2023-09-12 23:00:57
Positive for testosterone, French Juventus player Paul Pogba was provisionally suspended on Monday. Hormone of male sexuality and fertility, testosterone is a product banned by the World Anti-Doping Agencybut it is frequently used by athletes to improve their performance.
What is testosterone?
“Testosterone is the male hormone par excellencesecreted 90% by the testicles and 10% by the adrenal glands, although women also secrete it,” Antoine Faix, a urologist in Montpellier (France), explains to AFP. “It is the hormone of physical and mental vigor. , and of course sexual.” He is part of a group of hormones called androgens.
What is your role?
During puberty it allows appearance of certain specific masculine attributes such as the development of body hair and genital organs. It is necessary for the production of sperm and for the appearance of libido.
In short, it is the hormone of fertility and male sexuality. But promotes muscle development, hence its frequent use in doping of athletes. It is what is called an anabolic and is associated with protein synthesis.
Why is it prescribed?
Although this hormone is naturally secreted by the body, can also be administered exogenously. A dose of testosterone can be recommended for men in case of dysfunction of the sexual glands.
“It is prescribed generally when there is a lack of itmost often in men of a certain age or in young people who have had testicular cancer, who are diabetic,” says Dr. Faix. More rarely, testosterone can be used as a contraceptive.
What are athletes who take it looking for?
“Testosterone helps build muscle but it also allows you to accelerate muscle recovery“, Michel Audran, professor emeritus in biophysics at the University of Montpellier, and former director of the French anti-doping laboratory, told AFP. It is also a psychostimulant; it increases motivation and the desire to achieve sporting success.
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For this reason, it is “one of the products most used by athletes who dope,” says Audran. Testosterone can be taken in capsules, applied as a skin gel or simply injected directly into the muscle.
It is forbidden?
Testosterone is considered a doping product and prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (AMA), which places it in the category of “anabolic androgenic steroids.” In the case of Paul Pogba, it will be necessary to determine, after his positive anti-doping test for testosterone, whether it was an intentional intake. According to Michel Audran, “it is difficult to make the difference between the testosterone produced by the body and that provided by a medication.”
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