The Food Your Eating May Be more Dangerous Than Your Sport
While chowing down on a delicious post-practice snack, would you like to know that the food fueling you on the field has been played with by scientists and may be causing you more harm than good? This may be the case if that snack was genetically modified. Scientists have recently been altering and exploring the genome of nearly every species, including those we consume. From the mouse to the corn plant, inquisitive minds have looked at the DNA, and altered it, which is a feat many thought could never be accomplished, for the potential harmful consequences that could be had. While many are praising these advances in science, many are failing to stop and recognize that these manipulations of genetics are entering our food source. However, one overseeing power, the government, is plagued with a debate: To regulate or not to regulate strictly? In layman terms, do you, the American athlete, really want to eat a piece of food that has had its genetics altered in a lab, if the government is in such a heated conversation regarding its ability to be made available to the public? In two contrasting articles, Ingo Potrykus strongly supports the use of genetically modified foods due to their prospective benefits, while Jeffrey M. Smith opposes the consumption of genetically modified foods for they have been proven to have caustic side effects.
Ingo Potrykus feels that this entry of genetic manipulation into the world of food is a revolutionary accomplishment and could be used to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in our world. He feels that the present regulation surrounding the genetically modified food industry should be erased, for the benefits these foods could provide are uncountable. He states that one breed of Golden rice, which has qualities that are nonexistent in naturally occurring varieties, could produce enough vitamin A for consumers, to lessen the 6,000 daily deaths caused by the deficiency of this vitamin. This variety of rice however, has been held up in red tape for ten years when it could have saved thousands of lives. Potrykus also states, that the regulation is preventing the industry of genetic modification from obtaining a more public foothold in jobs, for the extreme regulation only makes it financially possible for a handful of companies to have a foothold in the industry. The regulation is once again hampering the technology from becoming universal. Moreover, Potrykus states that potentially harmful, naturally occurring crops are entering the public’s food supply with little to no testing, while genetically modified foods, which may pose extremely harmful risks, are being exposed to rigorous, supposedly unnecessary testing.
An alternate viewpoint is presented by Jeffrey M. Smith, who states that extreme regulation should be placed on the industry of genetically modified foods, for they pose risks to the general health of the population, which includes the athlete. Smith presents that the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a halt of these foods being used in prescribed diets, common to an athlete, for they pose great health risks. It is seen in this article, that genetically modified foods have been linked to a variety of health problems including accelerated aging, infertility, and harmful changes within major organs. Genetically modified foods have also been shown to cause great problems with pregnancy, for it has been proven that these foods cause vast reproductive problems in species ranging from the mouse to buffalo, in countries from India to the USA. Smith also shows his readers that the deadly toxin that these genetically modified food sources are infused with could cause great problems to our health, for the toxin remains in our body and continues to function as it did within the plant. A final negative associated with genetically modified foods, is that they can cause random immune responses, such as new allergies, which could pose to be rather dangerous to an athlete seeking emergency medical attention or one who is seeking nutrition in a nut or fruit, and these foods have moreover, been linked to mass animal deaths.
Many need to rally with Smith. Do we really need to add to the health problems that Potrykus feels that these genetically modified foods will solve? No! Athletes have enough to worry over, from plays to form, that they do not need to question the actual benefits of the food they are consuming, in the small windows that they have to eat. We as a population need to remove the use of genetically modified foods from our society and find natural, healthy, sustainable sources to feed our bodies with. We also need to investigate other possible outlets to solve the problems presented by Potrykus. Athletes need to open their eyes to this incoming danger and put a lid on the potentially deadly issue. Genetically modified foods need to be banned!
