Despite three official

warnings from American Smad inhibitor College of Sports Medicine and American Medical Association [10, 23, 24], nothing had been done in order to prevent health injuries in consequence of rapid weight loss until the occurrence of three deaths of young wrestlers in the 1997 season. The deaths were associated to hyperthermia, which was probably caused by hypohydration as they were preparing for a competition and engaging in rapid weight loss regimens [25]. These athletes were reducing 15% of their body weight, on the average [26]. Only after these tragic events, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) implemented a program for controlling the weight cutting, which was demonstrated to be efficient in reducing the prevalence of rapid weight loss among wrestlers and in attenuating the aggressiveness of the weight management behaviors [27]. In March 1996, the South Korean judo medalist Chung Se-hoon died of a heart attack probably triggered by an extreme rapid weight loss FHPI regime, because he was preparing for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic

Games. However, the International Judo Federation has never considered selleck screening library the implementation of an official program aiming to discourage athletes from engaging in harmful weight loss procedures and, at present, the patterns of rapid weight loss among judo competitors are as inappropriate as those reported regarding wrestlers before the NCAA’s weight control program [3]. Hence, it is clear that a great number of judo athletes is in risk of health injuries and a weight control program for judo urgently needs to be created. Moreover, the interesting study of Alderman et al. [28] showed that the wrestlers who improved their weight management behaviors in scholastic wrestling (under the NCAA regulation) had an aggressive of behavior when reducing weight for international style wrestling,

which has no regulation regarding weight control. This clearly demonstrates that the most effective way to prevent athletes from reducing weight harmfully is through the use of strict regulations. Therefore, the purpose of the present manuscript is to highlight the necessity of a weight control program for judo and to propose the creation of new rules based on the successful program by NCAA for improving weight management behaviors. Discussion The rules aiming to control weight cutting should be implemented by the International Judo Federation (IJF) and adopted by all National and Regional Federations in order to reach the highest possible impact and effectiveness. Obviously, this manuscript does not intend to present a final solution to the problem. Instead, we believe that this proposal must be discussed in light of the well-being and safety of the competitors and considering what is feasible in the competitive atmosphere before being implemented. As previously mentioned, in almost all judo competitions, there is a relatively long period between the weigh-in and the first combat.