Alarming use of drugs and nutritional supplements by World Cup footballers

Isn’t it amazing when we see our favorite footballer running the gauntlet. The crowd watches in awe, and shouts a roar of approval as he/she dazzles their skills effortlessly past their opponent. Many of the things that we are not exposed to, especially behind the scenes of high level sport, is the use of drugs and nutritional supplements to enhance performance.

When we speak of the use of performance enhancers, it is usually taboo, and possibly thought of as a once off occurrence in an Olympic event. Performance enhancers have been widely used since at least the 1950′s at a competitive level (don’t quote me on that number). We usually refer to these substances as anabolic (growth) primers, or corticosteroids in popular literature.

In recent years, with the advancement of sports science, we have seen that even at a recreational level of competition, the use of nutritional supplements have become the basis for a multi million dollar fitness industry. In international competition, the level of sophistication around masking certain performance enhancing agents has become an art form.

Football clubs are one of many sporting institutions, whom utilize and invest in high end research and development facilities to constantly test, measure and enhance their players performance. Many of these scientific institutes house sports scientists that work around the clock to maximize the output of a top tier footballer.

In a forthcoming interview that Keeper Skool had conducted with one of the leading goalkeeping schools in Spain (out next month), we probed one renowned youth goalkeeping expert about the La Liga club he trains, and their scientific department’s methodologies. We were left with a limited knowledge around how they go about their business of performance enhancement.

Clubs certainly do pay high amounts of money in taking their players to the next level, and clearly they want their testing and training protocols under very tight wraps. Anyone got the formula for Coca Cola? You get my drift. One recent study (thank you Steve Amoia for pointing this information out), pointed to the overarching use of drugs and nutritional supplements by World Cup footballers.

The New York Times discussed it in their weekly email newsletter: Prescription drug use and vitamin supplements at the last two Wold Cups.

Objective: To examine medication use in male top-level football players prior to and during international tournaments.

Design: Prospective survey.

Material: 2944 team physicians’ reports on players’ medication intake.

Methods: Each team physician was asked to document all medication and nutritional supplements taken in the 72 h prior to each match.

Results: A total of 10 384 substances were reported (1.8 substances/player/match); 4450 (42.9%) of these were medicinal and 5934 (57.1%) nutritional supplements. The medications prescribed most frequently were non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (n = 2092; 20.1%); more than half of the players took these at least once during a tournament and more than 10% prior to every match (156 out of 1472). β-2-Agonists were reported for 1.4% (n = 20) and inhaled corticosteroids for 1.6% (n = 23) of participating players. Injected corticosteroids were reported for 73 players.

Conclusions: The high intake of medication in international football – especially of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – is alarming and should be addressed. The results raise questions as to whether the medication was taken solely for therapeutic reasons. In view of the potential side effects, more restrictive recommendations for sport need to be developed.

(Source: http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/42/9/725)

Over 10,000 substances is a highly alarming amount to be used by elite footballers. The use of injected and inhaled corticosteroids shows that elite level footballers are pushing their bodies to their limit. Whilst the use of these substances may initially help overcome deficiencies in the players game, the long term repercussions are yet to be measured extensively.

I’m all for utilizing nutritional supplements alongside a structured diet and training plan. Though, many younger athletes may not be informed of the risks of steroid use or long term repercussions associated with its utilization. It begins with awareness programs at a grass roots level, and also the investment by grass roots clubs into physicians and nutritionists to help structure proper dietary plans to help maximize younger football performance.

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