COACHES GIVING POOR ADVICE: DOCTOR

Drugs to enhance athletic performance should be avoided, not recommended

PEORIA -- The Peoria medical community should educate coaches and others
about the dangers of athletic performance-enhancing drugs and techniques,
doctors at a medical seminar said Thursday.

The comments came after a talk by Dr. Richard Horndasch, who told how a 16-
year-old patient's coach was encouraging him to take creatine to improve
his athletic performance.

Worried, Horndasch asked about the cost. Not to worry, the young athlete
told the doctor, "I'm using some of my dad's."

Horndasch spoke to the University of Illinois College of Medicine at
Peoria's InterChange V conference about the use of athletic performance
enhancers by students in junior high, high school and college."

"These supplements are not just for elite athletes. They have trickled
down" to students in the community as well as "weekend" athletes, said
Horndasch, a faculty member at the medical college who specializes in
pediatric, adolescent and young adult medicine.

Some are banned by athletic organizations. Some are not. Some can be
detected in urine testing. Some cannot, he said.

Like their alternative medicine cousins, the so-called dietary supplements,
some performance enhancers are effective, some can be deadly and some are a
waste of money. Doctors should know about them because their patients are
using them, Horndasch said.

Polls show that young athletes will use enhancers, hoping for an edge, even
if they could die within five years after using them, Horndasch said.

Steroids pose a special risk, he said. Boys are now using them not just in
competitive sports but to enhance appearance, a situation that's being
compared with anorexia nervosa in females, he said.

When steroids are injected using shared needles, "that opens up another can
of worms," he said.

The substances may be illegal, but "a huge black market feeds the
athletes," Horndasch said.

When a doctor learns that a patient is using substances or engaging in
risky techniques such as manipulating weight to compete in a certain group,
the doctor should be frank but open, so a teen doesn't "view you as an
enemy," he said.

"Don't overstate the risks," Horndasch said. "Talk with them about the
ethics of using these substances. In many ways, it's fraud pure and simple."

Tell them the substances are available not because they're safe, but
because laws are weak, he said.

Substances that have been tested and shown to be effective have not been
studied for long-term use, Horndasch said. "We know nothing about more than
six months. What is the impact on the kidneys? Maintain a level of
skepticism."

When a student asks for recommendations to improve performance, suggest
sleep and good nutrition, Horndasch said. "A lot of high school students
don't know anything about nutrition."

Female athletes are drinking diet soda instead of milk needed for calcium
intake, he said. "It amazes me how little they know. They don't know what
fiber is, what lean meat is."

Teens need eight to nine hours of sleep nightly, but fewer than 10 percent
get it, he said.

"Stress management, alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, sexual activity, these are
lifestyle decisions having a lasting impact on maximum performance,"
Horndasch said.

Protein supplements are a waste of money, Horndasch said. A teen can get
better quality protein from a chicken breast and should be spending money
on quality food instead of supplements. "But that's boring (advice), like
mom."

A teen may listen to the coach, and medical professionals ought to be
educating the coaches and "hold their feet to the fire" when they suggest
enhancers, a doctor in the audience suggested.

Peoria's medical community "ought to be taking a stand on ethics," another
doctor said.

"I agree. It needs to be done. I've never seen it done. Coaches are flying
by the seat of their pants," Horndasch said.