· Potrykus, Ingo. "Access : Regulation Must Be Revolutionized : Nature." Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. Nature, 28 July 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7306/full/466561a.html
· Smith, Jeffrey M. "Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods." Mercola.com Take Control of Your Health. Dr. Mercola, 25 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/25/doctors-warn-avoid-genetically-modified-food.aspx
My Hormones Are Better Than Yours
Can it be true that one could predict your athletic future from the womb? While many will say no to this question, some scientists are trying to prove that this feat can indeed by conquered thanks to the level of the effects of the hormone androgen and testosterone. In previous studies, it was shown that the ratio of the length of your index finger (2D) to your ring finger (4D), as well as you absolute finger length, can indicate certain aspects of your physiological design that will make or break you in certain sports. In this study presented in the article, “Prenatal programming of sporting success: Associations of digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker for prenatal androgen action, with world rankings in female fencers” conducted by Rau´ l Bescos et al., set out to prove that a lower ratio between the 2D and 4D, a shorter, masculine ratio, within international women epee fencers indicated higher levels of success within the sport both in the past and the present.
The designers of this experiment knew from a previous experiment, conducted on 54 fencers, that there was indeed a link between a lower ratio and better success within the sport. They researchers however, did not place much trust within this experiment for it was a small sample size, included men and women, represented fencers from all three weapons, and included fencers who had fenced at the national level only within Austria. In their experiment, the researchers blocked for several of these biases by testing only women epee fencers, expanding their sample size to 87, and expanding the skill level to including internationally ranked fencers, which eliminated the feared skill ceiling from the previous experiment. Bescos et al. wished to see if the trends that held true for distance runners and swimmers held true for fencers, for similar cardiovascular strengths were needed within all three sports, and the androgen and testosterone markers that were being tested by the finger ratio and absolute length were indicators for the hormone markers. Within the experiment that tested the women, there were additional characteristics applied to see if height, BMI, age, years of experience, and various other potential confounding variables, affected the success level that the fencer had.
The results that the experiment yielded supported the claims that were made by the researchers. There were correlations between each of what were suspected to be the confounding variables however, upon further scrutiny these supposedly confounding variables were seen to have no effect on the results. Validity tests were also performed to see if ethnicity and nationality affected the results, and these checks yielded that the data the researchers had obtained was sound. The data showed a correlation between abnormally long fingers and success and abnormally short fingers and success. However, once certain blocks were put in to rid the experiment of certain biases, the correlation between long fingers and success was deemed to be insignificant and the true results of the experiment were revealed. The data lead Bescos et al. to see that success within the international competition circuit had a strong link to the shorter, more masculine fingers, which were a byproduct of higher androgen and testosterone levels in the wombs of female babies.
This experiment was also performed on left handed individuals, which of whom twenty one percent of this experiment were composed of. The results for the left handed individuals yielded a stronger correlation between a shorter, more masculine finger ratio and fencing success. The correlation between fencing success within the epee circuit, and finger length being shorter and more masculine, was higher within left handed individuals and was more statistically significant than the data obtained for right handed individuals.
The experimenters concluded that if a female baby was exposed to higher levels of androgen and testosterone within the womb, then they would be prone to having shorter more masculine fingers, which were proven by the experiment to be associated with a higher level of success within the epee fencing circuit. This experiment was also placed under a high level of scrutiny to ensure valid results, compliments of the myriad of controls and validation check. While the researchers do admit that this hormone is a better predictor for the running and swimming sports they do recognize that this experiment shows validity that the hormone androgen can be used as an indicator as to whether or not a female baby could be a successful international or national epee fencer. This assumption is made for the cardiovascular strength and agility capabilities are similar within all the athletic disciplines. The hypothesis claimed by the experimenters prior to the conduction of this experiment proved to be true based on the sound findings that they produced.
Therefore sports junkies, if you want your female baby to be a successful epee fencer, make sure you have high levels of androgen and testosterone in you womb!
· Bescos, Raul, Marc Esteve, Jordi Porta, Merce Mateu, Alfredo Irurtia, and Martin Voracek. "Prenatal Programming of Sporting Success: Associations of Digit Ratio (2D:4D), a Putative Marker for Prenatal Androgen Action, with World Rankings in Female Fencers." Journal of Sports Sciences 27.6 (2009): 625-32. EBSCOhost. Web. 21 Sept. 2010. http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=114&sid=9a181e1b-8ddd-49cb-a33b-0d525fc74695%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=37579810#db=aph&AN=37579810#db=aph&AN=37579810.
