Increasing Circulatory Risks Associated with Pre-workout Supplements in the United States among Athletes age 18-30 from 2005 to 2013

My previous problem definition was Increasing Health Risks Associated with Pre-workout Supplements in the United States among Athletes age 18-30 from 2005 to 2013. I modified this problem definition in order to make it more specific into the Increasing circulatory Risks associated with Pre-workout Supplements in the United States among Athletes age 18-30 from 2005 to 2013 in order to specify the problem that is most pertinent with this issue. This is a rising topic that is under surveillance, since it was not questioned or studied previous to this year after several people having reported heart attacks, heart palpitations, and increased blood pressure due to the use of pre-workout supplements. The purpose of surveillance is to have an ongoing and systematic collection of health data in order to evaluate and act on public health policy accordingly. Although pre-workout supplements have been used for decades, surveillance was not implemented until April of last year when the Food and Drug Administration sent warnings to ten different companies that manufactured pre-workout supplements with the ingredient dimethylamyamine (DMAA) questioning the safety of this ingredient, as well as asking if it was even considered a dietary supplement. The FDA gave the companies 15 days to provide evidence that this powerful ingredient was suitable for distribution. The companies, however, could not provide such evidence and as a result, supplements that contained this ingredient were not available for sale through popular sources, such as Amazon.

Concerning DMAA, the acceptance of this ingredient as a dietary supplement is generally accepted because it is labeled to come from geranium plants. However, in July of 2012, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Arlingon ran a study to try to detect 1,3-dimethylamyamine from eight different samples of different geographical origins (China and Middle East) and found that no significant amount of DMAA was found in these plants. This article provides support that this product is likely a chemically synthesized supplement and therefore does not safely fall under the category of a dietary supplement.

However, there is a general lack of knowledge from the public between differentiating which pre-workout supplements have DMAA and which don’t. DMAA may also not be the only cause of irritants to the circulatory system. For other supplements to compete in the market without this chemical, many companies substitute this by adding 100+ mg of caffeine per scoop to their product, which could also increase blood pressure or cause other side effects.

Despite this, there have also been several studies to support the extraordinary progress that pre-workout supplements cause. In November 2012 in the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences, Institute of Sports Science and Medicine at Florida State University, a group of 24 men were split into two groups and were put to six weeks of resistance training, one group taking the popular pre-workout supplement NO shotgun, and the other group taking a placebo. At the end of the experiment, it resulted that there were no differences in testosterone balances or blood hormones, but the men that were taking the NO shotgun had a great increase in their 1RM weights (one rep max) for upper and lower body strength, and that the participants taking multi-ingredient performance supplements, NO shotgun in this case, significantly increased peak anaerobic power while the men in the placebo group remained relatively unchanged. The Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation at Baylor University previously did a similar study with the same supplement in 2009 and concluded that heavy resistance training combined with this multi-ingredient performance supplement is not associated with any negative side effects and did not abnormally impact the chemistry of the participants. Quite on the contrary, the NO shotgun effectively aided in increasing muscle mass and strength, as well as the muscular process in building protein (Willoughby ).

From these sources, I believe that I can conclude at one point for now, and that is that there is not enough research to completely represent pre-workout supplements as a whole. There are large cons with not much research to support the point since it has not been previously done, as well as large pros that shows the positive effects of pre-workout supplements but even these studies have mostly been done within the past year. With more research that I will do on the topic, I will hopefully find more sources of research done on supplements to have a more clear idea of which standpoint – whether to support or oppose pre-workout supplements – is better.

Works Cited

Willoughby, Darryn S. "Effects of 28 days of resistance exercise and consuming a commercially available pre-workout supplement, NO-Shotgun®, on body composition, muscle strength and mass, markers of satellite cell activation, and clinical safety markers in males." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. (2009): n. page. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. <http://www.jissn.com/content/6/1/16>.

Ormsbee, MJ. "The effects of six weeks of supplementation with multi-ingredient performance supplements and resistance training on anabolic hormones, body composition, strength, and power in resistance-trained men.." PubMed. Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences, Institute of Sports Science and Medicine, The Florida State University, 15 Nov 2012. Web. 30 Mar 2013. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23153110>.

Rovell, Darren. "Vendor Stocks Fall, Amazon Acts as FDA Questions Pre-Workout Ingredient." Headlines from CNBC. CNBC, 01 May 2012. Web. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. <http://www.cnbc.com/id/47244948>.

Increasing Health Risks Associated with Pre-workout Supplements in the United States among Athletes age 18-30 from 2005 to 2013

The problem definition that I have chosen to write for my paper addresses the following: Increasing Health Risks Associated with Pre-Workout Supplements in the United States among Athletes age 18-30 from 2005 to 2013. I am seeking to find out what health risks have increased in the United States as a result in the increase of the use of pre-workout supplements by many athletes throughout the United States during this time period. I chose this time period since pre-workout supplements were relatively known in 2005 and have completely boomed now in 2013.

