HC or is not the stated condition of use

Question 17

doping

Answer 17

the practice of enhancing performance using banned foreign substances or other artifical means

Question 18

inadvertent doping

Answer 18

ingestion of substances that unbeknownst to the athlete can cause a positive test for doping

Question 19

causes for inadvertent doping

Answer 19

ignorance of what’s been banned, names in ingredient list aren’t recognized, manufacturer might not include all ingredients, product could be contaminated

Question 20

reasons for using nutritional ergogenic aids

Answer 20

• improve performance
• delay fatigue
• change body comp (gain muscle/lose fat)
• improve general well being
• searching for an edge
• product ads
• other athletes promote their use
• considered harmless

Question 21

L-carnitine

Answer 21

• short chain carboxylic acid containing compound
• vitamin-like compound with well established functions in intermediary metabolism
• found in meat and dairy products
• ergogenic claims: vasodilatory in peripheral tissues, may enhance regional blood flow and oxygen deliver, might increase oxygen supply to injured tissues and promote clearance of muscle damage byproducts and decrease delayed onset muscle soreness
• no ergogenic benefit
• no positive metabolism alterations
• no enhanced recovery effects
• no body fat reducing effects

Question 22

Coenzyme Q10

Answer 22

• found in meats, peanuts, soybean oil
• integral component of mitochondria’s electron transport chain
• exists in high conc’s in myocardial tissue
• has antioxidant properties
• ergogenic claims: enhances function of etc, optimizes aerobic metabolism, improves endurance performance
• research has found that it doesn’t improve aerobic capacity, doesn’t improve endurance performance, doesn’t improve plasma glucose, doesn’t improve lactate levels, doesn’t improve cardiovascular dynamics

Question 23

Hydroxycitrate

Answer 23

• principal constituent is of the rind of Garcinia cambogia
• appears as an ingredient in multiple different products
• ergogenic claims: promoted as a natural fat burner, able to enhance endurance performance
• research findings indicated that increasing plasma HCA availability with supplementation exerts no effect on muscle fat oxidation

Question 24

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone)

Answer 24

• produced by the adrenal glad and is the building block for testosterone/estrogen
• doesn’t come from a food source
• banned from WADA, NCAA, NFL
• ergogenic claims: eternal youth, enhances immune system, disease fighter, weight loss aid, increase muscle mass + energy + libido, counteracts stress
• theoretically could enhance athletic performance similar to anabolic steroids as it is a pre-cursor to testosterone and estrogen
• side effects: long term don’t know what is going to happen, alters levels of hormones, facial hair, acne, baldness, deepening of voice, menstrual irregularities, prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer

Question 25

Tribulus Terrestris

Answer 25

- herb known as puncture vine - no standard recommendation and comes in capsules - not banned - ergogenic claims: increase testosterone, better sex life, increase muscle mass - no proof or research

Question 26

B-hydroxy-B-methybutyrate (HMB)

Answer 26

- a metabolite of leucine - synthesized by the body - found naturally in small quantities in catfish, citrus fruits and breast milk - supplementally sold as salt mixed with calcium - ergogenic claims: leucine has the highest oxidation rate of all a.a's during exercise, HMB derived from leucine is converted to HMG-CoA in some tissues and serves as a key carbon source for cholesterol synthesis, so saturating cell with HMG-CoA could allow the cell to undergo the max growth response - limited research that supplementing with 1.5-3g/day increases muscle mass and strength gains 0.5-1kg greater than controls during 3-6 weeks of training - is anti-catabolic