Complain about a product or service

FDA Warns Against Bodybuilding Products Containing Steroids

Several products affected by FDA's advisory

By James Limbach
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 29, 2009

• Dietary Supplement Peddler Pleads Guilty to $17 Million Fraud Scheme • Florida Man Sentenced For Nutritional Supplement Scam • Suit: Fish Oil Contains Undisclosed PCB Levels • Herbal Drugs Can Be Lethal, Pathologist Warns • Can Antioxidants Be Harmful? • Study: Ginkgo Biloba Doesn't Slow Cognitive Decline • Idaho Company Recalls 65 Bodybuilding Supplements • Massachusetts Man Sentenced For Nationwide Internet Prescription Drug Scheme • FDA Warns Against Bodybuilding Products Containing Steroids • FDA Hits Three Dietary Supplement Makers • Guilty Plea in Dietary Supplements Marketing Scam • Two Hydroxycut Class Actions Filed • Feds Destroy Body-Building Supplements • FDA Warns Consumers to Stop Using Hydroxycut Weight-Loss Products • FDA Falls Short in Regulating Dietary Supplements • Researchers Cast Doubt on Role of Free Radicals in Aging • Another Study Discounts Vitamin Benefits • Study Questions Vitamin Benefits For Kids • Airborne Agrees to Stop 'Cold Remedy' Claims • Airborne Health to Pay FTC $30 Million for False Claims • 'Natural' Products Can Be Dangerous for Seniors • Antioxidant Users Don't Live Longer, Study Finds • Safety of Multivitamins Questioned • Vitamin Supplements May Increase Cancer Risk, Report Warns • Cancer Warning Urged for Beta-Carotene Supplements • Researchers Find Some "Health" Supplements Risky • Vitamin B May Harm, Not Help, Heart Patients • Vitamin Supplements May Increase Cancer Risk --- • More about Nutrition ...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers to stop using any body building products that are represented to contain steroids or steroid-like substances.

While many of these products are marketed as dietary supplements, the FDA says they are NOT dietary supplements, but instead are unapproved and misbranded drugs.

The advisory was issued along with a warning letter sent to American Cellular Laboratories Inc. for marketing and distributing the products, which FDA says contain synthetic steroid substances.

These products are sold online and in retail stores and are promoted as hormone products and/or as alternatives to anabolic steroids for increasing muscle mass and strength. Many are labeled as dietary supplements and make claims about the ability of the active ingredients to enhance or diminish androgen, estrogen, or progestin-like effects in the body. The FDA warns that these products are potentially harmful and that it has not approved them nor reviewed their safety before marketing.

These body-building products are often marketed as being anabolic (promoting muscle building) and/or being similar to anabolic steroids (such as testosterone). The product names and ingredients listed in the warning letter to American Cellular Laboratories Inc. are:

• TREN-Xtreme: 19-Norandrosta-4,9-diene-3,17 dione, marketed as "similar to Trenbolone"

• MASS Xtreme: 17a-methyl-etioallocholan-2-ene-17b-ol, marketed as "similar to Methyl Testosterone"

• ESTRO Xtreme: 4-hydroxyandrostenedione (4-OHA)

• AH-89-Xtreme: 5a-androstano[3,2-c]pyrazole-3-one-17ß-ol-THP-ether, marketed as "similar to Stanozolol"

• HMG Xtreme: 2a,3a-epithio-17a-methyl-17ß-hydroxy-5a-etioallocholane

• MMA-3 Xtreme: Androsta-1,4-dien-3,17-dione, marketed as "similar to Boldenone (Equipoise)"

• VNS-9 Xtreme: 17a-methyl-4-chloro-androsta-1,4-diene-3ß,17ß-diol, marketed as "similar to Turinabol"

• TT-40-Xtreme: 1-androsterone, marketed as "very similar to 1-Testosterone" and "converts to 1-Testosterone"

FDA says adverse events associated with these products involve men ages 22-55 and include cases of serious liver injury, stroke, kidney failure and pulmonary embolism (blockage of an artery in the lung). Acute liver injury is known to be a possible harmful effect of using anabolic steroid-containing products.

In addition, anabolic steroids may cause other serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children. These include shrinkage of the testes and male infertility, masculinization of women, breast enlargement in males, short stature in children, adverse effects on blood lipid levels, and increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

FDA says these products are NOT dietary supplements because they contain synthetic steroid or steroid-like active ingredients. These products are unapproved new drugs because they are not generally recognized as safe and effective. In fact, they are potentially harmful. In addition, the products are misbranded because the labeling is misleading and does not provide adequate directions for use.

Due to the potential serious health risks, FDA recommends that consumers immediately stop using these products. They should also consult their health care professional if they are experiencing symptoms possibly associated with these products, particularly nausea, weakness or fatigue, fever, abdominal pain, chest pain, shortness of breath, yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes, or brown/discolored urine.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.