‘AAF risk’: Herbal supplements expose Indian Asian Games athletes to scans

Herbal supplements (representative image) Bengaluru: As Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) officials conduct spot checks on India’s elite athletes preparing for the Asian Games, experts fear that the use of herbal supplements by top athletes could lead to adverse analytical findings (AAF) when samples are tested for performance-enhancing substances at WADA-accredited laboratories abroad.According to experts, the use of herbal supplements is quite common among athletes training in national camps.“Supplements commonly used by our athletes include kida jadi buti, bhasmas, ashwagandha and shilajit. Kida jadi (Cordyceps sinensis) is the most expensive of the lot, selling for Rs 16-20 lakh per kg. It is consumed after mixing it with honey,” they told TOI.In India, kida jadi is listed on e-commerce platforms at a price of around Rs 1.66 lakh per 100 g.“There are many athletes who use their savings to buy kida jadi and consume it regularly. Athletes who use herbal supplements are at risk of AAF because many of these products are not tested for their ingredients. They may have to pay around 100,000 rupees for a month’s course.“Many of our sprinters, throwers and middle-distance runners take these supplements,” they said, adding that most athletes do not report their use of herbal supplements when they list the supplements they consume.Kida jadi is a type of mushroom native to the Himalayas. Indian sportsmen have been using it for many years and none has yielded a positive result yet. However, there have recently been concerns that some products may contain substances on the WADA Prohibited List, although nothing has yet been confirmed.“These metabolites may not have produced a positive result in the NADA tests, but in the advanced tests conducted by AIU, the result may be different, putting our athletes at risk of AAF,” the experts said.Mihira Khopkar, who served as the nutritionist for the Indian contingent at the Paris Olympics, confirmed the risks associated with using locally sourced herbal supplements.“In elite sports, it is almost undisputed that high-performance athletes choose supplements that are not only evidence-based but also third-party tested,” she told TOI.

An unprecedented investigation

Athletics coaches, past and present, who have followed India’s progress over the past few decades, have recalled that Indian athletes have never been tested so intensely before major games.“What AIU has done on behalf of WADA is targeted testing of top Indian athletes who will compete in the Asian Games. In Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar and Patiala, officials have tested most of the athletes in the team. This is the first time they have done such extensive random testing of Indian athletes before a major meet,” sources told TOI.“Several years ago, WADA tried to test Indian athletes training in Potchefstroom, South Africa, but had limited success as many were unavailable. Athletes cannot be penalized for missing random tests, unlike those in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) who are bound by the residency clause,” they added.After testing athletes based at the Kalinga Stadium complex in Bhubaneswar, officials also conducted checks on those training in Bengaluru at Anju Bobby Sports Foundation and SAI South Centre.India topped the AIU list of doping offenders this July with 162 names ahead of Kenya (148) and Russia (60). The AIU also reclassified the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) from Category B to Category A.“Unfortunately, the quality of the domestic anti-doping program is simply not commensurate with the doping risk,” AIU President David Howman said.