NEW YORK (AP) -- Looking around NFL locker rooms, where the players are the size of Brahman bulls, it's hard to believe anybody is on a diet.þþIf they're taking pills to lose weight, they must be compensating by stuffing themselves with 2,000-calorie snacks and dashing to McDonald's before dinner.þþSo it comes as a bit of a surprise that players are getting busted for taking banned substances in dietary supplements.þþCarolina defensive tackle Brentson Buckner has served two games of his four-game suspension for taking diet pills that helped him keep his weight down before training camp. His teammate, rookie defensive end and NFL sack leader Julius Peppers, faces a hearing next week after testing positive for a banned substance. Kansas City linebacker Lew Bush was suspended for four games two weeks ago for a sports drink that his agent said contained ephedrine.þþOn the surface, the NFL's drug policy regarding these supplements might seem a little screwy. Taking diet pills or drinks with ephedrine and similar over-the-counter stimulants is treated as harshly as injecting anabolic steroids and brings a stiffer mandatory penalty than snorting cocaine.þþBuckner, for one, complains that he's being treated like a criminal, comparing his offense to being expelled from school for chewing bubble gum. He argues that the banned substance that led to his positive drug test wasn't on the product label's list of ingredients.þþA similar claim was made by Bush, who took the same supplement twice: The first time it did not contain any banned substances, the second time it did and he tested positive.þþGene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, is talking to the league about finding one or two supplement companies that would certify the ingredients in products and submit them for independent testing.þþ``The government is not making the supplement companies test their products, so we have to,'' he says.þþUpshaw also wants to change the league's punishment policy regarding dietary supplements.þþ``It's not fair to players that they're out four games and lose a quarter of their salaries for taking a supplement that wasn't supposed to have any banned substances in it,'' he says. ``When we banned ephedrine to protect the health of players, we were very firm about treating it the same as a steroid. But we don't want the policy to become punitive.''þþNFL spokesman Greg Aiello says the drug policy is negotiable and will continue to be discussed, though no changes would be made this year.þþThat policy, as flawed as it may be, is still the best in professional sports. Every Monday, five players on each team are tested at random. Steroids and half a dozen stimulants are banned. Cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs are dealt with through counseling programs.þþPlayers are suspended for their first violations of steroids and stimulants, Aiello says, because taking them ``forces all the players to decide whether they're going to have to use them or not. Guys smoking pot on the weekends is not forcing other players to do that. That's treated as a medical issue.''þþUpshaw is probably right that the league should reduce its penalties regarding stimulants until the problem of identifying them in over-the-counter supplements can be resolved.þþBut no one should underestimate the dangers of ephedrine and similar drugs.þþ``Stimulants have two problems,'' says Dr. John Lombardo, the NFL's chief adviser on performance-enhancing drugs. ``One is that they can give a competitive advantage by helping you perform better in a fatigued state. The second thing is that they have adverse effects on the cardiovascular and nervous systems.þþ``We've had verified reports of a player having a seizure on an airplane after a game from taking an ephedrine product. We've had two athletes fall over with cardiac arrhythmias in practice taking these supplements.''þþEphedra, also known as Ma huang and touted on one company's Web site as ``legal speed,'' has been found in about 200 supplements that promote weight loss, bodybuilding and energy enhancement.þþPlayers will always seek supplements, Upshaw says, to cope with the demands of the game. Some take supplements to gain weight, others to lose it. They load up on vitamins, and look for products that will give them an energy boost, reduce inflammation and help their joints.þþ``That's not going to change,'' Upshaw said. ``What we need to do is make sure the supplements they take are safe and not punish them excessively for taking things they had no way of knowing were there.''þþ
Source: NY Times
