What is EPO?
EPO is an abbreviation for
erythropoietin. EPO is a peptide hormone produced naturally in the body by the kidneys. The
role of EPO is to stimulate the bone marrow to produce and release new red blood cells in
the blood stream.
Increasing red blood cell
levels in the body can result in increases in hematocrit, the percentage of blood volume
composed of red blood cells. There are oxygen sensitive cells in the kidney that are able to
determine the concentration of oxygen in the blood. When oxygen levels are low the kidney
releases more EPO into the blood stream.
To give you a
better picture of how EPO production works, think about going to high altitude, for
example, a mountain at high elevation. At high altitude, the amount of oxygen available
to your body decreases. Your kidney cells detect this decrease in oxygen and release EPO
into the bloodstream to stimulate the production of more red blood cells. Your red blood
cells contain a protein called hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to
other parts of the body. With the addition of new red blood cells and hemoglobin your
body can now carry more oxygen (i.e. increased oxygen carrying capacity). This process is
the basic principle used in high altitude
training in
endurance athletes.
What is synthetic EPO
or recombinant human EPO?
Synthetic EPO is a drug that
is manufactured for the treatment of disease and should not be used by endurance athletes.
The main use of administrating exogenous sources (not produced within the body) of EPO in
humans is to treat patients suffering from anemia, especially those with kidney failure and
those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Side effects such as hypertension and blood
clotting have been tied to synthetic EPO use.
Why do some athletes use EPO?
Synthetic or recombinant EPO has
become readily available and has come to be abused by a few athletes in the endurance sport
community. If you increase the oxygen-carrying ability of the blood (red blood cells) above
normal levels, then it follows that the muscles will receive more oxygen and be able to perform
better and generate more power for longer periods of time, thereby significantly improving
performance.
This is why some endurance
athletes train at high altitudes or participate in the forbidden practice of “blood doping” as a
means of boosting the number of red blood cells. Blood doping involves drawing blood from an
athlete to induce anemia, waiting a few weeks to allow erythropoietin to restore the hematocrit
to normal levels (~ 45% men, ~ 42% women), and then reinfusing the athlete’s stored blood
thereby boosting the erythrocyte density.
Administration of synthetic EPO is capable of producing performance
enhancing benefits comparable to blood doping and significantly better results than several
weeks or months
of altitude training. An athlete may boost
their hematocrit levels 3-4% within 4 weeks with synthetic EPO use. WADA and other athletic
governing bodies have banned blood doping and synthetic EPO use, as they are essentially
methods of cheating.
How do they test for EPO?
WADA has
developed standards for testing athletes utilizing a urine test is shown to be able to
tell when an athlete is using a synthetic EPO.
Is EPO-Boost a synthetic EPO?
No, EPO-BOOST™
is not synthetic EPO. All EPO BOOST™ ingredients are in compliance with WADA, UCI, IOC,
and NCAA. The ingredients in EPO BOOST™ have been shown in clinical studies to increase
EPO levels resulting in dramatic gains in VO2max and running economy in
athletes.
*EPO-Boost does not contain Epogen®,
Erythropoietin, EPO or any banned substances by WADA 2010 list
|
