Supervised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) since 2012, nicotine is not, to date, considered as a doping product. Everything seems to point to one of the active ingredients of cigarettes as a source of performance increase. Which puts, in parallel, the life of the sportsman, professional as amateur, in danger. Lighting.
Today, it is not uncommon to see some athletes smoke a cigarette before or after an event. If, morally, the practice may seem in total contradiction with the exercise of a sport, at high level or not, the cigarette is neither prohibited nor considered as a doping product. " It is not so much the cigarette that worries me as a sports doctor, but more what we can observe in certain cycling teams today: the direct consumption of nicotine by the athletes »Explains the former doctor of the Cofidis and Sojasun teams, Jean-Jacques Menuet.
"Nicotine increases blood pressure and heart rate"
We have to go back to the beginning of the last century to find traces of the first known relationship between nicotine and sport. On the sidelines of a British football match, which pitted Wales against England, Welshman Billy Meredith chewed a quid of tobacco as usual. Something to get noticed by the commentator. A player who has had a prosperous career, since he was able to practice his discipline until 45 years old in the national team, even pushing up to 50 in club. Longevity standards that today seem impossible to achieve. From there to designate nicotine as "responsible"? " Taking nicotine brings adrenaline and therefore psychological dependence on tobacco in the first place, but there is nothing to indicate that it increases the longevity of a career. ».
And like any product that could be considered doping, nicotine is above all synonymous with harm: " It increases blood pressure and heart rate. There are also risks of cancers of the mouth, gum, pancreas, esophagus and complications in the heart.»
The advent of snus and the question of doping pending
The consequences can be very worrying, especially if we stick to the results of this study results from a laboratory in Lausanne: out of 2011 high-level athletes, 2200% of them had traces of nicotine in their results. Among the disciplines most affected, a majority of team sports with American football in the lead (23% of players would take it). No surprise for Jean-Jacques Menuet: “ In these collective disciplines, if one player consumes snus, another will follow behind, etc. The group effect will help spread the snus ". Snus is this dried tobacco, very common in the Nordic countries and especially in Sweden, which gets stuck between the gum and the upper lip. It would allow nicotine to pass into the blood and therefore increase reflexes, vigilance or even intellectual acuity during exercise.
Another study, conducted in 2013 by Italian researchers, demonstrated the correlation between nicotine and athletic performance: athletes accustomed to taking snus (and therefore dependent on nicotine) would see their performance increase by 13,1% . Information that leaves little room for doubt for the Dr Menuet : " In terms of sports ethics, nicotine is not yet prohibited but we strongly suspect that it can increase performance. When we look at the WADA criteria (three in number, increased performance, health risk and challenging sports ethics, editor's note)it would not be surprising if it were in the future. »
Source : Team
