Food supplements

In preparation of the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 in Salt Lake City, employees now working for DUCARES have investigated food supplements of Dutch athletes for the presence of Prohibited List compounds, in close cooperation with the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). At the request of the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) and the Dutch Ministry of Public Health a double blind sampling scheme has been set up and conducted. Next, all products have been investigated for the presence of a broad range of Prohibited List compounds, such as steroids, ephedrine and derivatives, amphetamines, cafein, and other stimulants. The research results were presented together with co-workers form the RIVM in a combined press conference at April 8th, 2002 and reported. This investigation initiated a Dutch monitoring program for food supplements, supported by the sector (http://www.dopingautoriteit.nl/sporters/nzvt).

A motivation for the conduct of this investigation is given in the following press release (http://www2.sport.nl/boek.php3?hfdid=1326).

TNO/RIVM-annotation on food supplements
One of the investigations that initiated the formation of the so-called Dutch Security System Food Supplements Sport (NZVT) was that of TNO and RIVM preceding the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) gave the assignment after information about positive doping tests for Dutch soccer internationals Frank de Boer and Edgar Davids.

Dutch athletes, either qualified or nominated for the Winter Games in 2002, were requested to submit their food supplements for investigation. The goal of this investigation was to experimentally determine whether these supplements were free from Prohibited List compounds, in order to minimise the risk of a positive doping test.

As a result, 15 out of 69 products (22 %) investigated were found to contain Prohibited List compounds.