Peppers’ agents contend that he was heavily hydrating, drinking 8
to 10 bottles of water a day, at the combine because he flew in from San
Diego and had to work out with the linebackers and defensive backs. They
noted that he never failed a drug test at Michigan. Foster also forwarded
a hydration defense.
NFL teams will have to make a decision soon. The NFL draft is set for Thursday
through Sunday in Philadelphia. Both claims may be medical plausible.
“There is no question in the field of dropping control that one of
the things that has be done when you give an urine sample as an athlete,
the athletes are working hard and losing fluids,” said Dr. Bert
Mandelbaum, an orthopedic surgeon and co-chair of medical affairs at Kerlan-Jobe
Institute in Los Angeles. “They are drinking a lot and rehydrating.
Their urine gets very dilute. There is a limit below which the sample
is not good and it’s not acceptable. So, the dilute urine thing
can be a very circular discussion in general for all athletes at all times
because of that.”
Foster contended that he was rehydrating after a case of food poisoning.
“It’s not uncommon for athletes, especially when they are rehydrating
to dilute their specific gravity,” Mandelbaum said. “That’s
the metric that we use. When the
specific gravity goes below a certain level, when it gets below that level, it’s
a threshold below which the samples have to be re-tested. The problem
that you get into is that each sample after that gets even more diluted.
It’s almost impossible to concentrate your urine, once you’re
that diluted.”
Pursuant to the NFL’s substance abuse policy, a diluted urine sample
is treated like a positive test.
“They could test them the next day,” Mandelbaum said. “Whoever
is doing the testing can make that judgement when they should test them
again.”
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