Olympics Doping Committee investigate links with Green Tea
The effect of Caffeine is well known and Tea has been used for centuries as a pick me up. But Olympic doping officials are considering whether to tweak their tests after a recent British study showed green tea might hide high levels of testosterone from the standard test used to spot it.
A study has been done at Kingston University in the UK, where researchers added green and white tea extracts to testosterone. They tested whether the molecule or enzyme that attaches itself to Testosterone in the body could still identify it? Green Tea seemed to reduce the testosterone concentration in urine , so this elevated level could be used as a masking agent for other performance enhancing drugs.
Professor Declan Naughton backed up the potential effects of green tea and athletes performance.
The actual test was done in a laboratory dish and wasn't a human trial so scientists aren't certain that the effects will be the same in people. But experts insist the results are intriguing enough convince the Olympic testing authorities to take a look.