Nicotine use and athletic performance: A brief review

Oral smokeless tobacco (OST) is popular, particularly among athletes in team sports. Tobacco companies often target athletes in their marketing compaigns. Research has shown increases in heart rate and blood lactate concentration (bLa) and decreases in stroke volume during submaximal exercise among OST users. The use of OST disperses nicotine into the bloodstream which initiates the release of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI). Release of NE causes arteriolar constriction, which may decrease lactic acid removal from the active tissue. Release of EPI transforms phosphorylase b (inactive) to a (active) state when coupled with muscle contraction. This increases glycogenolysis, lactate production, and bLa. Although perfect correlation coefficients can be calculated between NE and bLla and between EPI and bLa following an anaerobic performance test, there are no known studies linking nicotine-mediated NE and EPI release to bLa following exercise.