The Flu Vaccine: The Needle Prick Is the Easy Part
Would you knowingly inject poison into your body? While you may ponder this dilemma and think what a stupid question, you have participated in this insane activity. The poison, the annual flu vaccine, misleads many into obtaining it ritually. The vaccine is advertised to protect individuals, yet many caustic, adverse effects accompany it. Scientists have also expressed the desire to expand the flu vaccine into a pandemic vaccine, thereby injecting multiple poisons into the body. Obtaining this yearly poison causes the public to protect themselves from an unlikely threat, inject themselves with an ineffective anecdote, give the virus the power to morph with greater ease, allow the virus to become resistant to a primary defense, Tamiflu, and give the drug companies the power to mass produce an ineffective serum.
The main target of a vaccine is to rid the body of the primary threat that is attacking it. If this is the purpose of a vaccine, then why are we injecting ourselves with a fake vaccine, more commonly known as the flu vaccine? It has been proven in various studies that the number one threat to the human body in the seasons thought to be plagued by the flu, is a virus or illness other than the flu. In a study conducted by Fluwatch in the 2004-2005 flu season, it was shown that 14.9 percent of the 70,000 cases that were tested and investigated were those of the flu. All 70,000 cases we blamed on the flu. Thus, by using this vaccine we are trying to protect ourselves from a disease that only presents us with a small threat. Therefore why are we injecting ourselves with this vaccine?
In addition to the flu being an absent threat, the claim that this drug would be effective is also false. It is believed that by injecting ourselves with this supposed “miracle” serum our bodies will build antibodies that will protect us from infection. This is false! Solely because one has antibodies against a disease does not mean that they will be immune to the illness or not become infected by it. The efficacy of this vaccine has thus been placed around the 25 percent mark. The antibodies the vaccines are creating are not helping the immune system, and are therefore useless. Studies have also shown that the flu vaccine only provides a 27 percent chance of keeping the elderly out of the hospital and it has been shown to have little to no effect on children under the age of two. Therefore, if this drug cannot protect our population’s most susceptible to illness, and produce effective antibodies, then why are you, the athlete, one of the healthiest of our population, going to inject yourself with this unnecessary chemical?
Not only is this chemical falsely marketed and futile in its goal, but it has the ability to allow the real influenza virus to morph into countless different forms. It is highly possible that the nurse giving you the vaccine did not tell you that by allowing them to put this vaccine into your body, you are allowing the virus you are trying to ward off access to the genetic sequences of your body. This action thus allows the flu virus to change and infect humans more readily, for it has access to vital genetic sequences. By taking the vaccine you are doing just this. The vaccine contains in itself genetic codes which contain characteristics of the virus one is trying to ward off and characteristics for the prevention of the virus. Thus, by allowing the virus access to these codes, which we protect about as hard as garbage, we are providing the virus with the ability to easily morph, and by morphing we are giving the virus the ability to infect countless more people. Furthermore, as a result of the virus morphing, the vaccine that is produced in mass quantities to fight the virus will become ineffective against the massive numbers of new strains. Thus, we could prevent new diseases, heartache, and suffering by simply not taking the vaccine.
In addition to creating new forms of the disease, the flu vaccine is also allowing the disease to become resistant to our few forms of defense that we have against it once an individual has become infected. Tamiflu, our main defense, which I can testify to being a very effective and helpful one, is beginning to become lackluster in its abilities to reduce symptoms and ward of the illness in a quicker manner, which I can also attest to. I, a varsity collegiate athlete, was afflicted with the flu in the winter of 2009, and following this I became extremely paranoid and obtained my flu shot. For my initial bout with the flu, I was prescribed Tamiflu which worked in a quick, efficient manner and I was able to return to my sport, with my full capacity in tow, within one week. Then in the following winter of 2010, for which I had obtained the flu shot for, I was once again stricken with the flu. This time, like the previous, I was prescribed Tamiflu in the same dosage I was prescribed in my previous run in with this virus. This encounter though removed me from my sport for two whole weeks, and upon return I was still not back to my full energy level or potential. It became obvious to me that the Tamiflu was losing its abilities to increase the level of my health in a given time frame.
