Glycerol is exploited for uses beyond mere performance. They are being exploited in weight making, hyper-hydration agent and even as a plasma expander. For such reasons it was recently even banned by various organisations including WADA ! I have explained in detail about the methodology of glycerol supplementation and its relation to weight making and other utilities. Let me dive into the concept!
Glycerol is a three-carbon alcohol which provides the backbone to triglyceride molecules. It is released during lipolysis and is slowly metabolised in the liver and kidneys. But it can also be produced synthetically and commercialised. In its natural state it is a colourless, odourless, sweet and non-toxic viscous liquid. Clinically, it is used for treating meningitis, constipation, certain skin conditions and also ear infections. In sports it is known for its hydration properties and performance artefacts. However, athletes are interested in glycerol not for its energy potential but rather for its role as a hyper-hydration agent. This is being highly exploited in the scenario of sports performance. It has been added to the WADA "List of Prohibited Substances and Methods as a Plasma Expander" and is currently banned.
Glycerol Supplementation:
The ideology of glycerol supplementation is to improvise hydration levels in the athletes by a concept called "Hyper-hydration".
This involves consumption of a small amount of glycerol (1 to 1.2 grams/Kg body mass) along with a large fluid bolus (25 to 35 ml/Kg body mass) in the hours prior to exercise.
Glycerol supplementation promotes rapid rehydration and refuelling and comes in functional during instances where there is very short time between weighing in and commencing of the competitions. This is quite a common occurrence in certain weight-division sports. (Eg. boxing)
When consumed orally, it is rapidly absorbed and distributed among body fluid compartments before being slowly metabolised by the liver and kidneys.
Within the body, it is evenly distributed throughout fluid compartments and exerts an osmotic pressure.
When consumed with a substantial fluid intake, this osmotic pressure will enhance the retention of fluids and thus this leads to expansion of various body fluid spaces.
Numerically, This allows a fluid expansion or retention value of approximately 600ml above fluid bolus alone.
Can be highly useful in high-intensity training or at hot and humid conditions.
However, it is advised that the Sports Science team should take cautious notes of the sports that have banned their usage. Most of them have a limit or range on the intake of glycerol. It is a wiseman's play to exploit these numbers and benefit the team or athlete. One best thing about glycerols supplementation is that there are no fatal side-effects as those associated with protein supplements. Yes, there are side effects but they are not fatal and can be remedied within minutes. Side-effects include nausea, head aches and gastro-intestinal discomforts. It is associated with increase in body mass. But they are only temporary as they will be excreted over time as the effect of the supplements fades. As mentioned earlier, glycerol supplementation are often used in weight making scenarios. This is another concept that has to be focused on to have a better insight because the strategies used during certain scenarios to reduce weight are very crude and have no regards for health hazards. Though glycerol supplementation is not toxic, practice associated with it are.
Making weight:
Making weight is a process followed by athletes in order to manipulate their body weight. This is done so that they can participate in their advantageous weight category and exploit it to the maximum. Though this is a clever strategy, there should be some health concerns while administering these strategies on the athlete. This should be done in a nutritionally healthier way such as healthy eating patterns. To initiate this concern, there needs to be certain considerations. Here is a list of some research works. Please fell free to critique them and add in your inputs as well.
Firstly, there are no specific set of nutritional guidelines to address weight making for specific sports. Thus it it crucial for the sports science team to have a knowledge on the physiological requirements, specific to the event and also the rules governing weigh in procedures for the sport in concern. The current dietary habits and athlete's strategies of weight making should be assed. Many elite athletes have established strategies to reduce body weight prior to competition. These are often experience based or practices of other athletes in the sport. But analysing the scientific effects of these strategies are equally important too. It is advisable to have a cushion for their weights to fluctuate between off season and competitions. It is important to understand, analyse and develop the skills to exploit the rules that govern weigh in procedures of the sport. These rules can differ between sports and even differ within the same sports between levels of competition. This is when coaches insist on using glycerol supplementation. They use intensive dehydration techniques to reduce the weight of the athlete before weighing in and then use glycerol supplementation to quickly rehydrate and replenish.
Restrictive diet practices for adolescent athletes will interfere and affect their growth and development. Committees must encourage open weight categories for young athletes rather than weight divisions. The goal of the sports science team during weight making is that the athlete must loose his fat levels and maximise their power to weight ratio. This would facilitate safer means to achieve weight goals. The weight goals of an athlete can also be due to his/her assumptions and beliefs. These are to be respected but also the team should make sure the weight category chosen will not result in serious diet restrictions and prohibiting growth.
It is not always loosing weight. Some athletes might have a disadvantage of being at the lower end of the weight category and might have to compete against heavier athletes. These athletes focus on gaining weight. Glycerol supplementation can work in here as well. They are known to increase the weight of the athlete. The sports science team must educate and guide the coaches and athletes into the proper path. Gaining muscle mass and strength can help them become competitive if they fail to gain weight. There are various methods used by the athlete and coaches. A few are listed below:
Most athletes usually endeavour to compete ins a weight category below their usual weight.
They follow unhealthy and detorious dehydration techniques such as severely restricting fluids, extreme levels of starvation, exercising in sweat promoting suits, using laxative and saunas or worst case combining all of them.
Some athletes consider consuming a low residue diet 24 hours prior to weighing in. This efficiently reduces about 300-400 grams of body weight.
Few others increased exercise load to facilitate sweat losses prior to competition. This can reduce glycogen stores as well and can be done when there is a recovery period of more than 24 hours between weighing in and commencement of competition.
" Weight making is a strenuous task and is often misinterpreted with starvations. This is a very delicate process and must be handled by qualified professionals. Worst spot of weight making by dehydrating the athlete's body is that, they put a lost of stress on the kidneys and heart and thus result in damaging them. !! "