Steroid supplements generally won't test positive, By: Jim Vertuno

08/02/2007

AUSTIN -- The risk of Texas high school athletes testing positive for steroids because of store-bought diet supplements is low, the head of the National Center for Drug Free Sport said Wednesday.

A 2005 federal law classified "pro-hormones," or steroid precursors, as controlled substances, essentially banning them from diet supplements sold over the counter.

That greatly reduced the risk of positive tests with those products, said Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which conducts drug testing for the NCAA and other organizations.

Teenagers may be drawn to supplements to gain weight or add muscle, and concerns they could be snagged by Texas' new high school steroids testing program caused alarm and disagreement among lawmakers on whether to delay the start.

Gov. Rick Perry, who signed the program into law last month, urged caution even if it meant waiting until after football season to begin testing.

But Uryasz said the 2005 law greatly reduced the risk of banned substances showing up in store products.

"I think it's much less of a concern than it was a few years ago," he said.

The greater risk is for athletes who purchase products over the Internet or on the street. The risk of those products containing steroids are much higher, Uryasz said. He urged young athletes to avoid supplements altogether.

"They don't need them, and they're expensive," he said.

Sen. Kyle Janek, one of the authors of the law, agreed.

"It's just insane for kids to be buying this stuff off the Internet," Janek said. "If somebody says it will make you bigger, stronger and faster and will pass the drug test, don't believe it."

The 2005 law added 18 substances to the list of banned anabolic steroids. The law was aimed at steroid precursors, which metabolize into steroids once they are ingested. The list includes androstenedione, commonly known as "andro" and made famous by Mark McGwire a decade ago when he broke baseball's record for home runs in a season.

"We see much fewer positives for many of those compounds," Uryasz said. "We also hear fewer appeals that a positive test was caused by a banned substance in a dietary supplement."