Recently I encountered one interesting problem. I was conducting post-cycle therapy (PCT) for my client who had been on a pharmacological cycle for almost a year. He had previous cycles and successful PCTs before. All indicators recovered without problems—LH, FSH, total testosterone and so on down the list—everything returned to wonderful reference range. But this time something went wrong...
The beginning of PCT was standard. We waited for the suppressive amount of steroids to exit the blood using the simple method of analyzing half-life of compounds on cycle. We reinforced all this with tests for reliability and proceeded to PCT.
Usually the first response of the HPG axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-gonads) can be assessed after 7-10 days by checking LH (luteinizing hormone) levels. It should at least slightly move away from the zero value characteristic of being on cycle, since steroids completely suppress its production. LH, I remind you, directly controls testosterone production by Leydig cells in male testicles. So what did we see? The same zero!..
Part 1 - Detective
“And Then There Were None”
And it began. First we thought about some amount of steroids not exiting the blood. Since direct analysis can only detect total testosterone, but not all other AAS. The method of analyzing metabolite elimination (blood clearance) is mathematical, but can give error due to the speed of metabolic reactions in different people's organisms. We waited another 10 days. The result was again "0" for LH.
Then we blamed the quality of PCT drugs. We tried both pharmacy and what's available on the black market. Each such test cost us an additional 7-10 days. Imagine the person's nervous state when we approached 2 months of fruitless attempts to restore the axis.
Funny fact. In parallel, I was conducting PCT for other people who recovered without problems, and their LH grew after just a week of PCT. Everything as it should be, but not in this specific case.
Search for suspects
Despite the fact that my client had already completely despaired and even tried to convince me that nothing could be restored, I perfectly understood that some craziness was happening and this simply couldn't be.
It was decided to conduct an interrogation with bias on the topic of what else he was currently taking. Why didn't I do this immediately? Because the client is an experienced person himself, and we discuss and talk through all supplements anyway. The option that he was injecting something wasn't even considered, and I'll say right away, this wasn't the case. Everything was according to protocol.
So what was he taking? Here's the complete list: creatine, testosterone booster with D-aspartic acid, vitamin E, selenium, CoQ10, zinc, inositol and tadalafil. Does anything from this raise doubts? Definitely not, everything is usual-familiar and only beneficial for recovering natural hormones. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't solve this entertaining puzzle.
The thought began
There's one class of substances that some clients torment me with from time to time—prohormones. Unlike AAS, they're not classified as potent substances. No one particularly controls them, and despite being real hormonal compounds, many of them are sold right between shelves with vitamins and testosterone boosters in the nearest sports nutrition store. Freely, accessibly, partially legally. Their trick is that they partially convert into real steroids, but already inside our organism. For example, 4-androstenedione converts to testosterone, and 19-norandrostenedione into real nandrolone (commonly called "deca," although it doesn't have the decanoate ester). Unfortunately, it's simply impossible to verify dosages and degree of conversion, and there are simply no domestic studies about them yet. At the same time, they suppress HPG just like regular AAS, that is, natural testosterone and luteinizing hormone production... Fixed that last fact.
Unexpected discovery
I was visited by a seemingly absurd thought. What if the testosterone booster my client was taking contained prohormones? After all, what are the expectations of a person who buys such a product? Increased strength, performance and muscle growth. Everything that an elevated testosterone level can give, which is expected to simply be stimulated by herbs and roots, like Tribulus, Fenugreek, Maca and other Ashwagandhas.
The culprit
But those who have tried know that this entire alphabet of nature gives no clear effect to people whose natural norm is really in "norm" and isn't suppressed by anything. Such a salad only helps those whose natural testosterone is produced at insufficient levels for various reasons (chronic fatigue, depression, obesity, etc.). For a healthy young person, an athlete, all this gives nothing.
Producers of this kind of supplements know about this testosterone booster problem. And there's also considerable competition, so what to do? There's a way out! You just need to add prohormones to your product and the effect will be amazing, as will sales of such crap.
Happy ending
With this hypothesis I returned to my client and we decided to simply exclude his "testosterone booster" from consumption.
Due to inability to sit still, the poor guy went to take an LH test not even after the minimum 7 days, but already after just 4 days.
Excellent result for 4 days of PCT. The screenshot shows LH growth by 4 times.
And you know what? LH immediately rose 4.2 times... From 0.1 to 0.42. The hypothesis turned out to be correct—a prohormone was added to the testosterone booster. Acting like a regular steroid, it simply didn't allow LH and testosterone production to start. In fact, the person remained on cycle, but against his will. Which specific prohormone it was cannot be determined, since we don't have the possibility to conduct mass spectrometry, but this isn't needed. Since only this class of substances was capable of such manifestations inside the body.
