The Effects of Blood Doping
Blood doping refers to the infusion of red blood cells in people. By increasing red blood cell count, a person is able to increase the rate at which they use oxygen. This provides a very useful aerobic capacity boost if one was a professional athlete, so much so that it is in fact an illegal practice in most sports. The greater appeal of blood doping, as opposed to other forms of performance enhancement, is that blood doping can be of benefit to any sport: you always need oxygen to perform an action, but a cross country runner might have little interest in anabolic steroids. Because of the wide appeal, it is a matter worth the most immediate attention in the world of performance enhancing drugs and techniques. Other than just being an unfair advantage in sports, there are serious medical side effects resulting from blood transfusions. Increasing red blood cell ratios creates unnaturally high blood viscosity, which is an unnatural medium for the heart to pump, and greatly increases risk of blood clotting problems,. Improper storage and the use of another person's blood cells create a much larger list of side effects, including infections, as well as blood and liver diseases. The purpose of my literature review will be to inform the specific processes involved in blood doping, the aerobic advantage when performed correctly, and lastly the detrimental side effects that may arise.