Para-Doping in Sports: what is it?
Have you ever wondered why "winning at all costs" becomes the motto of some athletes?When you attend a stadium or a sport complex to support and cheer for the athletes or teams you like, you are not fully aware of the depth and the intensity of the competitions running on the fields. A sports competition is like war: to defeat your opponent, and you may use any tricks possible―legal or illegal, moral or immoral.
When a few centimeters, grams or seconds makes a huge difference―making someone a winner and others losers―it is then some would seek "winning at all costs". The spirits and principles which the Olympic Games and sports competitions were founded on have faded away, losing their values over time.
After 27 years of working with athletes, I have discovered five reasons athletes may have to use substances or other methods to enhance their performance:
Biotin (Vitamin B7) Interferes With Thyroid Testing:
If the lab results show that your thyroid function is out of whack, that could be because of the vitamin B7 (Biotin) you are taking. This is true and many health care professionals are not aware of that!
Incredible as it may seem, biotin interferes with thyroid function tests in the lab. Also known as vitamin B7 and vitamin H, Biotin is a commonly used supplement mainly for hairs and nails. It is a water-soluble vitamin and is also prescribed in medicine for diabetic neuropathy, cradle cap, and several inherited metabolic disorders such as biotin–thiamine–responsive basal ganglia disease, biotinidase deficiency and disordered metabolism of mitochondria. For more information about biotin, click on Biotin (Vitamin B7).
How Does The Interaction Occur?
Biotin interferes with the lab techniques used to detect thyroid hormones, skewing test results. In fact, it may make the lab results show falsely an underactive or overactive thyroid, depending on which measuring technique has been used.
Disadvantages of Eating Raw Egg Whites:
It is very common in the world of fitness to eat many egg whites. Especially bodybuilders eat many egg whites and sometimes they eat it raw. We have witnessed the athletes who used to have about 40 egg whites a day!
The question we get a lot is: if one egg white contains about 3-4 grams of protein, why do some athletes eat many of them? The answer is very simple: it is because of its biologic value which is 100. In fact, the biologic value of an egg is 100 and other proteins are compared with that of an egg. The higher the biologic value, the better the quality.
Disadvantages of eating raw egg whites:
1) The biggest drawback of eating raw egg white (raw egg) is that it might be contaminated with few bacteria with Salmonella being the most common one.
What Is A Crash Diet?
Some people like to have a "beach body". Some people want chiselled abs. And some want their love handles to be melted away. Interestingly, most of them expect a quick fix towards their goals.
A genuine fat loss requires intellectually customized diets and carefully designed exercise plans. The growing rate of obesity around the world has made it a global challenge. This imposes a huge cost on health care systems through the consequences it gives birth to.
Weight loss seekers should keep in mind that there is no silver bullet to their problems. A sustainable weight loss requires setting realistic goals, scientific dietary changes, behavioral modifications and biochemical manipulations of the body.
The fact that the human body is very intricate and beautiful in its complex delicacy makes weight loss difficult and challenging to many. An increase in the number of so-called "fitness gurus"―who lack the basic knowledge of physiology and biochemistry―the bombardment of junk science through social media, nutritional quackery, and the profiteering of supplement industries are the major factors driving the promotions of unhealthy weight loss―also known as a crash diet.