Scientist/author Cooper discusses a number of scientific and moral issues regarding the use of "illegal" drugs and sport performance in this book. It is interesting where the authorities and public deem the line of cheating and being "clean" to be.
An athlete can take creatine supplements without issue. Creatine is proven to increase muscle mass, testosterone levels and assists greatly with sports requiring short bursts of speed and strength. Creatine occurs naturally in the body so this is legal.
ATP (Adenosine-5'-triphosphate) is the main energy transfer molecule in cells and is legal to take for sport enhancement. Hammer Nutrition is one of the companies selling ATP. They say ATP provides; Instant energy right when you need it, restores energy after a hard effort and helps maintain overall energy production. This is supported by much research. You place a pill under your tongue and within a few minutes get an energy boost.
Caffeine is another legal supplement that works for most people.
Athletes with allergies or colds have to be extremely careful in what they take as many drugs found in those remedies are deemed illegal by the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). Waivers are sometimes permissible but not always easy to come by. Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are known to work in short term muscle endurance events such as one mile running races and sprints on bike, swimming or running.
There are many problems with all of this. Athletes have avoided or "passed" test for years (read the stories in the book to discover the means this was done). The WADA and other authorities have made mistakes. Labs make mistakes. There isn't really any solid scientific proof that a lot of the supplements work, yet the games still go on between authorities and athletes (really, try to find a few dozen athletes who are clean now, give them HGH, then test them again in a scientific environment. Their career is done - not going to happen). The best data we still have is the East German doping program that lasted at least 2 decades.
Blood doping is another issue all-together and illegal. Athletes used to (and probably still do) not only store their own blood and add it before events to increase their red blood cell levels (and thus oxygen capacity), but would use other people's blood. Yuck.
One newer weapon WADA has now is biomarkers. They will take the average levels of, say, testosterone, in an athlete and if this level spikes at some point one can be fairly certain a supplement was taken.
So millions of dollars are spent. The NFL (and most pro leagues) has yet to test for HGH and other drugs (fights with Union on how to do this and costs involved). Athletes, if not tested in the off-season, can dope then, come off the drug(s) and be clean for the season yet still reap rewards for doping by being able to train longer and recover faster between sessions.
What about college or high school athletes? Are you going to test all of them? Who will pay for that? It is all quite confusing and if I can take caffeine, creatine, ATP and a few other "legal" aids, then why not others? Do you really believe bicyclists (especially Tour de France riders) were all clean in the 60's - early 90's and this just began? No way. Our morals, society's expectations, our ability to test better may have changed, but that's all.
This debate is going on for a long time.
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