Meldonium: how does this drug work and what is needed?

A whole series of high-profile sports scandals forced the townsfolk to pay attention to mills, how this drug works, very few people know, but experts of international organizations agreed that the substance is capable of artificially increasing the results of athletes. This is what caused the inclusion of meldonia in the list of doping drugs, banned for use by athletes.

History of the creation of meldonia

By and large, meldoon is pure chemistry:

The substance was synthesized in the second half of the century.
The birthplace of the drug is the USSR, and specifically - the Republic of Latvia.
Initial research generally dealt with the utilization of rocket fuel.
After a while, it was found that the obtained substance had a positive effect on the growth of animals and plants.
Only in the mid-80s, meldonium was used in medicine, after the patent for a drug in the US.

The scientist, who led the process of synthesis of the medicine, is alive to this day. On the topic of the recent ban, he had already made several statements and expressed his bewilderment. According to the Latvian, meldoniy does not give any significant bonuses to athletes, especially when it comes to great sports and world-class achievements. Nevertheless, this opinion did not influence the decision of the commission.

Meldonium for athletes, how does it work?

Since the substance is recognized as doping, it is necessary at least to understand what effect it has on the body:

It is positioned as a cardioprotector.
Protects the heart muscle from excessive physical exertion and overexcitation.
The action is achieved due to the complex chemical structure of the preparation.
The substance is included in the basic metabolism of a person, correcting it.
The importance of fatty acids in metabolism decreases.
The amount of carbohydrates used is being increased, which are split to release energy.
For the splitting of 1 gram of fat and fatty acids, the body spends much more energy than to master a gram of carbohydrates.

If more energy is needed, then more oxygen is needed.

The more oxygen is spent on the course of biochemical reactions within the body, the more intense the external respiration. The more often and more deeply the person breathes, the faster his heart contracts. The higher the pulse and pressure, the faster the athlete gets tired. The earlier the fatigue occurs, the faster the coordination of movements and muscle activity will be disturbed.

Meldonium: dope, action of the drug

In addition to all of the above, meldonia strengthens the heart muscle itself, having a positive effect on athletes:

A person can withstand heavy loads, purely theoretically.
The moment of fatigue will come later than the one who does not take the pill.
All subsequent loads will be better perceived by the body.
With each subsequent training, the body's reserves will begin to increase somewhat faster.
The body retains a sufficient amount of fatty acids, to maintain the vital functions of muscle and nerve cells.
Under the same loads, but without the use of meldonia, cells would die from deficiency of fatty acids. As a result, training and speaking would give the opposite result and reduce the indicators.
By improving the conductivity of nerve tissue, you can get a bonus in the form of a few hundredths of a second. It seems a trifle, but the speed of reaction in some sports is most important.

Approximately such considerations guided the doping organization when it introduced the substance into the list of prohibited preparations. It's no secret that many athletes have been using this drug for years and even decades. Hence, it is purely subjective, they observed some positive effect of its action and the ban is not so unreasonable.

Application meldonium in sport

To date, the number of athletes who "caught" on the use of meldonia does not exceed a hundred people. But considering how rapidly history develops, by the end of 2016 their number can be measured by hundreds. Among those who are accused of doping, it is enough for our compatriots.

However, they are not the only ones who "fell out of favor", athletes from Kenya, Nigeria, Sweden, Ukraine are also caught in the use of meldonia as a stimulant for additional results.

Among the accused in the forefront are representatives of these sports:

Athletics.
Tennis.
Biathlon.
Skiing.
Figure skating.
Skating.

As it is easy to see, in the majority of sportsmen transferred long loads and trained their endurance. In such conditions, a cardioprotector providing energy conservation and reducing the use of oxygen could become a truly indispensable thing.

Not quite "fit" in the overall list of tennis, but in this sport is also important endurance and reaction speed, which is easier and faster to train using meledonia. But there always remains the moral side of the question, because any sport is a competition between ordinary people. Go out at a distance or stand in front of an opponent knowing that you have an advantage over him not at the expense of his abilities, but only thanks to "chemistry" - it's not so simple. To do this, one must have very flexible ideas about conscience and morality.

Doping as a means of political struggle?

In connection with the inflamed scandals, a number of theories arose that the inclusion of meldonia in the list of banned drugs is another US intrigue against Russia. Supporters and opponents argue for both pros and cons":

Pros

Most of the accused athletes are from Russia.
This event has become a significant blow for many domestic sports.
The United States has an impact on international organizations setting norms.
None of the American athlete so far in such a "doping" was not caught.

Cons

It is known from open sources that the drug was tested for several years.
All sports organizations were notified of the ban as early as the fall.
Nobody forbade athletes to stop using mill mills in advance.
Objective studies have shown that the drug provides an advantage.

It is convenient to assume that the problem is in "enemies around", but sometimes things can be explained by elementary stupidity. Hundreds of athletes, and maybe even thousands, used meldonia throughout the country. But they were able to abandon doping in advance. And some did not have time to react and paid for it.

Influence of meldonium on the body

Meldonium has an effect:

On the metabolism inside the body.
Reduces the level of consumption of fatty acids, so necessary for cells.
Increases the digestibility of carbohydrates.
Promotes more economical energy release.
Reduces the amount of oxygen consumed, counteracting hypoxia.
It protects the heart from the stresses, acting on the cell membranes.
Sooner or later the substance had to get on the list of drugs banned for athletes, given its real effect. After all, someone can achieve results by their own efforts, and someone needs "magic tablets" for this.

Every year, great sport becomes more and more difficult and demanding for athletes. Back in 2015, nobody worried about mills, how the drug works, only narrow specialists knew.