Warnings About Bodybuilding Supplements

Dangerous Ingredients in Some Over the Counter Supplements

Nov 14, 2009

Numerous dietary supplements being sold to help users add muscle mass and strength contain potentially harmful anabolic steroid-related compounds.

The vast and bewildering array of supplements that can be either ordered online or bought over the counter are testament to the legions of athletes and amateur bodybuilders looking to get stronger, add more muscle, and to do so at almost any cost. A recent United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning indicates that even some purportedly safe dietary supplements contain either anabolic steroids or their chemical precursors. Just days ago, the FDA issued a safety alert and immediate recall of bodybuilding supplements sold through one specific web outlet (1).

Anabolic Steroid Abuse is Harmful

Numerous sporting news items from the professional ranks down to the level of the high school athlete have been littered with reports of illegal use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Some of this misuse has been associated with tragic outcomes including deaths. Yet, to gain an advantage, either real or perceived, some athletes continue to push the envelope.

Dehydroepiandrosterone, pregnenolone, androstenedione (“Andro”), and androstenediol are just some of the natural precursors in the pathway generating testosterone in the body. Some over the counter supplement producers recently have been cited by the FDA (2) for directly touting the presence of just some of these steroid or steroid-like compounds in their products.

With the advent of random drug testing in multiple professional and amateur sports, creative chemists have continued to look for and develop new compounds that would provide the effects of steroids such as Winstrol (stanozolol) or Deca-durabolin (nandrolone) without being able to be detected. For other supplement producers apparently the approach has been to hide androgenic compounds in reportedly benign over-the-counter supplements and not inform the consumer. And while there is a medically approved purpose for most of the typically abused anabolic steroids, their misuse is associated with numerous health problems including liver failure, heart attack and vascular disease, significantly altered mood and decreased fertility, to name a few.

One of the greatest risks associated with these compounds is their illicit use by young people, whose bodies are still developing and who are often subjected to enormous peer pressure to try things that are harmful. Perhaps worse still are those young adults who end up ingesting steroids or steroid precursors without even being aware that a supplement they were taking contained them.

Any person considering the use of these types of over the counter products needs to remember the importance of always researching something before considering its use and to seek guidance from a medical professional.

2) US FDA Consumer Update: July 28, 2009; Warning on Body Building Products Marketed as Containing Steroids or Steroid-Like Substances

The copyright of the article Warnings About Bodybuilding Supplements in Sports Medicine is owned by Kenneth Rosen. Permission to republish Warnings About Bodybuilding Supplements in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.