Even if you don’t stay up to date on the world of sports, you’d still have to avoid almost all forms of media not to have heard about the latest controversy surrounding Lance Armstrong. Steroid scandals have made it to the forefront of the media in the past, but none of them seems to have created the amount of buzz that this instance has generated. In light of the newest sports scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs and Lance Armstrong, the country seems to be taking a closer look at the world of sports doping.
Today’s infographic which comes to us from Agilent.com shows the different types of steroids and the effects that they have on their users. Athletes trying to lose weight in a short amount of time might use Clenbuterol, for instance, which increases weight loss and improves metabolism. Some athletes even use cocaine to increase their alertness, aggression and endurance for an upcoming event.
Mr. Armstrong may be the most recent athlete to come under scrutiny for taking steroids, but he is hardly the first. Sprinter Tim Montgomery was banned from athletics in 2005 for having taken HGH, a performance-enhancing drug that increases muscle strength and bulk. Montgomery was voided of his world record of 9.78 seconds in the 100 meter race as a result of using the drug.
Testing for performance-enhancing drugs has advanced as much as the substances themselves, with processes including gas chromatography and triple quadruple mass spectrometry. For more info on different performance-enhancing drugs and testing for those substances, refer to the infographic below.