Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5108

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Briley J.
Performance-Enhancing Placebos
Washington Post 2006 Jun 6
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060500857.html?referrer=emailarticle

Keywords:
placebo

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

This article demonstrates the incredible potency of the placebo effect, the power of self-deception, and why we must therefore be wary in our interpretation of the results of drug trials which do not have a convincing double-blind placebo arm.

Full text:

Performance-Enhancing Placebos

Tuesday, June 6, 2006; Page HE03

Sometimes you need extra kick — for a workout, a race, to fight embezzlement charges — and you might be tempted to try a performance-enhancing product. A new study suggests that you save your money; if anything, order a shot of self-deception instead.

The study, led by Jennifer Otto, a clinical exercise physiology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, showed that runners clocked faster 5-K times after drinking what they thought was super-oxygenated water, but in fact was tap water.

Thirty-two healthy volunteers, aged 18 to 55, each ran three non-paced 5-Ks: the first to get familiar with the indoor track and the other two to compare times after drinking 16 ounces of regular bottled water vs. 16 ounces of supposedly super-oxygenated water. The runs were completed at least three days apart; the study was commissioned by the American Council on Exercise (ACE).

Before running, each participant watched a video promoting super-oxygenated water, including statements that the products pack up to 10 times more oxygen than tap water and thus improve performance. Participants were competitive or recreational runners who ran at least 7.3 miles weekly.

Some additional background: In 2001, an ACE-sponsored study found that drinking super-oxygenated waters — brands like Aqua Rush, Athletic Super Water and AquOforce — before exercise had no measurable effect on heart rate, blood pressure or blood lactate values, which fluctuate based on oxygen demands of muscles.

The new study, which ACE published last month, was designed to determine whether a person’s belief that he had used one of the new products might have a placebo effect. Sure enough, 27 of the 32 people ran faster — an average of 83 seconds quicker — after downing the phony pint than after drinking the regular bottled water.

Interestingly, those who ran the familiarization 5-K in under 20 minutes improved on their bottled-water time by about 28 seconds during the placebo run vs. 142 seconds for those who took longer than 20 minutes. This suggests less-experienced (or at least less-skilled) runners are easier to fool into performing better. Runners with more miles behind them may be more in tune with their bodies and able to distinguish between a real and an imagined benefit.

Otto says the message might apply to other products purported to improve physical performance: “All the aids that are out there — the shoe implants, special water, etc. — maybe it’s because you’re expecting them to work that they seem to have an effect.” And don’t even get us started on dietary supplements.

Also noteworthy: Even though people scampered faster during the tap-water run, their heart rates, perceived exertion and blood lactate levels did not differ meaningfully from their scores during the bottled-water trial. So the body can make real biological adjustments — in this case, increasing exercise tolerance — based on signals from the brain, even those based on a lie.

Our lessons? Your brain is more capable of boosting your performance than a potion, pill or device. If you want to perform better, positive thinking can help. But healthy eating, proper training and sufficient rest are more important than anything you might find online or on the shelf.

Oh, and one more thing: Next time you go out with fitness researchers, be careful what you drink.

Today we chat — 11:30 a.m. at http://www.washingtonpost.com .

— John Briley