Sports supplement screening for launch in UK
supplements for contamination with illegal performance-enhancing
drugs, according to a report in the New Scientist this week.
The UK is to launch the world's first scheme to screen sports supplements for contamination with illegal performance-enhancing drugs, according to a report in the New Scientist this week.
The news follows the recent doping scandal, which implicated a US supplement maker, San Fransisco-based Balco, as the supplier of the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) to numerous leading athletes. The supplement industry is now under even greater scrutiny, likely to worsen as the Olympic Games approach next year.
The International Olympic Committee has already carried out research on supplements to investigate growing claims that the industry could be responsible for use of illegal substances by athletes. A study it funded last year analysed 634 non-hormonal nutritional supplements purchased in 13 countries, from 215 different suppliers. Nearly 15 per cent contained prohormones not declared on the label, substances that would have made athletes taking them test positive. Most of these products had been bought in the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and the US.
The new screening process, developed by the British Olympic Association's Olympic Medical Institute (OMI), will routinely test all supplements before they go on sale, according to New Scientist.
Developed by analysis company HFL, which specialises in dope-testing for horse and dog racing, the scheme will test for 20 major illegal substances, mainly steroids and stimulants. Supplement makers will supply batches of products on a routine basis to the company and labels may be developed to signify accreditation by the British Olympic Association.
OMI told New Scientist that it had received interest from major supplement makers. The scheme could protect reputable companies from being falsely accused by athletes of supplying them with adulterated supplements, noted the report.
Samples from each tested batch will be logged and archived for retrospective testing if an athlete makes such a charge. Supplements already on sale may also be randomly tested. This will give companies a safety net in case they are falsely accused by athletes and also protects against tampering by retailers.
The initiative, which could be launched this year, is "the first attempt at regulating the multimillion-dollar supplements industry", according to the New Scientist report, revealing the pervasive attitude to the supplement industry, which US members are currently fighting to prove wrong.
Supplements for professional athletes will remain an area of controversy however. Clyde Williams, professor of sports nutrition at the University of Loughborough in the UK, told the New Scientist report that the best advice for athletes is to avoid taking supplements altogether.
