Supplements Witches Brew

The following are a selection of Ergogenic aids and their effect:

Alcohol

  • Decreases anxiety

Amphetamines

  • Improves concentration, decreases fatigue and appetite

Anabolic Steroids

  • Anabolic steroids are used to increase muscle mass and strength.
  • If over-used, it can cause heart, liver, and immune system problems. Blood cholesterol levels often increase because steroid use changes how sugars and fats are handled. This and increased blood pressure can lead to the early development of heart disease, which can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Tendons and ligaments may not strengthen at the same rate the muscle tissue develops. As a result, these tissues appear to be injured more often among steroid users.
  • Oily skin and acne are also common among steroid users.
  • Behaviour changes may include aggression, paranoia, mood swings, low sex drive, and depression.
  • Men's testicles shrink, the prostate gland enlarges, and sperm levels drop.
  • Female athletes may take on more male like characteristics, such as broader backs, wider shoulders, thicker waists, flatter chests, more body and facial hair and deeper voices. Menstrual cycles may become irregular or stop.
  • For adolescent athletes, steroid use may cause the growth plates in long bones to close faster than usual, which can result in reduced height.

Androstenedione

  • Androstenedione can raise the body's testosterone levels sixteen times higher than normal, allowing athletes to train harder and recover from exercise more quickly.
  • Since Androstenedione can be synthesized into testosterone, one can probably assume that the short-term and long-term risks are similar to other androgenic-anabolic steroids.

Antioxidants

  • Decreases muscle breakdown

Arginine, ornithine, lysine

  • Stimulates growth hormone release

Aspartates

  • Increases free fatty acid use, sparing muscle glycogen

Aspirin

  • Decreases pain with muscle fatigue and muscle breakdown

Avena sativa

  • Increases steroid production

Bee pollen

  • Increases strength and endurance

Beta blockers

  • Beta blockers decrease anxiety, have a positive effect on fine motor control but a negative effect on aerobic capacity.

Beta2 agonists

  • Increases lean muscle mass

Blood Doping

  • Blood doping is used to improve an athlete's endurance and speed.
  • Side effects can include strokes, allergic reactions and infections.

Boron

  • Increases endogenous steroid production

Branched chain amino acids - BCAA

  • Decrease mental fatigue
  • Intake before exercise may lead to a lower requirement for muscular repair work and a quicker recovery from strenuous exertion

Caffeine

  • Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system by increasing mental alertness and reducing fatigue.
  • Caffeine enhances the contractility of skeletal and cardiac muscle, and helps metabolise fat, thereby sparing muscle glycogen stores.
  • Side effects can include irritability, restlessness, diarrhoea, insomnia, and anxiety.
  • Caffeine is also a diuretic so you need to keep hydrated.

Calcium

  • Increases muscle contractility, enhances glycogen metabolism

Carbohydrates

Carnitine

  • Carnitine is used to decrease fat and increase muscle mass

Clenbuterol

  • Clenbuterol affects the central nervous system, growth, muscle, and body fat.
  • The side effects include tremors, anxiety, faster heart rate, nausea, anorexia, insomnia, heart attack, or stroke.

Choline

  • Increases endurance
  • See the following page for more on Choline.

Chromium

  • Chromium is used to decrease fat and increase muscle mass

Chrysin

  • Inhibits aromatase, increases endogenous steroids

Cocaine

  • Stimulates CNS, delays fatigue

Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone)

  • Delays fatigue, acts as antioxidant

Coenzyme Q12

  • Increases aerobic capacity, speeds muscle repair

Creatine

  • Increases muscle energy, endurance, strength and lean muscle mass
  • See the following page for more on Creatine.

DHEA - Dehydroepiandrosterone

  • Increases endogenous steroid production

Diuretics

  • Decrease body mass

Ephedrine

  • Stimulates CNS, increases energy, delays fatigue, stimulates weight loss

Erythropoietin

  • Increases aerobic capacity

Fat supplements

  • Increase endurance

Folic acid

  • Increases aerobic capacity

Gamma hydroxybutyric acid - GHB

  • GHB is found in numerous dietary supplements for bodybuilding, weight loss, and sleep aids
  • Side effects can be breathing problems, a coma, vomiting, seizures and sometimes death

GHB

  • Stimulates growth hormone release and muscle growth

Ginseng

  • Increases endurance, enhances muscle recovery
  • Side effects include - diarrhoea, skin rashes, nervousness, hypertension and sleeplessness

Glucosamine

  • Serves as NSAID alternative, enhances recovery

Glutamine

  • Boosts immunity and growth hormone levels
  • Further reading : "The effects of oral glutamine supplementation on athletes after prolonged exhaustive exercise", Nutrition, Vol 13 (7-8) pp. 738-742. 1997

Glycerol

  • Improves hydration and endurance
  • Further reading: "Effect of Glycerol feeding on endurance and metabolism during prolonged exercise in man", Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Vol 15, pp. 237-242, 1983.

