For Michel Audran, professor of biophysics at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Montpellier and specialist in doping blood, “no food supplement is doping in itself. ” On the other hand,
continues the scientist, some “may contain products that naturally contain prohibited substances: for example, the plant extract of ephedra contains ephedrine (which stimulates the central nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory systems, and digestive sphincters and urine) which appears on the list of prohibited substances established by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Geranium oil contains methylhexaneamine (MHA), a pharmacological substance classified as a stimulant and marketed until the early 1970s, also considered to be doping. “For Michel Audran, athletes who take food supplements They therefore have no choice but to check themselves on the website of the World Anti-Doping Agency (www.wada-ama.org) that no doping product appears in the list of ingredients.
The specialist also warns against “accidental contamination, which can affect food supplements manufactured in certain Asian countries in particular, and which result from poor cleaning of the equipment used for manufacturing and storage. »Thus, in England, doses of anabolic steroids have been found in vitamin C for children. Finally, concludes Michel Audran, it happens that the contamination is not accidental, but is knowingly included in the manufacturing process in order to increase the effectiveness of the product (proteins + anabolics, for example) by cheating manufacturers who sell on the Net and do not declare the presence of the doping substance in the list of ingredients. Hence the interest in buying only products of safe origin.
