The whole issue is too vague anyway. Drinking 1L of lemon juice with salt in it gives you the same results as taking NaHCO3 (since the citric acid in the lemon juice will become HCO3- anyway, and the salt becomes Na+). So did the lemon juice drinking athlete cheat?
In my opinion there are four classes of substances in the question of 'doping':
1. Hormones (epo, hgh, testosterone, IGF-1, prohormones such as N,N-androXXXX, etc..)
2. Substances which do not exist in your body in the first place
(This group can be broken down into:
2A: synthetic drugs such as ibuprofen, sildenafil, beta blockers, artificial O2 carriers, etc..
2B: herbal products, which may include drug like substances such as caffeine, THC, or beneficial substances like ginsenosides etc..)
3. Non-hormonal substances which are either essential to eat or created by your own body (bicarbonate, creatine, salt, potassium, ATP, vitamins, minerals, CoQ10, etc..)
4. Dangerous methods, not substances, such as blood doping.
If we follow the example of the IOC, all substances in class #1 are banned.
Some substances in class #2A are banned, if they contain substances shown to be harmful (i.e. artificial O2 carriers, beta-blockers, etc..)
Some substances in class #2B are banned, such as ephedra, marijuana, etc., but most herbs are allowed, because most herbs are not dangerous.
No substances in class #3 are banned, and all dangerous methods of class #4 are prohibited.
So, NaHCO3 belongs to class #3 (not banned), while EPO belongs to class #1, and some anabolics belong to class #1, while others belong to class 2A.
I think the IOC is correct in its philosophy; An athlete can take any substance he or she wants, helpful or not, so long as that substance does not have a history of putting the athlete in danger. The IOC does NOT ban performance enhancing substances, it only bans substances (enhancing or not) which are shown to be harmful or put the athlete in danger.
AIDA uses IOC drug tests, so the above philosophy applies to AIDA as well.
Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
