This is why drug testing scares me. A recent study, summarised in this slowtwitch.com article, demonstrated that athletes ingesting a mere 5ug of the nandrolone precursor 19-norandrostenedione (NOR) tested positive for this anabolic steroid using existing procedures. That’s a tiny amount. It’s a trace amount. It’s an amount that you wouldn’t ingest to improve your performance but the kind of amount that is considered a contaminant or trace element within another food.
Should governing bodies risk destroying an honest athlete’s career with science we don’t yet fully understand?
Links:
– SlowTwitch – How Much is Enough?
– PubMed abstract & links – Watson P., Judkins C., Houghton E., Russell C., Maughan R.J., Urinary nandrolone metabolite detection after ingestion of a nandrolone precursor. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 41. pp.766-72, 2009.
