OFFICIAL STATEMENT:In a joint statement issued by the presidents of the World Anti-Doping Agency, International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the following foods have been placed on the list of banned substances issued by WADA:

yam, greenbananas, cocoa, dasheen, breadfruit, ackee and saltfish, mackeral run down, turned
cornmeal, Jerked pork and chicken, escovietched fish Malta, Supligen, Milo (said to be the
food drink of Champions), Horlicks and coconut oil. Jamaicans seem to become extremely
athletic on diets with these foods. Coming out of WADA labs, one of the major banned
substances from Jamaica is the Cassava root, a high fibre, high starch tuber root eaten in
Jamaica. It has properties which are said to enhance endurance and cause muscle fibres to twitch
faster. This comes after extensive study of the diets of the Jamaican athletes which took part in
the Beijing 2008 Olympic games. Though natural foods it is felt by WADA that these foods
because of their unique properties give Jamaican athletes an unfair advantage. High
concentrations of carbohydrates and other naturally occurring substances are said to be
mimicking the effects of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). Some foods have been noted to
in particular cause an unusual increase in the male hormone testosterone. As such WADA has
seen it fit to add these foods to the list of banned substances. Given the sensitivity of this issue,
Jamaican athletes participating in the current Olympic games underway in Beijing have not been
banned but must submit to these new restrictions within the next two years. Two substances
which have been discovered in testing of the Jamaican foods are yamstenine , a yam derivative
and cocosterone , a derivative of the coco plant. These substances have been found to mimic
nandrolone and the *lo** booster EPO, hence the preliminary banning of the substances
themselves and the banning of the foods they derive from.
This ruling will also affect other Caribbean and some African countries which share similar diets

as Jamaicans.