As my anecdote presents, our physicians’ main lines of defense are being weakened by this flu vaccine. In this flu season alone, many associations’ and administrations’ tests have shown that there has been a one percent spike, past the already high level, in the resistance levels of the flu virus to Tamiflu. This increase, while may appear small, is actually very significant. In a laboratory experiment, 65 samples of a specific flu strain were tested for their resistance levels to the antibiotic Tamiflu, of which 64 of these samples showed resistant characteristics to Tamiflu. If the resistance rate continues to increase, human population will lose its abilities to fight off a virus, due to our attempts to prevent it.
Furthermore, this flu vaccine is very ineffective after it has been mass produced and allowed to sit for long durations of time. When the technology and serum is being developed for one year’s vaccine, it is often a guess among the scientists as to what strain will be plaguing the population in the following year. This is because the scientists must create the formula with enough time prior to the beginning of “flu season” to allow for the vaccine to be produced in the quantities needed. Therefore, the guess of the scientists could be wrong and one could be injecting themselves with futile antibodies and allowing a virus access to information that is very caustic in the “hands” of the flu. Thus, the mass production of this vaccine is also very inefficient.
With all of these facts in mind, a plan to inject individuals with a cocktail of strains to prevent a possible pandemic is absurd. This “potion” could contain the correct mixture of strains or could contain a random mixture of “hodgepodge”! This attempt to prevent a pandemic could also cause one to be infected and cause mass harm to many citizens of our world, which has been seen before in the cases of several famous influenza outbreaks and plagues. These cocktails also allow the access of the actual virus to the genetic codes of the viruses that the injection is attempting to ward off, which also could assist in the creation of another mutant strain. All in all, the attempt to vaccinate against one virus is unsuccessful and by trying to prevent an entire pandemic, the citizens would be participating in a project destined to be an epic failure.
Flu vaccines are misrepresented serums of possible destruction for they are trying to protect against an unlikely destroyer of health, allow access of the virus to vital genetic codes allowing the virus to easily morph, and are providing the virus the ability to become easily resistant to treatments. Since we, the athlete, have to proceed through very harsh evaluation processes, solely to take vitamin supplements, for the industry is unregulated, why would we want to inject ourselves with a legal substance that could bring us great harm when we cannot take a legal beneficial substance? If you want to be able to play your sport throughout “flu season”, eat a balanced diet, take Vitamin C, and eat your apple a day!
· Corwin, Tom. "Flu Resistance Causes Concern." The Augusta Chronicle. The Augusta Chronicle, 3 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/01/03/met_506284.shtml>.
· Doyle, Patricia. "Do Not Take A Swine Flu Vaccine!" Rense.com. TheHostPros, 25 Apr. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www.rense.com/general85/vacc.htm>.
· Jefferson, Tom. "Effectiveness of Flu Shots Wildly Overestimated." Your Child. Your Future. Your Choice. VRAN, Oct. 2005. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. http://vran.org/about-vaccines/specific-vaccines/influenza-vaccine-flu-shot/effectiveness-of-flu-shots-wildly-overestimated/.
· Stöhr, Klaus. "Vaccinate Before the Next Pandemic?" Nature 465.7295 (2010): 161. Nature. Nature, 12 May 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7295/full/465161a.html.
Get In Your Head, And Help Your Game!
Why do you an athlete, who will do most anything to succeed, ignore one of the most important parts of your training? Why are you not mentally prepared? While it is highly stressed within the athletic community to be mentally prepared when you step onto the field or into the game, many athletes do not seek out the services to make them mentally prepared. Many feel that this can be attributed to the lack of visible effects had by seeking out these services, like those had by finding a nutritionist or seeing a trainer. Since the 1960’s and the end of the cold war countless hours and funds have been devoted into revolutionizing those fields that are associated with athletics and athletes, and this includes the field of sport psychology. Therefore, the resources are there and as said by Ferraro and Rush if the support and knowledge for the need of this support is present, then why do the athletes not seek this treatment more frequently.
