J.C. Romero of the Philadelphia Philles and Sergio Mitre of the New York Yankees have both tested positive for androstenedione, an anabolic steroid under the Major League Baseball (MLB) drug policy. The Major League Players Association (MLPA), Romero and Mitre all claim the positive steroid test resulted from the respective ingestion of the dietary supplements 6-OXO by Ergopharm and Halodrol Liquigels by Gaspari Nutrition purchased from GNC. The players allege that 6-OXO and Halodrol were contaminated with androstenedione which was not disclosed on the label. Androstenedione has been prohibited by MLB since 2004.

There are two glaring problems with their androstenedione defense. The first problem is that 6-OXO itself, as an “aromatase inhibitor”, appears to be banned by the MLB anway, not to mention WADA. The second problem is that neither of the supplements are actually contaminated with androstenedione. The MLBPA, Romero and Mitre are, purposefully or unintentionally, deceiving the public in order to save face and appear innocent. The erroneous claim that 6-OXO contains androstenedione is based on the assumption that if 6-OXO produces the same urinary metabolites as androstenedione then it most contain androstenedione. This is false  (”Romero says he was victimized,” January 7).

Romero walked into a nutritional store in Cherry Hill, purchased a legal supplement called 6-OXO, and unwittingly ingested a chemical compound that urinalysis revealed to have contained the infamous steroid precursor androstenedione. [...]

In fact, problems with 6-OXO are not new. Back in 2006, a team of Dutch scientists published a story in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry & Molecular Biology that said testing had revealed traces of andro in the product.

It appears that 6-OXO itself, not any contamination, resulted in a FALSE analytical positive for androstenedione use in the J.C. Romero and Sergio Mitre doping cases. Not that it really matters, since they both admitted to using 6-OXO, which should be banned consistent with MLB drug policy since it is an “aromatase inhibitor.”