Guarana (herbal caffeine)

Hydroxymethylbutyrate - HMB

  • Hydroxymethylbutyrate is used to decrease fat and increase muscle mass
  • Further reading: Nissen S, et al (1996), "The effect of the leucine metabolite HMB on muscle metabolism during resistance exercise training", Journal of applied physiology, 81 (5), pp 2095-2104

Human growth hormone - HGH

  • Human growth hormone is used to decrease fat and increase muscle mass.
  • The side effects are heart and nerve diseases, glucose intolerance, and higher levels of blood fats.

Inosine

  • Enhances energy production, improves aerobic capacity

Iron

  • Increases aerobic capacity

Leucine

  • Decreases muscle breakdown and spare muscle glycogen stores

Ma huang (herbal ephedrine)

  • See ephedrine

Magnesium

  • Magnesium is required for more than 300 biological reactions in the body, including those involved in the synthesis of fat, protein, and nucleic acids, neurological activity, muscular contraction and relaxation, cardiac activity and bone metabolism.
  • Even more important for athletes is magnesium's pivotal role in both anaerobic and aerobic energy production, particularly in the metabolism of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the 'energy currency' of the body. The synthesis of ATP requires magnesium-dependent enzymes called 'ATPases'. These enzymes have to work extremely hard; the average human can store no more than about 3oz of ATR yet during strenuous exercise the rate of turnover of ATP is phenomenal, with as much as 15kgs of ATP per hour being continually broken down and reformed.

Marijuana

  • Decreases anxiety

Multivitamins

  • Increases energy, endurance and aerobic capacity, enhances recovery

Narcotics

  • Increase endurance by suppressing pain, decrease anxiety

Niacin

  • Increases energy and endurance

Oxygen

  • Increases aerobic capacity, enhances recovery

Phosphates

  • Increase ATP production, energy and muscle endurance

Phytosterols

  • Stimulates release of endogenous steroids and growth hormone

Protein supplements

  • Protein supplements are used to enhance muscle repair and growth
  • Inadequate protein intake does cause a negative nitrogen balance, which slows muscle growth and causes fatigue
  • In an athlete with normal renal function, there are no notable adverse effects to increased protein consumption
  • See the following page for more on protein

Pycnogenol

  • Boosts antioxidant levels, enhances recovery

Pyruvate

  • Increases lean body mass

Ribose

  • Increases cellular ATP and muscle power

Selenium

  • Enhances antioxidant functions

Sodium bicarbonate

  • Buffers lactic acid production, delays fatigue
  • See the following page for more on Bicarbonate of Soda

Tribulus terrestris

  • Increases endogenous steroid production

Tryptophan

  • Decreases pain perception, increases endurance

Vanadyl sulfate

  • Increases glycogen synthesis, enhances muscle recovery - research so far has not proven this in humans
  • Further reading: Fawcett, JP, et al (1996). "The effect of oral vanadyl sulphate on body composition and performance in weight training athletes". International Journal of Sports Nutrition, 6 (4), pp. 382-390)

Vitamin B1 (thiamin)

  • Enhances energy production, increases aerobic capacity, improves concentration

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

  • Increases aerobic endurance

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)

  • Enhances muscle growth, decreases anxiety

Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)

  • Enhances muscle growth

Vitamin B15 (dimethylglycine)

  • Increases muscle energy production

Vitamin C

  • Acts as antioxidant, increases aerobic capacity and energy production

Vitamin E

  • Acts as antioxidant, improves aerobic capacity

Yohimbine

  • Increases endogenous steroid production

Zinc

  • Enhances muscle growth, increases aerobic capacity

Associated Pages

The following Sports Coach pages should be read in conjunction with this page:

Associated Books

The following books provide more information related to this topic:

  • Advanced Studies in Physical Education and Sport, P Beashel et al., ISBN 0 17 4482345
  • Physical Education and the Study of Sport, B. Davis et al., ISBN 0 7234 31752
  • Essentials of Exercise Physiology, W.D. McArdle et al., ISBN 0 683 30507 7
  • Physical Education and Sport Studies, D. Roscoe et al., ISBN 1 901424 20 0
  • The World of Sport Examined, P. Beashel et al., ISBN 0 17 438719 9
  • Advanced PE for Edexcel, F. Galligan et al., ISBN 0 435 50643 9
  • Examining Physical Education, K. Bizley, ISBN 0 435 50660 9
  • Sport and PE, K Wesson et al., ISBN 0 340 683821
  • PE for you, J. Honeybourne, ISBN 0 7487 3277 2