Conditions: Mountain Sickness
Keywords: Exercise, Aerobic Cognitive Function
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Enrollment: 148
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is a well-documented syndrome that affects 42% of non-acclimatized individuals traveling to altitudes above 10,000 feet. Decreased barometric pressure, which leads to low blood oxygen levels, is the primary casual factor of AMS. Symptoms of AMS are characterized by headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue and difficultly sleeping. Moreover, when people travel to high altitude, cognitive performance and endurance exercise capacity are impaired. Therefore, the goal of this research is to identify effective pharmacological agents that will help reduce the symptoms of AMS and improve physical and cognitive performance at high altitude.

The investigators will study the efficacy of the dietary supplement, quercetin, the drugs nifedipine (extended release) and methazolamide taken together, the drug metformin, and the drug nitrite in reducing symptoms of AMS and improving cognitive and exercise performance at high altitudes.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Quercetin: 500mg pill, twice daily for 5 days arm 2: Nifedipine extended release: 30mg pill, twice daily for 5 days; Methazolamide: 125mg pill, twice daily for 5 days arm 3: Metformin: 500mg pill, once daily for 2 days, then 500mg twice daily at altitude (3 days) arm 4: Sugar pill manufactured to look like all other investigational products arm 5: Nitrite: 20mg pill, three times daily for 5 days

Interventions: intervention 1: Quercetin intervention 2: Nifedipine extended release intervention 3: Methazolamide intervention 4: Metformin intervention 5: Placebo intervention 6: Nitrite
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: None intervention 2: None intervention 3: None intervention 4: None intervention 5: None intervention 6: None

Protocol document: