Sports Nutrition Supplements

What really is in many of these pills, powers and potions?

It is becoming increasingly clear that many nutritional supplements are contaminated with chemicals that are not listed on the label and which are untested regarding their safety to health. Ironically, these products are sold at health stores and nutrition centers, not to mention being available on the Internet. The U.S. government has not closely regulated the dietary supplement industry since 1994, thus the consumer must beware!

Dietary supplements proving to be the most problematic are those that claim to increase testosterone, the male hormone (androgen) that is also central to the action of 'anabolic steroids'. This class of supplements, in the form of pills, powers and potions, are touted to be 'pro-hormones' with the presumption that they might be converted to testosterone when ingested. However, research is proving that these chemicals don't generally raise testosterone or build muscle in men but instead cause strange by-products to appear in the body, with some being found in urine. Some of these same byproducts are the chemical markers that identify athletes who are taking illegal anabolic steroids. Therefore, some athletes who are taking dietary supplements are testing positive for anabolic steroids without gaining any muscle building benefits.

Yet, some supplements seem to really contain "androgenic steroids", although they are not listed on the label. The International Olympic Committee Laboratory in Cologne (Geyer et al. (2000; Deutche Z. Sportmed. 51: 378-382), Germany, detected androgenic steroids in products claiming to be chrysin, saw palmetto, tribulus terrestris. When volunteers ingested 1 capsule of these products, their urine levels of Norandrosterone ranged from 34-623 ng/ml. The IOC threshold for a positive 'steroid' test is 2-5 ng/ml.

On the other hand, some supplements are sold as containing 19-norandrostenedione or 19-norandrostenediol but do not contain any trace of these compounds!

The National Football League (Professional American Football) appears to recognize the serious problems associated with the unregulated dietary supplement industry and is searching for supplements that can be guaranteed not to be contaminated. This is an issue not only for the welfare of these professional athletes but also for the ability of the NFL's drug testing program to accurately distinguish between athletes attempting to cheat by taking anabolic steroids and ignorant athletes taking contaminated dietary supplements or products that are mislabeled.