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Sport Supplements
There is growing concern that athletes who take supplements may be putting themselves at risk of a positive outcome in a drug test. Specifically, there has been speculation that the positive drug tests recorded by certain high-profile athletes have resulted from the use of supplements and special sports foods rather than deliberate use of banned products. This speculation has been particularly strong in the case of positive tests for the steroid, Nandrolone, which include among its cases, tennis player Greg Rusedski, several British track and field stars including Linford Christie, and New Zealand swimmer, Trent Bray. Positive tests for Nandrolone seem to have increased in recent years. However, experts are divided over whether there has been a true increase in the rate of Nandrolone positives among athletes, or whether these tests are simply gaining more publicity.
Of course, it is possible that athletes are purposely using supplements containing banned substances, or that supplement use is being offered as an excuse to cover up deliberate drug use. However, the message is becoming clearer that supplement use is a possible cause of an inadvertent doping positive. One of the good things that may come out of the current publicity about doping cases is the chance to educate athletes about the risk posed by the use of supplements and sports foods.
What sorts of banned substances can be contained in supplements and sports foods?
There are a number of products, potentially found in supplements and sports foods, that are either directly banned by the Anti-Doping code or that have been shown to cause a positive doping outcome in some people. These include:
1. ephedrine
2. strychnine
3. dehydroepiandrosterone
4. androstenedione, androstenediol
5. 19-norandrostenedione, 19-norandrostenediol and related compounds
An athlete who takes these products carries a risk of testing positive if they are required to give a urine sample as part of a drug test in sport.
What are DHEA, androstenedione and 19-norandrostenedione? Why are they banned? How can they cause an athlete to test positive?
DHEA, androstenedione and 19-norandrostenedione are examples of a new group of compounds termed "pro-hormones". Each of these compounds is chemically and pharmacologically considered to be an androgenic anabolic steroid, related by metabolism to testosterone. Some of these compounds are considered endogenous (i.e. able to be manufactured by the body) while others are not They may be purchased as single supplements or added as ingredients to multi-compound "weight gain" or "bulking up" products. Although there is some doubt about whether these effects actually occur, at least when taken by healthy males in the doses recommended by the manufacturers, pro-hormones have become a hot-selling item for people interested in increased size, strength and other sporting goals, as well as those interested in anti-aging effects. Since pro-hormones are now banned in sport, athletes who declare their use will be considered guilty of doping. Urine tests try to detect the intake of various pro-hormones via direct excretion of the product or its metabolites in levels greater than should be found at all, or found through body production. Alternatively, the intake of some of these products, at least in some people, can lead to an increase in the testosterone:epitestosterone ratio (T:E ratio) Studies have found that supplementation with androstenedione and DHEA can, in some but not all subjects, cause a "positive" T:E ratio of greater than 6. Pro-hormones of the 19-norandrostenedione and diol range produce urinary metabolites, which are identical to the metabolites produced after use of the anabolic steroid Nandrolone. A positive "Nandrolone" test can occur after the intake of extremely small amounts of these products, even in levels that are considered minor contamination of other pro-hormone supplements.
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