Essentials of Nutrition for Sports

all disciplines - from cognitive psychologists running rats through mazes to nuclear physicists operating massive particle accelerators - recognize that a certain amount of political meddling in their research by policymakers in the

executive branch and Congress is to

be expected.

However, there are limits—limits the Bush administration has

frequently disregarded by imposing stringent political controls on a broad variety of federal scientific

programs and activities. This has

raised acute concern in the Ameri

can scientific community that the

administration’s drive to stamp its conservative values on science isn’t just affecting policy decisions, but undermining the integrity of the US research infrastructure itself.

Some examples of the Bush admi

nistration’s interference with

science include:

• The removal from a National Cancer Institute website of a
  scientific analysis concluding th

at abortions do not increase a

woman’s risk of breast cancer.

• Dropping a leading addiction expert from the University of
  New Mexico, Dr. William Miller, from consideration for membership on the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse after an administration aide quizzed him about whether he opposed abortion (“no”) and had voted for Bush (“no”).
  
  
  • The elimination of the section on global warming in a
    comprehensive Environmental Protection Agency report on the environment last June. EPA officials decided to eliminate the section on climate change after an earlier draft prompted the White House to demand major revisions.”
  
  
  
  

Outright Quackery

It is charitable to think that a r

esearcher or journalist is after the

absolute truth. Sometimes the truth

is ugly. The profit motive is large

in the motivations of any industry. Marketing costs may be huge.

Somebody must pay for those full-page ads. Selling the product is how people make their living. While most do not deceive intentionally, some do.

Ergogenics, Drugs Revised

Consider these products promoted in the past as new and

wonderful, now known to be not so wonderful: Over-the-Counter •^

Androstenedione: Yes Mark McGu

ire may have set home run

records and many men may have rushed to purchase this then over-the-counter anabolic steroid.

Reports of breast development

and other harmful side effects have led to this supplement’s withdrawal.

-^

Antioxidants: How could increasing one’s intake of antioxidants be harmful? Every one was convinced by marketing that exercise-induced free radicals led to cancer and that high doses of antioxidants would decrease the risk of cancer, improve performance, and be a panacea. Unfo

rtunately, in the real world,

studies reported increased deaths in groups taking beta-carotene, and supplement manufacturers toned down their hype of this anti-oxidant. The enthusiasm for other antioxidants will continue unabated—until the next negative report.

-^

Calban.

26 Usage of guar gum, an over-the-counter weight control

product, greatly increased in 1985 when Calban, a new brand, was heavily promoted. Guar gum products are intended to expand in the stomach when hydrated. It was later found that if insufficient water was ingested with the product, the guar gum could swell in the esophagus, ra

pidly forming a heavy, viscous,

adhesive mass.

A well-documented report of a death attributed to surgical

26 http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/report/desk/casestud.htm

. Accessed 10-4-2004.

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