Why is Propranolol, which is a beta-blocker, banned in certain events at the Olympics?
(On August 14), North Korean Olympic shooter Kim Jong Su was stripped of silver and bronze medals after he tested positive for propranolol. The drug is prescribed for a variety of conditions, from high blood pressure to migraines. You’ve heard of various doping drugs such as EPO, but why would an Olympian use propranolol? (It probably wasn’t to treat a hangover, despite some myths about its use for that condition.) For an answer, ScientificAmerican.com called cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar, author of Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation, and director of the Heart Failure Program at Long Island Jewish Hospital in New Hyde Park, N.Y. An edited transcript follows. Tell me what propranolol is typically used for, and what it does. Propranolol is a beta-blocker, so it blocks the action of adrenaline. Adrenaline is implicated in a number of effects on the body—high blood pressure and a fast heart beat, for example—so by blocking it, propranolol
