From “?” to “!”: What the Hell Is Up with Viagra Now

By Kristen A. Yukness

For www.EliteFTS.com

 

At the risk of the EliteFTS reader population deluging their doctors’ offices begging for Viagra (sildenafil citrate) prescriptions, studies have shown enhanced athletic performance (outside of the bedroom) with Viagra. Science Daily (via the Journal of Applied Physiology) reports that Viagra markedly improved the cardiac output of cyclists in high altitude environments. If that’s not surprising enough, the drug has gone through a veritable evolution since its inception. If you have recently heard the rumbling in the athletic community, you are not alone. Could Viagra work well outside of the bedroom, too? Read on.

The evolution

When ingested, sildenafil citrate causes the blood vessels to expand by increasing the smooth muscle relaxing effects of nitric oxide. The end result is improved blood flow to and from the appendages and lungs. This potentially includes improved heart function as well. Theoretically, the more oxygen being transported to working muscles, the more enhanced the performance. As one can imagine, Viagra is being used to treat more than just stiffie troubles. It also provides benefits to those suffering from pulmonary hypertension, some lung disorders, and even altitude sickness.

Viagra was not initially developed as a bedroom preparatory drug. It was first studied with the intent to improve the quality of life for those with hypertension and heart disease. Reportedly, Pfizer (the pharmaceutical company testing sildenafil citrate), upon the end of clinical trials, failed to receive many of the unused drug tablets in circulation and thought it to be more than just coincidence. They were right. A “side effect” of their developmental drug was a natural and lasting penile erection. With a change of direction, sildenafil citrate was then tested as a male enhancement drug, with good results, helping many men achieve erections without much regard for the reason(s) they were impotent in the first place (Bradley 1998).

Viagra and similar drugs are now being tested for women hoping to achieve the same beneficial sexual effect, with such drug therapy geared toward the post-menopause phase of life. With all of this activity surrounding sildenafil citrate, it certainly is worth wondering in what other areas the same nitric oxide effect might be useful.

Improving athletic performance?

Unfortunately, I know a few folks who have taken Viagra not necessarily because of impotency issues but because of the “pump” feeling that they get. They hope to parlay such feelings into increased athletic endurance and performance. However, the most I have heard from these more-than-willing guinea pigs is that they simply “like the feel.” What does that mean? Who knows! Can we interpolate anything scientific from that? Not even close. Is it possible there is (to a certain degree) a placebo effect? Perhaps. Inasmuch, I gave their impromptu findings little credence. With the onslaught of new information complete with scientific backing, I sat up and took notice. Were these guys really on to something and just didn’t know it?

With 2008 the year of the summer Olympics, many media outlets are focused on new trends in the athletic community both in training and competition. The use of Viagra to enhance athletic performance has proven no exception. Many of the resultant stories and articles in the media refer back to a 2006 study undertaken by Stanford University and the Palo Alto Health Care System, which involved cycling trials at altitude. Scientists hypothesized that athletes taking sildenafil citrate would complete those trials faster than those ingesting a placebo. Researchers found that although some athletes receiving the drug appeared to achieve a performance benefit, the same could not be said for all of those studied. In fact, side effects, including headaches, were reported (Melville 2006).

The Stanford study raises good questions that lay the foundations for future research. Why does Viagra produce a discernible performance enhancement in some and not in others? Would there be a benefit in taking sildenafil citrate not for direct competitive purposes but for acclimatizing athletes to a certain geographical elevation? With the drug already deemed useful in assisting those with breathing difficulties, it probably is not a far stretch to wonder if athletes taking sildenafil citrate would receive a performance benefit in cities such as Beijing, which is known for its poor air quality.

Still, others within the scientific community aren’t as quick to embrace Viagra as an athletic booster. On this flip side of the coin, they claim that sildenafil citrate may produce different results based upon the biological environment in which it is introduced. This camp theorizes that an individual requiring therapy from such a drug (i.e. decreased blood flow to lungs, erectile dysfunction) will produce better and marked results from such treatment than would an athlete at the top of his game with no medical need for the drug (Canadian Press 2008). Even with the jury still out, it has not stopped the likes of Roger Clemens (who reportedly kept Viagra in his locker) or the father of suspended Italian cyclist, Andrea Moletta (who was found with numerous Viagra tabs secreted within toothpaste tubes during the Giro d’Italia race earlier this year), from falling under the shadow of suspect use. Even BALCO scamster, Victor Conte, boasted that the athletes he served took Viagra and that such use was “bigger than creatine” (BBC 2008).

So what next?

With research facilities, hospitals, scientists, and eager graduate students all over the world jumping on the Viagra research bandwagon, it is worth postulating the changes we as athletes would face in the drug testing arena if Viagra was definitively found to be a performance enhancer. The World Anti-Doping Agency is currently studying Viagra’s effects on athletes but hasn’t yet banned it. Experts are divided over whether it actually offers athletes an edge. “It’s possible,” said Anthony Butch, director of the Olympic Analytical Laboratory at the University of California Los Angeles, a WADA-accredited facility (Canadian Press 2008). It is also interesting to note that WADA officials maintain that when illegal drug seizures are made under the WADA code, Viagra and similar-type drugs are often part of the said seizure (Expatica 2008).

With the drug’s obvious prevalence, if WADA did find achieved benefit from Viagra, a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) would most likely be required of those individuals utilizing the medication. If a TUE was required, would it then place the athlete under increased scrutiny for the possible reasons behind such usage (i.e. to deal with impotence caused by steroid abuse)? And could the athlete substantiate a TUE for Viagra given that not taking the drug would constitute “the athlete… experience[ing] a significant impairment to health?” (World Anti-Doping Agency 2007).

At least for now, regardless of the reasons an athlete consumes sildenafil citrate, the scientific community can produce little concrete medical evidence that Viagra is a definitive athletic performance enhancing drug. However, this is probably not the last you will hear of Viagra linked to the sporting community. Stay tuned.

References

Bradley D (1998) Touch wood. Retrieved on July 13, 2008. From: http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/viagra-sildenafil-citrate-for-erectile-dysfunction.html.

British Broadcasting Company (2008) Wada to consider banning Viagra. Retrieved on July 10, 2008. From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7469509.stm.

Canadian Press (2008) Athletes use Viagra for a competitive edge, experts say. Retrieved on July 5, 2008. From: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/06/27/viagra-athletes.html.

Expatica (2008) Viagra gets out of bed. Retrieved on July 13, 2008. From: http://www.expatica.com/fr/life_in/feature/Viagra-gets-out-of-bed.html.

Melville K (2006) Up, up and away for athletes taking Viagra. Retrieved on July 13, 2008. From: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20060522205340data_trunc_sys.shtml.

World Anti-Doping Agency (2007) Therapeutic use exemption guidelines. Retrieved on July 7, 2008. From: http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/document/TUE_2007.pdf.

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