As an athlete, I find this to be a very relevant to today's society due to the booming craze of fitness and gaining muscle mass quickly. Many physical people - from body builders to sports athletes to soldiers in the military - use pre-workout supplements to give them that extra boost needed to perform at optimum levels or even out of the ordinary for that particular person. It is common to read advertisements of pre-workouts stating to cause "explosive workouts," "supercharged endurance," and "ultimate concentrated power in one drink." While to the athletes that are consuming these products to perform better only look at the grandiosity of the drink, they may not necessarily be thinking about all the chemicals that are being consumed at once (Beta Alanine, 1,3-dimethylamylamine, Germanium, Creatine Nitrate, and over 100 milligrams of caffeine, to name a few). Again, this is relevant since there are many popular exercise programs that are being reached to not only athletes, but also regular people that have never exercised before such as CrossFit, Zumba, and P90x. Such programs and supporting sponsors are now widely recognized and praised in the media, shedding more light on companies that produce these supplements.

To address why this is important comes from recent findings that the FDA has been investigating. While these pre-workouts have been on the market for years, not enough attention has been paid to them by federal regulators to follow their ingredients - until 2012, that is. Last year it was found that the ingredients such as 1,3-dimethylamylamine and Germanium found in the most popular and potent pre-workouts caused heart attacks and increased blood pressure due to its powerful effect on the heart and nervous system. While there are small warning labels that subtly hint as to not using these products if there are any health problems previous to the consumption of the powder, there is no warning stating flat out the risks associated with taking these pre-workouts. The general population of America that participates in serious physical exercise is a large community impacted by this.

Personally, I find this topic interesting to investigate because I am one of those people that did not know anything about what I was drinking but focused mainly on what extreme results I could get from the pre-workout. The first time that I took a strong pre-workout, I vomited for a week straight until my stomach adjusted to all the chemicals but I thought nothing of it, since my physique quickly strengthened and I was physically faster and stronger. I have tried and regularly used over eight different pre-workouts enthusiastically and I love the results that I get from them, so it pains me to find out that these could be potential contributors of damage to my health. I work as a CrossFit trainer, so I facilitate others in learning how to do high intensity workouts with a blend of Olympic and power weightlifting, cardio, and gymnastics, and it has become culture for everyone I work out with to drink the pre-workout, work out to the point physical exhaustion, and then repeat it the next day. As a CrossFit trainer, a competitive athlete within CrossFit, a weightlifter, and member of a Women's Rugby team, I think that those with such a deep admiration for work out supplements, such as myself, should know not only the good results that such supplements can provide, but also the negative effects that can result from their regular use.

Film: Contagion

                

The film Contagion deals with a woman (Beth), who returns from a trip from Hong Kong and then she and several others from the area she visited become sick and die within a period of three days. This sickness begins as an outbreak and then grows exponentially around the world. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention work arduously to find replicate it and create a vaccine for the disease, but it mutates quickly and takes a long time to finally make a successful vaccine. Meanwhile, there is panic around the U.S. due to the negative media and large death toll. I thought the movie was, in all honesty, quite scary. It emphasized on   that public health tells us to do – wash hands, don’t sneeze on your hands, don’t touch your face too much – and the like. Also, it also showed the many complicated processes that go in to trying to attack such a serious problem as a pandemic. This week in lab we learned how to properly state a “problem definition” and then work from there to solve the specifics on this problem. In the movie, however, there were so many factors to worry about and try to track since it was such a large population of people and the disease was spreading extremely rapidly while the issues of rising death tolls, panic in reaction to social media and harder and harder ethical decisions continued to occur. It made me think of how hard it is to address and try to solve such an issue is with all the factors surrounding the problem going on around it. This was my first time seeing this movie.

There were several public health concepts in the film. Initially there was an outbreak with Beth when she returned and started spreading the disease, which is a sudden and violent start of something unwelcome, in this case being the infection. Following that, when more cases were heard about the same symptoms and similar death, it was made apparent that this was a threat to others and an outbreak investigation began in which the members of the CDC would form a hypothesis for what could be happening, test or try to find the cause of the outbreak, and then take appropriate measures as needed. Once there were clear indications of who had the infection and who didn't, many people were put in isolation, either to avoid those who had the disease or not infect those who did not have it. We saw this with Mitch and his daughter as they separated themselves from others as much as possible avoiding physical contact. Lastly, large areas of affected people were quarantined, meaning placed together away from others without the infection, so that the infection would be concentrated in one area and can also be triaged and treated with ease. The area in which Mitch and his daughter lived was quarantined and blocked off; no one was allowed to leave or enter this area since it was immensely infected.

One of the main points which stood out to me from chapter 29 was expect the unexpected. Be ready to respond to unanticipated problems. Obviously this infection was an unanticipated problem. However, one of the actions that the public health agencies could have taken for better preparation was to pay more attention to the infection as the outbreak started. In 2009 in the United States there was an outbreak of swine flu, otherwise known as H1N1. Fortunately, the case was not as critical as anticipated; that was because the infection was isolated quickly. The infection in Contagion, however, was not isolated quickly and therefore spread all over the country. The book also says that warnings should be issued and evacuations ordered by the appropriate agencies. The warnings should be delivered in a manner that will prompt appropriate action by the population. In the film we saw that there was massive panic due to uncertainty and sudden quarantine of large areas. If communication was done more clearly from the CDC and government agencies to the people, then such reactions might not have occurred and the infection could have been controlled in a more organized manner.