The first factor that is attributed to the aversion to sport psychology is the clinical view of this issue. Many athletes feel that if they seek out this form of assistance that they will be seen as having a mental illness and feel that they will be looked down upon by their coaches. This feeling comes from the wide held belief of coaches that this service is for what they call “problem” athletes. Overall, both the athletes and coaches feel that if they seek out this service that they will not be helping their performance but that they will now be seen by their fans and by society as damaged goods in a way.
The second factor that is believed to be associated with this negative opinion of sport psychology is that many coaches and athletes simply do not know the benefits that can come from an appointment with a sports psychologist. Many feel that the coaches and athletes should be addressed about what will actually occur in one of these sessions so that the attitude of the individuals can be shaped so that they do not enter with a negative attitude. Many feel that if athletically inclined individuals can be educated about SP professionals and their services, negative impressions can be prevented and the true benefits of the services can be seen.
The authors of this article coined several important terms that they feel are essential in order to understand the paradigm of the athlete and coach against SP. Absolute performance is the first terminology coined by the authors. They define this as the performance made by the athlete when maximizing their potential to one hundred percent. They feel that this measure of performance can be enhanced by training and exercise routines, but is mainly influenced by the genetics of the athlete. They feel that if one athlete is of superior genetics for their sport that no matter how hard the athlete of inferior genetics trains they will always be of a lesser level in the respective sport. This is a theoretical, unattainable level. The second term coined by the authors was that of relative performance. This term describes how the athlete performs on a day to day basis and is often described as a fraction of the athlete’s absolute performance. This performance is affected by both external and internal performance inhibitors. An example of an external inhibitor would be a headwind in a foot race and the internal inhibitor is of relation to sport psychology. It shows that many internal inhibitors such as emotion can act in the same manner as the head wind.
It has long been known that the head and body are connected, and thus the thoughts and emotions had by an athlete can affect how they perform in a game or competition. One of the main internal inhibitors highlighted by this article is pre-competition anxiety. This is where the athlete becomes stressed over what they have to do and their ability to complete these tasks. This can affect the athlete by impairing fine motor function, disrupting blood flow patterns, impairing decision making abilities, and causing tension in the muscles. All of these effects can decrease the fluidity and automatic nature of certain motions that are essential to the ability of their athlete in their respective sports.
The main difference between the internal and external inhibitors is that an athlete can control those inhibitors that are internal. Thus by having the ability to control these inhibitors, an athlete with a lower absolute performance level can have the ability to outperform an athlete of a higher absolute performance level who does not have the ability to control their internal inhibitors.
The article also presents strategies for targeting and relieving both the cognitive and somatic aspects of anxiety. The cognitive aspects of stress include the doubt that players have over certain skills and the negative thoughts that they can have that clog their ability to see and hear the advice of the coaches. The strategies proposed to reduce the cognitive aspects of anxiety are mending how an athlete assesses a situation prior to a competition and giving the athlete the ability to change mindsets within a competition. Rational emotive therapy is the first strategy proposed by the article. This is a strategy in which a trained professional works with an athlete to rid them of irrational thoughts and the fear of failure to get them to see that losing is not the end of the world. Other methods are also discussed such as self-talk, thought stopping, centering, and reframing which all can be applied within the game. These strategies show the athlete how to change negative thoughts to those of a positive notion.
The somatic aspect of anxiety is also addressed. With this, the article shows how trained professionals can teach an athlete different relaxation techniques to relax themselves into a more calm state through processes such as progressive relaxation and biofeedback. These processes all show the athlete when they attain a sense of heightened arousal and how to reduce this state. Certain methods such as meditation, centering, three part breathing, and imagery are addressed as those that can be applied within the competition.
By applying techniques to reduce both somatic and cognitive anxiety, SP allows an athlete to reach a higher level in attaining their absolute performance level. While this is not highly prevalent among athletes of a similar absolute performance potential, such as those who compete in the Olympics, this medical field is very relevant and influential to all athletes. Therefore ignore the coaching and social stigmas, seek out a sports psychologist and get mentally prepared.
· Gee, Chris J. "How Does Sport Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes' and Coaches' Understanding." Behavior Modification 34.5 (2010): 386-402. Sage Journals Online. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. <http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html>.
