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Some players see need for ephedraDate: 15.03.2003
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team France
About a month ago, a National Football League offensive lineman stepped onto a scale in his bathroom. The numbers kept flipping over and over and when they stopped, the player was shocked at what he saw. He had gained a whopping 50 pounds since the season ended in January.
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So he began what was an annual battle of the bulge for many NFL players: a fitness program to quickly lose weight for mini-camps and summer training camp. The player said his regimen includes taking the popular weight loss product Xenadrine RFA-1, a supplement that contains ephedra. He is among 10 players interviewed recently who said they continued to use supplements containing ephedra even though it is banned by the league and despite the health risks attributed to it by doctors and the federal government. A Florida medical examiner said Thursday that significant amounts of ephedra were found in the system of Steve Bechler, the Baltimore Orioles pitcher who collapsed and died last month, and that it contributed to his death. The NFL offensive lineman said that he had used products containing ephedra for several years and that it was too valuable as a weight loss aid not to use. He said he believed that the chances of being caught by the league were slim.
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He is not the only player who feels that way. Nine other players (eight linemen and one running back, on seven different teams) said in interviews that they, too, use ephedra products, almost exclusively in the off-season, despite the ban and possible health dangers.
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These players say that ephedra use remains high in NFL circles, especially among linemen, because it is viewed as crucial for weight loss and training. The lineman who gained 50 pounds (22 kilograms) attributed the increase to "too many banquets and too many desserts" and said his usual breakfast consisted of about 20 buttermilk pancakes and 12 strips of bacon.
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The players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say they do not fear adverse health reactions because they use the weight loss pills responsibly. They say they do not fear the league's off-season drug testing program, either, because ephedra leaves the bloodstream too quickly for random tests to catch.
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The players say, they would not use anabolic steroids because those can stay in the system for months, and so it is far easier to be caught. The players interviewed estimated that before the ban two years ago, 50 percent to 70 percent of all NFL players used products with ephedra. That number, they said, has dropped, but they said they believed that somewhere from 20 percent to 40 percent of players still used it.
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Jason Sehorn, the former Giants cornerback, said last year that he continued to take ephedra products after the NFL's ban, pointing out, as many baseball players have, that ephedra is legal and available to the general public. But once the NFL started its testing program, Sehorn said he stopped using ephedra, reluctantly.
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The NFL was the first major U.S. professional league to ban ephedra, which falls under its steroid testing program. The action followed the death of Minnesota offensive tackle Korey Stringer in summer 2001; lawyers for the Vikings, responding to a $100 million wrongful-death suit against the team by Stringer's widow, said recently that ephedra had been linked to his death. Stringer's family says there is no evidence that he used ephedra the morning of his heatstroke.
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All players are tested at the beginning of the season. Once the season begins, seven or eight players from each team are chosen randomly each week for testing.
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A player who has failed a test under this policy is tested up to 10 times a month for two to three years. The problem, players say, is that someone who has passed every test is rarely tested in the off-season; that is when such a player would use ephedra.
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One player said the chance of being tested in the off-season was 5 percent or less. He would not say how he arrived at this figure. The NFL will not divulge how many random tests are administered in the off-season.
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Dr. John Lombardo, the NFL's chief adviser on performance-enhancing substances, said ephedra stays in the body for 48 to 72 hours. A chronic user, he said, might have ephedra in his system longer, so a potential cheater is more susceptible to being caught.
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"The point is to have a system of deterrence," Lombardo said. "The players know they can be caught at any time."
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Last year at least three players were punished after tests found ephedra in their systems. The Carolina defensive tackle Brenston Buckner and the Carolina linebacker Julius Peppers were each suspended for four games. The Kansas City linebacker Lew Bush was suspended for two. Peppers has said he took pills from a friend, whom he would not identify, because he needed an energy lift and did not ask what they were.
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If NFL players are taking ephedra, then they are simply doing what many other athletes have done for years: seek every possible edge, sometimes no matter what the potential personal cost.
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"What I find is that some players will take almost anything to stay competitive," said Brad Blank, an agent who represents several dozen NFL players. "They do what they have to do to win."
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