Methylhexaneamine positives linked to supplements, Rui and Mario Costa previously failed tests
Following a number of recent doping cases involving methylhexaneamine, including that of the Portuguese brothers Rui and Mario Costa, UK Anti-Doping has today issued a warning advising sportspeople to exercise extra care when using nutritional supplements.
A number of cases in India and Australia linked the substance to supplements. UK Anti-Doping has firsthand experience of such a case as the British shotputter Rachel Wallader has just received a reduced ban of four months following appeal.
Her coach Geoff Capes gave her a supplement which contained the listed ingredient 1,3-dimethylamylamine. She tested positive after providing a urine sample on May 1st, and was suspended from June 5th until October 4th.
UKAD said that two other athletes have tested positive for the substance in recent months, and that their cases are ongoing.
It warns that there is a danger that athletes could consume the substance, even if they are vigilant in reading the ingredients. “Methylhexaneamine is increasingly being found in nutritional supplements, typically those that are designed to increase energy or aid weight loss,” it said in a statement. “There is a risk that supplements could contain this or other prohibited substances, even if the ingredients listed on the label do not appear on the World Anti-Doping Code’s Prohibited List.
“This is because some prohibited substances are referred to on supplement labelling by different names. Methylhexaneamine, for instance, is referred to by a number of alternative names including 1,3-dimethylamylamine, dimethylamylamine, dimethylpentylamine, DMAA, forthan, forthane, floradrene, geranamine and geranium oil.”
A spate of nandralone positives in the 2000’s were blamed on tainted supplements. WADA and others have long advised caution when using such products, and the UKAD Anti-Doping Chief Executive Andy Parkinson echoed this. “The outcome of this case, and others from around the world, demonstrates how vigilant athletes must be when it comes to supplements. There is no guarantee that any supplement is free from a prohibited substance. Athletes are ultimately responsible for anything found in their system, no matter how it gets there,” he said.
“There are an increasing number of positive cases for methylhexaneamine for which athletes are facing a ban from sport. Whilst its downgrading in status in the 2011 Prohibited List is a welcome development, methylhexaneamine remains prohibited. Whether intentional or unintentional, its presence in the system can lead to an anti-doping rule violation and a ban from sport.”
Cyclists amongst those affected:
Rui and Mario Costa placed first and third in the Portuguese national time trial championships on June 25. The former is the more successful of the two, netting second in the 2008 Tour de l’Avenir, fifth in the world road race championship for under 23 riders, and winning the 2009 Four Days of Dunkirk. He took victories this year in the 1.1 ranked Trofeo Deia in Majorca, stage eight of the Tour de Suisse and that national TT win.
He was reportedly in talks with RadioShack, Vacansoleil and the new Luxembourg team.
The Portuguese Cycling Federation has said that there are four or five cases pending in relation to the same substance.
WADA’s recent revision of the banned substances list for 2011 saw methylhexaneamine downgraded to the status of a Specified Substance. This would mean that instead of a compulsory two year suspension, sportspeople could get penalties ranging from a warning up to 24 months. They would still have to prove the use was inadvertent.
Although their positive cases obviously occurred prior to 2011, the Costa brothers will hope that WADA’s revision plus the spate of recent cases linked to supplements will mean that they could face shorter sanctions. They have insisted that they didn’t intentionally seek an unfair advantage.
UKAD advised athletes that the Informed-Sport programme ‘evaluates supplement manufacturers for their process integrity and screens supplements and ingredients for the presence of prohibited substances.’
Further details can be found at www.informed-sport.com.