| |
Ephedra
The highly publicized usage of this herbal supplement
on the professional level has trickled down into increasing teenager’s
doses as well. A recent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s Healthy
Competition Foundation survey found that 1 million kids between the ages
of 12 and 17 have taken this dangerous supplement. Athletes use it to
lose weight, get a surge of energy, or both.
Teen athletes who
participate in sports that require burst of strength and speed are most
likely to use the supplement for its stimulating properties, says Mike Perko, associate professor of health education at the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington and author of Taking One for the Team: The
New Thinking of Young Athletes and Dietary Supplements. Performance
enhancers may be tempting to those who participate in wrestling, tennis,
gymnastics, baseball, volleyball and football.
Ralph LaForge, an exercise physiologist with Duke
University Medical Center, says that "teen bodies are so resilient that
perhaps as many as 98 percent of then can use ephedra and play sports
without any problems. But the other 2 percent, often those with
undetected medical problems are prone to bad reactions. The trouble is,
you don’t know which category your teens fall into until he or she uses
the herb."
Dr. Bernard Griesemer, a pediatric sports medicine
practitioner in Springfield, Missouri agrees with this statement and
adds, "Even perfectly healthy teenagers can be placed in harm’s way from
the dehydration ephedra often causes. Kids in general produce more heat
than adults when they play and work, you have a recipe for disaster that
far outweighs the risk for the adult population." Yes, dehydration
coupled with an intense workout in hot summer weather can lead to
potentially fatal heatstroke, the same thing that killed the Baltimore
Oriole’s Belcher.
Next4
Home
I
About Us l
Search
Velocity Racquetball ®
|
|
