Human Sports Performance

October 2009

Banned Substances Found
In a Significant Percent of Sports Supplements

Summary of Nutritional Supplement
Contamination Studies

Jeff Krushell
President
Human Sports Performance®

In the last number of years, the occurrence of positive drug tests in professional and international sport has been on the rise.

Though the use of banned substances has infiltrated the professional sports arena, there have been a significant number of doping cases where the athletes lay blame on contaminated, mainstream, over the counter sport and nutritional supplements.

With the growing popularity and use of sport supplements as well as the alarming rise in positive tests associated with the use of supplements, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) elected to conduct an investigational study.

The purpose of the investigation was to identify the accuracy of product labeling and to verify the presence and the amount of non-labeled illegal and banned substances in various mainstream supplements.

The results of this investigation by the IOC stunned the sports community when it was confirmed that 14.8% of the sports supplements tested contained illegal and banned substances.

Prior to this study by the IOC, the sports community believed that the use of illegal and banned substances in over-the-counter sports supplements was not particularly problematic.

Following the IOC investigational study, the sports community could no longer ignore the fact that the problem is far more serious than predicted.

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE:
ANALYSIS OF NON-HORMONAL NUTRITIONAL
SUPPLEMENTSFOR ANABOLIC-ANDROGENIC STEROIDS

Beginning in 2000/2001, the IOC, concerned about the rise in positive banned-substance testing results in athletes, started to look at dietary supplements as the possible source.

In the IOC investigational study, they examined 634 nutritional supplements from 215 different providers/suppliers. This study spanned 13 countries.

•	634 nutritional supplements
•	From 215 different providers
•	From 13 countries
•	From 215 suppliers

Results of the IOC investigational study were astounding, demonstrating that 14.8% of the 634 nutritional supplements contained substances that caused positive readings in official drug tests.

•	94 of the 634 (14.8%) had substances (not found on the product label) that would lead to a positive-reading in an official drug test
•	23 contained precursors of both nandrolone and testosterone
•	62 contained precursors of testosterone
•	7 contained precursors on nandrolone alone
•	66 (10.4%) others had borderline results for various unlabeled substances

The Results by Country:

Country	No. Products	No. "Positive"	% "Positive"
Netherlands	31	8	25.8%
Austria	22	5	22.7%
UK	37	7	18.9%
USA	240	45	18.8%
Italy	35	5	14.3%
Spain	29	4	13.8%
Germany	129	15	11.6%
Belgium	30	2	6.7%
France	30	2	6.7%
Norway	30	1	3.3%
Switzerland	13	-	-
Sweden	6	-	-
Hungary	2	-	-
Total	634	94	14.8%

INVESTIGATION INTO SUPPLEMENT
CONTAMINATION LEVELS IN THE US

During 2006-2007, investigations involving 58 nutritional supplements (sold within the United States) showed that 25% of the supplements contained illegal steroids. The supplements were purchased from popular retailers and internet sites in the U.S.

Four of the samples tested netted inconclusive data, which is common in contaminated products containing ingredients that cannot be identified by HPLC.

Of the remaining 54 samples that were analyzed:

•	6 tested positive for banned stimulant contamination (11.1%)
•	13 contained various amounts of illegal steroids (25%)

1-out of every 5 Supplements are Contaminated
Stimulants and Anabolic Steroids Found in Dietary Supplements

The headlines read “DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS FOUND TO CONTAIN AGENTS THAT CAUSE POSITIVE ANTIDOPING TESTING.”

The journal publication entitled, “Stimulants and Anabolic Steroids in Dietary Supplements”* confirmed that “Supplements contain drugs that will cause athletes to test positive for substances that are currently on the banned list.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the composition of 103 dietary supplements bought on the internet. The supplements were dispatched in four different categories according to their published contents:

•	Creatine
•	Prohormones
•	Mental Enhancers
•	Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)

All of the sports supplements were screened for the presence of stimulants and main anabolic steroids parent compounds. At the same time, the research was focused on the precursors and metabolites of testosterone and nandrolone.

The study pointed out three products containing an anabolic steroid, metandienone, in a very high amount. The ingestion of such products induced a high quantity of metandienone metabolites in urines that would be considered as a positive antidoping test.

The results have also shown that one creatine product and three "mental enhancers" contained traces of hormones or prohormones not claimed on the labels and 14 prohormone products contained substances other than those indicated by the manufacturer.

The oral intake of the creatine product revealed the presence of the two main nandrolone metabolites (19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone) in urine.

The researchers concluded that:

“The situation in dietary supplements is that there are still approximately one-in-five supplements on sale that are contaminated – whether accidental or deliberate – with products that are not declared on the label.”

*	SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORTS; VOLUME 16, ISSUE 1, PG 41-48. JAN 6, 2005

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS SUPPLEMENT POLICIES

Professional sports organizations have instigated their own internal official policies regarding the use of supplements:

NFL	The NFL has selected an official supplier (EAS) of sports supplements. EAS has invested a significant amount of funds toward this program. NFL players are told that they can use “Other brands at their own risk.”
MLB	MLB also has an official supplier (NSF) of sports supplements. MLB players are told they can use “Other brands at their own risk.”
NBA	The NBA does not have an official supplier of sports supplements, and they discourage the use of supplements.
NHL	The NHL does not have an official supplier of sports supplements, and players are told to refer to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency guidelines and website, which lists appropriate supplements.
PGA	The PGA does not have an official supplier of sports supplements, and golfers are advised to scrutinize the ingredients used in supplements.
LPGA	The LPGA does not have an official supplier of sports supplements, and golfers are advised to be wary of supplements.

FTC FINES COMPANIES FOR FALSE PRODUCT CLAIMS

The sports supplement industry is not the only marketing sector that promotes unacceptable products to the public. Companies promoting weight loss are among those targeted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In 2007, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued $25 Million dollars in fines to companies who claimed their diet pill products would cause weight loss and/or reduce the risk of serious diseases, like cancer. All said claims were not supported by scientific evidence.

As a result, the following companies were ordered to pay fines by the FTC:

•	Bayer was fined $3.2 Million for violating an FTC order to provide evidence regarding the claimed effects of One-A-Day Weight Smart pills. The Associated Press reported that Bayer settled to avoid litigation.
•	TrimSpa paid $1.5 Million for unsubstantiated claims regarding TrimSpa weight loss advertisements.
•	Xenadrine EFX made false claims that their green-tea-product caused rapid weight loss and were ordered to pay between $8 and $13 Million dollars.
•	CortiSlim & CortiStress were ordered to pay $12 Million dollars for making unproven claims that CortiSlim caused rapid weight loss, and that CortiStress would reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ailments.

SUMMARY

In light of the verified presence of illegal and banned substances in sports supplements and nutritional products used by athletes, Human Sports Performance® provides independent verification on sports products.

Products submitted to Human Sports Performance® are required to meet the following guidelines:

•	Have not been found to contain illegal and/or banned substances by independent laboratory analysis
•	Meets the biochemical requirements of the athlete
•	Are proven safe for human use
•	Provide accurate label contents and information to the public

Human Sports Performance® is also dedicated to providing accurate information, in the field of sports medicine and athletic performance, to the public.

To that end, the Human Sports Performance® website provides a plethora of scientific data for athletes and sports health educators, including State-of-the-Art research, and recommended methods for achieving Human Maximum Performance.

Jeff Krushell
President
Human Sports Performance®

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From Human Sports Performance®