"EPO doesn't enhance athletic performance". Please critique this new study.

[MikeG]

I can't find the study itself, which is published in the Lancet, but here is one paper's summary of it,, and here is a fuller description of the study. There have been 5 or 6 previous studies which have come to different conclusions.

They raise the intriguing possibility that Lance Armstrong's drug of choice may have given him no benefit, other than psychological.

In the first study of its kind, scientists challenged a group of 48 cyclists to tackle a series of challenges, including the infamous Mont Ventoux ascent, which often forms part of the Tour.

Half had been given eight weekly injections of EPO, a drug that promotes red blood cell production with the aim of increasing delivery of oxygen to the muscles, while the other half took a dummy.

But after the gruelling 21.5km climb - which was preceded by a 110km cycle for good measure - the average results of the two groups showed no difference whatsoever.

For well-trained non-professional cyclists, the performance enhancing drug rHuEPO (recombinant human erythropoietin) appears to have a small effect on high intensity laboratory cycling tests, but the performance enhancing effects were mostly undetectable in a laboratory time trial test and an endurance road-race up Mont Ventoux (France), according to a new study.

 

[casebro]

He still cheated, even if to no avail.

 

[Reality Check]

...here is a fuller description of the study..

It looks like the Telegraph did not read the title or contents of the study as reported by that eurekalert!
The Lancet Haematology: For amateur cyclists, EPO blood doping may have little effect on real-world road race performance

The double-blind, randomised trial, published in The Lancet Haematology journal, involved 48 well-trained non-professional male cyclists aged 18-50. While no adverse events were recorded, the drug led to elevated levels of haemoglobin and adhesion molecules which could potentially increase the risk of thrombosis.

Lance Armstrong is not an amateur cyclist. The study does not really apply to professional, exceptionally well trained cyclists. This is mentioned in a quote from a lead author

...While these findings also applied to the highest performing cyclists in our study, the question remains as to whether these findings can be applied to professional cyclists."

ETA: Two more differences - the length of time that EPO was taken and for what activities.
The subjects only used EPO during the 8 weeks of the trial. There were some tests and then the endurance test but no mention of the kind of training that a professional cyclist would undergo.
Lance Armstrong confessed to using EPO throughout much of his career which suggests more than 2 months of use at a time. His performance could have been enhanced during races because of his use of EPO during training.

 

[nota]

they simply need a stock and modified class in most sports like bike racers
weight lifting running jumping ect

you can't ban progress but can control it

 

[Elagabalus]

I asked about this over on cyclingnews. Apparently some of the study was released in 2016. There's a link to the lancet article as well.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=33344&start=40 *

Just from memory, in Tyler Hamilton's book they were using EPO everyday in addition to other drugs for recovery. Because they could recover faster they could train much harder.


EPO increases the oxygen amount carried by the blood and available for the muscles to use. It stands to reason that a very highly-trained athlete would benefit more than just a weekend warrior.

Although I haven't read the Lancet article (yet) the controls for the test group seem a little strange as well. They seem to have been given EPO just once a week and then after 8 weeks (or was it 5) got to ride Mont Ventoux. A better way would be to train on Mont Ventoux exclusively. There's a saying in cycling that you have to have a certain distance "in your legs"i.e. just because you can ride a certain distance fast does not me that at the next century ride you will be able to keep that pace for the entire ride if you never ridden that distance before.

* if you do check out the Cyclingnews link, ignore every comment by "sniper". He's prone to CT theories.

 

[Oystein]

I think the issue is "what is the bottleneck that limits performance?"

EPO widens one of the several possible bottleneck - the capacity of the blood to transport oxygen.

At the same time, the body needs to provide fuel to muscle cells, the lungs need to inhale volumes of O2, the heart must pump x litres of blood per minute, and the muscles need to have the required strength every time they are asked to contract, and they must maintain certain levels of readiness.

Professional training enhances all these parameters to astounding levels - professional riders may have exceptional lung capacities, heart capacities, dense and large muscles, efficient metabolism as well as high haemoglobin levels.

If you already have enough red blood cells, but your heart is too weak to shove them around, increasing blood cells doesn't necessarily help you much.