What is Blood Doping?

Below is some information on blood doping, its effects and recent news regardingthe practice.

What is Blood Doping?

Blood doping, also known as blood loading, is the act of increasing the number of red blood cells in circulation in order to enhance the amount of oxygen that is carried into your muscles from your lungs. Why are the lungs important? The more red blood cells in a person's blood circulation, the higher a person's aerobic capacity, which gives an athlete an enhancement in muscle endurance.

How Do Athletes Increase Their Red Blood Cell Levels?

The first notable ways to increase one's red blood cell level through "blood doping", both involving blood transfusions. Homologous transfusions come from the blood of a compatible donor, which is transfused into athletes before competition. Autologous transfers come from the blood of the actual athlete, which was harvested prior to the transfusion, and then put back into the athlete before competition.

In the 1980's, "blood doping" stepped away from transfusions and started involving a hormone called erythropoietin, or EPO. Introducing this hormone in the body naturally increased the formation of red blood cells. EPO can be used medically for people with anemia, or patients that could have low red blood cell counts.

What Are The Negative Effects?

Although a slight increase in red blood cells will increase the amount of oxygen traveling to the muscle tissues, it is not side effect free.

High red blood cell counts can make the blood "thicker" than usual, which can cause unnecessary strain on the heart. Even with healthy hearts, this strain could lead to heart failure and disease. This can also lead to an increase in blood clots.

As for "blood doping" through transfusion, improper storage or contamination of the harvested blood can cause, and most likely will, cause infection which could range from minor infections to life threatening.

How Is Blood Doping Detected?

In most cases, testing for EPO in the blood or urine of the athlete is a sure way of catching "blood doping". Another way doctors check for "blood doping" is through red blood cell counts in the body that may seem unusually high.

Blood Doping In The News

Just recently, New York Rangers prospect Alexei Chereanov died during a Russian league game after several months of enhancement drug use. The 19-year-old player suffered from myocarditis (where not enough blood gets to the heart).

Russian federal investigators said in a statement that concluded that an analysis of blood and urine samples show signs that Cherepanov was in fact doping.