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It is not just AFL clubs that have been dabbling in performance-enhancing drugs lately.

But at UWA, it is all above board.

The benefits of different performance-enhancing substances have been tested in two recent studies in the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health.

One of the studies, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism , compared the ergogenic benefits of caffeine with pseudoephedrine in the time trial performance of male cyclists.

(Anything described as ergogenic helps growth or strength or increases the ability to do work.)

Ten male cyclists and/or triathletes were recruited for the study.

Participants took part in three simulated 40km cycling time-trials after ingesting either 200mg caffeine, 180mg pseudoephedrine or a non-nutritive placebo.

The study found that neither caffeine nor pseudoephedrine significantly improved overall cycling time-trial performance. However, the cyclists who took the caffeine showed strong trends for a faster overall time by around 57 seconds, and the second half of the time trial was found to be significantly faster, by approximately 99 seconds.

The researchers concluded that the effects of a legal stimulant such as caffeine were likely to be better than that of the banned substance (pseudoephedrine), and that pseudoephedrine misuse in athletes may not result in a higher performance gain than that achievable with legal means.

Winthrop Professor Brian Dawson said the use of ergogenic aids was not a new concept and dated back to Ancient Rome. But it has become newsworthy recently.

Co-author Assistant Professor Peter Peeling said people were always looking for the edge or for the next big thing to help improve the limits of performance.

"Caffeine might add 0.5 per cent to a very well trained athlete's performance, but it's the 85-90 per cent benefits of good training and the 10-15 per cent benefits of good nutrition and recovery that make an athlete perform well," he said.

Professor Dawson and his team have also investigated whether sodium phosphate is effective as an ergogenic aid.

Phosphate, the active ingredient in sodium phosphate nutritional supplements, is an essential nutrient absorbed from the food we eat.

"Sodium phosphate has been shown to improve aerobic capacity and, in some cases, endurance performance in male participants".

But Professor Dawson said more research needed to be done on the use of sodium phosphate as an ergogenic aid.

It is believed that sodium phosphate works by increasing the capacity of the red blood cells to transport oxygen around the body, but it is not yet known exactly how this happens.

He said the primary mechanism by which caffeine was believed to work in the body to enhance performance was by blocking the action of the adenosine receptors.

They are present in all cells and important in regulating metabolic and neurogenic reactions.

"Most ergogenic aids are briefly the ‘flavour-of-the-month' and consumers quickly look for the next product on the market such as beta-alanine or beetroot juice," Professor Dawson said.