The 2020 WADA Prohibited List
Why should you be concerned about medications and supplement use if you are an athlete? Well, certain drugs, substances and methods of administration are banned in sport. If you are found to be using any of these banned drugs, substances or methods, you can be banned from sport for up to 4 years.
Therefore, it is always important to clear your use of medications and/or substances and/or supplements and/or methods of administration with your sports physician and sports dietitian.
This does not mean that if you currently have a prescribed medication that you stop taking it. Prescribed medications should not be stopped without consulting your sports physician or medical practitioner. If you require medication, you will need to get a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) completed by your sports physician or medical practitioner in order to protect yourself in sport.
How do you know what is banned in sport?
The World Anti-Doping Agency List of Prohibited Substances and Methods designates what substances and methods are prohibited both in- and out-of-competition, and which substances are banned in particular sports.
How do they decide if something should be banned or not?
For a substance or method to be added to the List, it must be determined that it meets at least two of the following three criteria:
- It has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance
- It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athletes
- It violates the spirit of sport
On the same website, you can also find the 2020 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes and the 2020 Monitoring Program.
The 2020 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes describes the main changes to the WADA List for 2020 (so you or people working in sport don’t have to scrutinise the new list with a fine tooth comb to detect the changes from 2019!)
The 2020 Monitoring Program outlines the substances that will be monitored (i.e. tested for) but that may not be banned in and/or out of competition in 2029. For example, while caffeine is not a banned substance, anti-doping programs still screen for it to see to what extent it is being used in sport.
The tricky thing about supplements is that not all ingredients will be listed accurately (due to poor regulation of the supplement industry). Therefore, a supplement you use might contain a banned substance, and yet not list this substance on the ingredient label.
The best way to protect yourself from accidental doping is to discuss any supplement use with an Accredited Sports Dietitian. There are third-party batch testing programs which reduce (but don’t eliminate) the risk of supplement use in sport. Accredited Sports Dietitians are your first point of call for accurate and reliable information regarding third-party testing and safe supplement use.
To see my video on safe supplement use, click here.
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