ENGLEWOOD, Colorado, February 26. TODAY, Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Assistant Commissioner David Chaffin distributed a reminder to WAC teams and the swimming media at large that caffeine is a banned substance in the NCAA.
With college championship season currently on-going, Chaffin stated the following in his letter:
It has been brought to my attention that several athletes have been seen drinking Red Bull or similar energy drinks. Below is information from the NCAA that says that these drinks are a banned substance. Please review this information and assist us with having your student-athletes comply with this rule. Thanks!
Banned Substances:
The NCAA continues to list caffeine as a banned substance under the stimulant drug class. Stimulants are considered performance enhancing and pose potential health risks. Red Bull lists caffeine on its label, and therefore contains an NCAA banned substance. The NCAA discourages the use of nutritional supplements containing caffeine due to increased risk of a positive drug test and health consequences.
Impermissible Supplements:
The NCAA continues to identify Red Bull as an impermissible supplement (institutions may NOT provide this product to student-athletes per Bylaw 16.5.2-(g), which defines extra benefits and restricts the provision of nutritional supplements). Energy drinks that contain caffeine sources, amino acids, and/or herbal teas are defined as impermissible nutritional supplements.
Swimming World is helping to get the word out by passing this note along to our readers.
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February 26, 2010 I know that my opinion doesn't mean much to the NCAA higher ups, but I think this is absolutely absurd! Not allowing somebody to caffeine drink is ridiculous. I know I am opening a can of worms here, but does anyone think that caffeine should really be banned? Submitted by: Andy Scherer
February 26, 2010 Agreed. A Red Bull contains 80 mg of caffeine, about the same as a regular cup of coffee. Something like half the adult population (maybe more) has a cup of coffee when they wake up in the morning, just part of their regular routine, and half the swimmers I know have an energy drink before their big events. Good luck trying to enforce a ban on all that. Submitted by: halfbreed
February 26, 2010 In looking further into this (and I am actually doing a blog post on this as well), the "legal" maximum is 15 micrograms/mL because that is the "normal" dietary intake per day. For what it's worth, as the commercial goes, "America Runs on Dunkin" Submitted by: Andy Scherer
February 26, 2010 Andy -- Do you know if that would make a cup of coffee illegal for an average sized swimmer? Submitted by: halfbreed
February 26, 2010 This is some interesting information that I found:
Cup of coffee: 90-150 mg
Instant coffee: 60-80 mg
Tea: 30-70 mg
Soda: 30-45 mg
Candy bar: 30 mg
Caffeine pill: 100 mg
Cold relief medicine (1 tablet): 30 mg
It takes 3 - 4 hours to eliminate half of the caffeine taken in the average person's digestive system, and it takes between 30 and 45 minutes from point of ingestion to the peak effect of caffeine.
So, if someone drank a cup of coffee prior to a meet they would most likely "test positive for caffeine" which is illegal. Submitted by: Andy Scherer
February 26, 2010 Thank you Andy. I was just wondering exactly what 15 micrograms/ML translated to in terms of the 80 milligrams of caffeine in a Red Bull for, say, the average 160 pounder.
Given how common it is for people to have coffee in the morning, or even an energy drink before competing, I have to wonder how many NCAA records are "illegal." Also, this is an NCAA rule; is caffeine banned in international competition as well? I've never heard of anybody "testing positive" for caffeine and subsequently being disqualified. Submitted by: halfbreed
February 26, 2010 I just found a conversion calculator. If a cup of coffee has 100 milligrams of caffeine it contains 100000 micrograms (1 microgram = .001 miligrams.
So, even after 3 hours there would still be 50000 micrograms of caffeine in the person's system. Submitted by: Andy Scherer
February 26, 2010 But there are approximately 5000 milliliters of blood in the human body (I just Googled it), so 50,000 micrograms would mean only 10 mcg/ML, or less than the limit of 15 mcg/ML. It sounds as if we're probably "illegal" for a period somewhere between half an hour and two hours or so after ingestion.
I checked out the amount of caffeine in various energy drinks the other day, and some of them are really insane, like over 300 mg, i.e., over 4 times the kick of a Red Bull.
But again, I've followed swimming and track pretty closely for a long time, and I can't recall ever having heard of anybody being disqualified for too much caffeine in his system.
Submitted by: halfbreed
February 26, 2010 I haven't heard it either, but this definitely sparked a bit of a fuse in me when I read the release. Submitted by: Andy Scherer
February 27, 2010 Also known as the Tom Jager/Asa Lawrence Rule. Those guys ingested huge quantities of coffee (legally) before their 50 races. Submitted by: fluidg
Reaction Time responses do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions
of Swimming World Magazine or SwimmingWorldMagazine.com.
Reaction Time is provided as a service to our readers.
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