Australia: AIS issues caffeine, pseudoephadrine warning

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has told a Senate inquiry that it advises athletes not to take pseudoephadrine and caffeine together, because to do so can cause heart damage.

Questions about the use of tablets containing those substances have been raised in the wake of recent publicity about high-profile sportspeople taking them for performance enhancing purposes.

Professor Peter Fricker from the AIS told the inquiry the organisation discouraged athletes from taking pills containing the substances, even though they were not on the banned substances list.

"We particularly counselled all athletes about taking pseudoephadrine and caffeine together for performance-enhancing purposes because of the messages about pill popping for shortcuts to success, but [also] importantly the risk to the health of the athlete because of the risk to the heart," Professor Fricker said.

Pseudoephadrine is commonly found in over-the-counter cold remedies while caffeine is also available in tablet form from pharmacists.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: Thur, 26 May 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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