Pseudoephedrine Ingestion and Cycling Time-Trial Performance

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of 180 mg of pseudoephedrine (PSE) on cycling time-trial (TT) performance. Six well-trained male cyclists and triathletes (age 33 +/- 2 yr, mass 81 +/- 8 kg, height 182.0 +/- 6.7 cm, VO2max 56.8 +/- 6.8 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1); M +/- SD) underwent 2 performance trials in which they completed a 25-min variable-intensity (50-90% maximal aerobic power) warm-up, followed by a cycling TT in which they completed a fixed amount of work (7 kJ/kg body mass) in the shortest possible time. Sixty minutes before the start of exercise, they orally ingested 180 mg of PSE or a cornstarch placebo (PLA) in a randomized, crossover, double-blind manner. Venous blood was sampled immediately pre- and postexercise for the analysis of pH plus lactate, glucose, and norepinephrine (NE). PSE improved cycling TT performance by 5.1% (95% CI 0-10%) compared with PLA (28:58.9 +/- 4:26.5 and 30:31.7 +/- 4:36.7 min, respectively). There was a significant Treatment x Time interaction (p = .04) for NE, with NE increasing during the PSE trial only. Similarly, blood glucose also showed a trend (p = .06) for increased levels postexercise in the PSE trial. The ingestion of 180 mg of PSE 60 min before the onset of high-intensity exercise improved cycling TT performance in well-trained athletes. It is possible that changes in metabolism or an increase in central nervous system stimulation is responsible for the observed ergogenic effect of PSE.

Effect of pseudoephedrine in sport: a systematic review

“…24 25 These three studies used a supratherapeutic dose of at least 180 mg or 2.5 mg/kg of PSE, whereas the other studies used a therapeutic dose (60–120 mg or 1–2 mg/kg). The studies that used lower dosage of PSE showed no significant improvement for all measured parameters 18…”

“…For instance, though Pritchard-Peschek et al 25 and Hodges et al 24 showed significant improvements in timed trials using PSE doses ≥180 mg or 2.5 mg/kg, the studies could not be meta-analysed as their interventions were different (1500 run25 and 7 kJ/kg body mass work24 time to completion, respectively). Owing to such heterogeneity, using the qualitative method of synthesising the evidence was more appropriate.…”

Fatigue is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates the Exercise Behavior to Ensure the Protection of Whole Body Homeostasis

“…Factor specific to the event that alter performance include monetary reward (Cabanac, 1986), prior knowledge of the exercise end-point (Ansley et al, 2004a,b; Wittekind et al, 2011), and the presence of competitors (Wilmore, 1968) especially if they are of similar ability (Corbett et al, 2012). A number of chemical agents including the stimulants – amphetamine (Swart et al, 2009b), caffeine (Del et al, 2008; Foad et al, 2008; Hogervorst et al, 2008), pseudoephedrine (Gill et al, 2000; Hodges et al, 2006; Pritchard-Peschek et al, 2010), modafinil (Jacobs and Bell, 2004), and the dopamine/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor bupropion (Roelands et al, 2008; Roelands and Meeusen, 2010; Watson et al, 2010) – as well as the analgesic, acetaminophen (Mauger et al, 2010), or the analgesic naloxone (Surbey et al, 1984; Sgherza et al, 2002), or the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6; Robson-Ansley et al, 2004), or brain IL-1β (Carmichael et al, 2006) have all been shown to alter exercise performance as do placebos (Clark et al, 2000; Benedetti et al, 2007; Pollo et al, 2008; Trojian and Beedie, 2008). Psychological skills training (Barwood et al, 2008) or pre-exercise whole body cooling (Booth et al, 1997) can also improve subsequent exercise performance.…”

Pseudoephedrine and circadian rhythm interaction on neuromuscular performance

“…Although PSE use is remarkably widespread in competitive sport, the ergogenic effect of PSE is not as well documented as that of other legal (e.g., caffeine (Graham & Spriet, ; Pallarés et al., ) or banned stimulant substances (e.g., ephedrine and methamphetamine; Graham, ; Jacobs et al., ). Most of the studies with PSE have tested its ergogenic effect on endurance performance, reporting contradictory results with either positive (Hodges et al., ; Pritchard‐Peschek et al., ) or inconclusive findings (Gillies et al., ; Betteridge & Stannard, ; Berry & Wagner, ; Pritchard‐Peschek et al., ). The available studies are quite different in their experimental design, which may be the cause of the lack of agreement among them.…”