title: Anabolic steroids detected in bodybuilding dietary supplements - a significant risk to public health.
abstract: Twenty-four products suspected of containing anabolic steroids and sold in fitness equipment shops in the United Kingdom (UK) were analyzed for their qualitative and semi-quantitative content using full scan gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), accurate mass liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), high pressure liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), UV-Vis, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In addition, X-ray crystallography enabled the identification of one of the compounds, where reference standard was not available. Of the 24 products tested, 23 contained steroids including known anabolic agents; 16 of these contained steroids that were different to those indicated on the packaging and one product contained no steroid at all. Overall, 13 different steroids were identified; 12 of these are controlled in the UK under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Several of the products contained steroids that may be considered to have considerable pharmacological activity, based on their chemical structures and the amounts present. This could unwittingly expose users to a significant risk to their health, which is of particular concern for naïve users.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Abbate
authors.affiliation: Drug Control Centre, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kicman
authors.affiliation: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Evans-Brown
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 2ET, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McVeigh
authors.affiliation: Drug Control Centre, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: EPSRC UK National Crystallography Service, School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: EPSRC UK National Crystallography Service, School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Coles
authors.affiliation: Drug Control Centre, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D045930:Anabolic Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D004300:Doping in Sports; D011634:Public Health / Q000639:trends*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013256:Steroids / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D014891:Weight Lifting
chemical_list: D045930:Anabolic Agents; D013256:Steroids
keywords: X-ray crystallography; anabolic steroids; dietary supplements; hepatotoxicity; image-enhancing drugs; performance-enhancing drugs