DOPIN' UP

Blood Doping

How can blood doping improve the performance of an athlete? Blood doping is an illegitimate method of increasing the red blood-cell supply in an athlete prior to engaging in competition. Oxygen is carried by red blood cells through the bloodstream, increasing red blood-cell supply would distribute oxygen throughout the athlete's muscles more efficiently, decreasing fatigue and giving the athlete an advantage.

How is it practiced?

There are many ways that blood is practice. One of the more common ways blood doping is through blood transfusion. According to mens Health: “A few weeks before a race these guys take about 14 ounces of blood out of their body and then freeze it. After this blood is extracted, the body senses that it’s missing and produces more blood to replace it,” says Dr. Wadler. “When it’s time to compete the body has replaced the missing blood, so then they put the blood that they extracted back into their body. They now have extra blood. Extra blood equals extra red blood cells.”(Michael Easter, Mens Health, The Science of Blood Doping, 2011). Another method is through “EPO”.“Athletes can also inject a drug called erythropoietin (EPO). “EPO stimulates your bone marrow to produce more red blood cells,” explains Dr. Wadler. “Typically your blood is about 40 to 45 percent red blood cells. EPO can increase that percentage to 50 percent or higher.”But come drug-testing time, EPO use can be easy to detect because it increases the ratio of red blood cells to the rest of the cells in the blood, such as plasma and white cells. To get around that, dopers will usually take smaller doses over time to avoid quick spikes in blood composition.Doping by transfusion is the most difficult to detect because it increases the amount of red blood cells and other cells, so the ratios are the same as a non-doper.”(Michael Easter, Mens Health, The Science of Blood Doping, 2011).


Why is it bad?

Simply put, blood doping is cheating, it gives an athlete an advantage over other athletes who went about their training legitimately and fairly. Along with the cheating aspect of blood doping, there are dangerous consequences that can cause damage to skin, eyes kidneys, and cause blood clots. When inserting blood back into any individuals body, you exposed to blood infections and ultimately heart infections.

How is it stopped?

When an athlete dopes up, their red blood cell density increases. These high levels can be detected by testing the athletes levels of hemoglobin. This happens through a process of urine testing.



Works Cited

http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1832-blood-doping-in-sports-athletes-cheating
http://blogs.menshealth.com/health-headlines/the-deal-with-doping/2011/06/01