Abstract
Nicotine is a potent psycho-stimulant widely reported to increase alertness, improve coordination and enhance cognitive performance. Furthermore, we previously reported a ∼17% improvement in physical endurance with transdermal nicotine administration. These findings, coupled with the fact that it is neither a banned substance nor restricted (i.e. available over-the-counter), raises an ethical dilemma over athletes gaining an unfair advantage by using nicotine and with little knowledge of the safety of its use during competitive exercise/sport. PURPOSE: To determine whether nicotine administration is ergogenic during a self-paced 1h cycling time-trial (TT). METHODS: Ten well-trained male cyclists (34±9 yrs; VO2max: 71±6 ml·kg-1·min-1) completed three work-dependent TT (996±132kJ) following administration of 2mg nicotine gum (GUM), 7mg nicotine patch (PAT) or colour- and flavour-matched placebos (PLA) in a randomized order. Measures of core temperature (TC), heart rate (HR), blood biochemistry (pH, HCO3-, K+, Na+, Ca2+) and Borg's rating of perceived exertion (RPE) accompanied performance. RESULTS: GUM (-0.6±4.4%) and PAT (-1.0±4.8%) resulted in no significant improvement in performance time compared to PLA (62.9±4.1, 62.6±4.5 and 63.3±4.1 min, respectively; p=0.733), with mean power outputs of 264±31 (GUM), 265±32 (PAT) and 263±33 W (PLA), respectively (p=0.735). TC was similar between trials (p=0.329) with DTC of 2.2±1.0, 2.0±0.9 and 2.2±0.4 °C whilst HR averaged 170±10, 170±11 and 171±11 beats·min-1 (p=0.599) for GUM, PAT and PLA, respectively. There were no differences between trials for any blood biochemistry (all p>0.139) or RPE with mean values of 16.7±0.9, 16.8±0.7 and 16.8±0.8 (p=0.893) for GUM, PAT and PLA, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Nicotine administration, whether via gum or transdermal patch, does not exert an ergogenic or ergolytic effect on self-paced cycling performance of ∼1hr. Supported by a Summer Studentship from The Physiological Society (UK) and Massey University Research Fund RM13226.
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