Lance’ Armstrong’s recent confession of using drugs and blood transfusions to win his 7 tour de France titles, has encouraged me to put research into Blood Doping.
Blood doping is a way of enhancing the performance of athletes. Several months before the event the athlete would be competing in, around 1dm of blood is taken from athlete and frozen. As the athlete continues to train, the blood removed from the body would be replaced as the body makes more. A few hours before the event, the red blood cells from the athlete’s blood would be transferred back into the blood stream of the athlete.
Blood doping enhances the performance because after the transfusion of red blood cells, the body would contain a higher concentration than it usually would. Therefore the quantity of haemoglobin would increase, and so more oxygen would be able to travel around the body. With more oxygen in the body, cells could carry out more aerobic respiration.
More recently since 1998, like lance Armstrong- the same effect of blood doping can be achieved by using the hormone erythropoietin (EPO). It is a natural hormone in the body, which is secreted by the kidneys and increases the rate of production of red blood cells.
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