Viagra May Help Atheles At High Altitudes

[yeahright]

Maybe an idea for mountain climbers, bicyclists, and others that compete at high altitudes. Take the article to the doctor and get an off-label prescription.
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Viagra May Help Atheles At High Altitudes

June 24, 2006 8:30 a.m. EST

Som Patidar - All Headline News Staff Writer

Stanford, CA (AHN) - A recent research by scientists from Stanford University found that Viagra can be used by endurance athletes at high altitudes.

The researchers subjects ride stationary bicycles for six kilometers and breath through masks to simulate low-oxygen conditions found at 12,700 feet. Explaning the science behind the results of the research the scientists said Viagra causes blood vessels in the penis and lungs to relax.

Anne Friedlander, the lead author of research published in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology said, "It provides a pretty clear advantage to some people."

All Headline News - Viagra May Help Atheles At High Altitudes - June 25, 2006

 

[Viperspit]

Great, the next time I get an urge to get a hummer while I'm HALO jumping, I'll remember to pop a viagra.

 

[yeahright]

Great, the next time I get an urge to get a hummer while I'm HALO jumping, I'll remember to pop a viagra.

LOL, I have friends that mountain climb and others that go on these 300 mile bicycle races over mountain ranges....was thinking about how this might provide an endurance edge for them.

 

[yeahright]

Military resolve hardens

Alan Zarembo in Los Angeles
June 24, 2006

SCIENTISTS have found a performance-enhancing drug that could be exploited by endurance athletes at high altitudes and soldiers in the mountains of Afghanistan: Viagra.

One group of research subjects rode stationary bicycles and breathed through masks to simulate the low-oxygen conditions found at 3870 metres. They improved their times for six kilometres by an average of 39 per cent after taking the erectile dysfunction drug, researchers at Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System reported.

Military researchers are considering a study to see if Viagra could help soldiers function better at high altitudes. "It provides a pretty clear advantage to some people," said Anne Friedlander, senior author of the study, which appears in the current issue of The Journal of Applied Physiology.

Originally conceived as a potential treatment for high blood pressure, Viagra causes blood vessels in the penis and lungs to relax. It won US approval in 1998 as the first erectile dysfunction pill, becoming an instant blockbuster for the drug maker Pfizer.

Last year, the company won approval for Viagra, under the new name Revatio, to treat pulmonary hypertension, or high fluid pressure in the lungs.

Altitude researchers saw the potential of the drug because pulmonary hypertension is also an effect of exercise in oxygen-poor environments. As blood vessels constrict in the lungs, the heart has to work harder to pump blood through the body.

Early studies showed some promise. In 2004, a study of mountaineers at Mount Everest Base camp, elevation 5364 metres, showed Viagra increased the heart's maximum workload.

US researchers may soon begin testing Viagra's effects on soldiers on Colorado's Pikes Peak, elevation 4300 metres.

Los Angeles Times