We have heard a lot of stories about professional athletes blaming the food they eat particularly meat as the culprit in their failed steroid tests. Tour de France champion Alberto Contador tested positive for the steroid clenbuterol but the cyclist argued that it was caused by a contaminated meat. Several Mexican football players flanked a steroid test in the recent World Cup. All of them argued that their positive test could be due to eating meat fed with a type of steroid, Clenbuterol. An Olympic medalist in weightlifting was also caught by anti-doping authorities with high levels of Clenbuterol but he pointed the authorities to pork chops as the source of the steroid.

Anti-doping Agencies Discourage Athletes from Eating Tainted Meat

In the previous months, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was also alarmed by reports that the use of the steroid clenbuterol in cattle farms in China and other parts of the world is still rampant. WADA has been very vocal on the risks of clenbuterol tainted meat. In fact some sports organizations warned their athletes not to eat meat products from certain countries just to make sure they will not test positive for steroids.

And the latest agency to warn athletes about the dangers of eating contaminated meat products is the Food Standard Agency of the United Kingdom. In a recent advisory, the FSA told athletes to avoid eating liver as this meat product may contain high amounts of the steroid clenbuterol. The UK Anti-Doping Agency already warned their Olympic athletes about this issue. They won’t want their athletes become victims of unintentional doping especially that the 2012 Olympics in London is getting near.

According to the FSA, eating large portion of bovine liver with high concentration of clenbuterol can lead to a positive test for steroids. Though it still depends on a lot factors such as the amount of liver consumed, the levels of clenbuterol in the meat, the time of testing, and the methods used to analyze the samples.

A positive test before and during the Olympics can lead to disqualification and a 2-year ban from their sports.

Clenbuterol is banned in Olympics

Clenbuterol is a steroid formulated for animal use. It is used by cattle farmers to speed up muscle growth of their livestock. It also promotes lean muscles so that would mean better market prices for the meat products. However, the use of Clenbuterol has spread to bodybuilding and professional sports. Most bodybuilders use this steroid as a fat burner. It is usually recommended during a cutting cycle where the athlete or bodybuilder wants to shed more fats before and after going on a steroid cycle.

The use of clenbuterol comes with side effects. It can increase the heart rate, cause nervousness, headache and muscular tremor. But some athletes, these are overshadowed by the benefits they get from this steroid.

Meat Source of Protein

Sports organization will be facing a hard time identifying contaminated meat. Professional athletes will never know if the menu from restaurants or meat products from the groceries are free from this type of steroid. Meat is a great source of protein. It is a part of the usual diet of training athletes so it’s hard to eliminate this food from the menu.

Athletes and Olympians will always face the risk of ingesting contaminated meat. So it will not be a shock if there will be more news of Olympic athletes testing positive for Clenbuterol. And besides, there are still some who intentionally use this steroid to gain competitive advantage.

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