Gatorade is not banned and huge coolers of the stuff are centerpieces on the sidelines of many teams. The highly regulated diets, vitamin supplements, and elemental nutrient supplements that are so prominent on the training tables of elite athletes are also permissible performance-enhancing substances.
The Logic of Performance Enhancement
Why is one substance banned, but another dispensed freely to athletes? Clearly, the listing of banned agents is arbitrary and includes agents that offer a clear advantage in terms of endurance, strength, or other characteristics but—as with Gatorade—even combinations of simple sugars, minerals, and water may yield significant performance advantages. So, does the fact that something is naturally available make it a permissible performance-enhancing substance? There is nothing in nature that is the color of some of the Gatorade flavors, and erythropoietin is a natural substance. Nevertheless, the former is permissible and use of the latter can get you banned from competitive sports. Neither safety nor efficacy is the criterion for putting an agent on the banned substance list. Although caffeine has a wide safety window, it may also be toxic in high enough concentrations, but caffeine is not on the list of banned substances (nor is thyroid hormone). I would probably suffer a cardiac arrest if a large cooler of ice-cold Gatorade was dumped on me, so it, too, has its toxicity.
“Organic” compounds are not prominent on the list of banned substances but it is clear that just being natural makes a substance no less likely to be abused—cocaine, cannabis, and opiates are the best examples of banned natural substances. And, being artificial doesn’t always make a substance toxic (vanillin and most vitamins are no less tasty or effective than their natural forerunners) any more than being natural makes it safe.
As an intern in Cincinnati, I saw many teenagers in the emergency room who had smoked jimson weed (Datura stramonium; also known as loco weed) for the hallucinations it induces, but who suffered from an overdose of atropine and scopolamine naturally present in this plant. (The mnemonic for the overdose is, “Dry as a bone, red as a beet, and crazy as a loon.”)
Perhaps we should extend our concern about performance-enhancing drugs to other fields. I, for one, propose that we outlaw the pizza and coffee for housestaff that lets them work longer when they are on call. Wouldn’t video games be fairer if ingestion of Mountain Dew and Jolt Cola was forbidden? Banning cheesecake from the diet of NFL linemen and Sumo wrestlers would probably eliminate unfair size advantages. And the dating game would certainly be more equitable—if not more challenging—if wine and oysters are taken off the menu at romantic restaurants.