Two months of guessing, nerves and frank suffering of my poor client. And all because of the greed of another sports supplement manufacturer. Fortunately, the problem was successfully solved and it would seem time to calm down, but this is definitely not about me.
The happy conclusion of this story demonstrates the importance of quality training support. If you're also looking for a mentor who will help you achieve maximum results in fitness and bodybuilding, don't hesitate to contact me, Gregory Kandiba. My many years of practice as a personal trainer will allow you to receive the most accurate and scientifically based recommendations.
Part 2 - Scientific Research
I asked myself: did we just get "lucky" and this is an isolated case, or are the scale of this problem much bigger than could be imagined? I'll say right away, everything turned out much worse than I assumed...
Starting to look for real scientific research on this problem's theme, I encountered a whole cornucopia. Here are some of them.
One
The first really large clinical study was conducted in distant 2001 and published in 2004 under the title "Analysis of non-hormonal dietary supplements for anabolic-androgenic steroids – results of an international study" (H. Geyer et al., 2004).
From October 2000 to November 2001, 634 non-hormonal sports supplements were purchased in 13 countries from 215 different suppliers. Most supplements were bought in stores of respective countries (578 samples = 91.2%) and online (52 samples = 8.2%). 289 supplements were obtained from companies selling prohormones, and 345 supplements came from companies that don't offer prohormones in their range.
There was an attempt to find 11 popular prohormones, mainly testosterone and nandrolone precursors, using chromatography. And they found them!
Out of 634 analyzed samples, 94 (14.8%) contained AAS precursors (prohormones) not indicated on the label. In relation to the total number of products bought in each country, most supplements with undeclared prohormones were bought in the Netherlands (25.8%), Austria (22.7%), Great Britain (18.8%) and USA (18.8%).
Interesting fact worth keeping in mind. In Norway only 1 supplement out of 30 was caught containing prohormones in its composition.
Moreover, prohormones were found even in products from manufacturers who don't have them in their official range at all.
Two
Then I thought that overall it's not surprising, since more than 20 years ago prohormones were just beginning to be synthesized, no one really regulated them, and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) recognized them as doping only in 2002, the US Congress banned them in 2004. Did the problem disappear? Hah, no! It became even worse.
Remember I asked you to keep Norway in mind with its love for everything ecological and only 1 supplement with prohormones out of 30 supplements? Here's now a modern study from Norway from 2019, with the laconic title "Doping substances in dietary supplements" (Kristin Helle et al., 2019).
93 supplements oriented to the Norwegian sales market were selected. All supplements were advertised as capable of increasing energy levels and/or having muscle-building or fat-burning effects. Products were selected based on received advice, online forums and/or international lists.
According to chromatography results, 9 had prohormones in their composition, and another 14 had other medicinal substances. Things keep getting worse...
After all the bans for almost 20 years, the situation worsened even in Norway.
Three
Let's mentally return to the Netherlands, where according to 2001 study data, 25% of all supplements turned out problematic. The maximally negative percentage among all countries. What about now? This is told to us by the article "Undeclared doping substances are widely present in commercial sports nutrition supplements" (Erik Duiven et al., 2021). As you already understood, the study is quite fresh.
66 supplements from 21 brands were bought in 17 different online stores. Percentage of problematic ones? Shocking 38%... 25 supplements out of 66 turned out to have prohormone and pharmaceutical drug admixtures that weren't declared on the label.
Maybe the scientists bought some no-name crap for pennies? Turns out no, since the original article separately indicates that, I quote: "We included only those sports nutrition supplements that belonged to the premium segment."
Well okay, maybe they simply bought supplements that already declared prohormone content, making the study simply stupid? And again no, since: "Supplements were excluded if their label indicated one or more doping substances, or contained a warning about possible positive doping test results."
Thus only premium positions that directly denied any connection with prohibited substances got into the selection. And this is in the Netherlands...
What about Russia?
Despite the fact that since 2011 import and distribution of prohormones on RF territory has been prohibited, this doesn't prevent chemists from synthesizing new compounds (precursors), which if they get into the official prohibition list, do so with delays of 1-2 years (and this is in the best case). There are also precursors of plant origin, such as 4-androstenediol, 19-nor-4-androstenediol and others, with regulation of which there are also big problems.
And this is not even mentioning DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), which is freely sold even on iHerb, since in reasonable doses, despite being a polyfunctional steroid hormone acting on androgen receptors, doesn't suppress natural hormone production. But note, this is in reasonable doses from reputable manufacturers, for example from NOW, Natrol, etc. But what if dosages are exceeded by tens of times? I think you understand yourself. At the same time, no responsibility is provided.
Are there studies of the RF market?
Unfortunately, domestic studies on this topic have never been conducted at all. I managed to find only one work on the topic "Possible causes of doping sanctions for young athletes: focus on dietary supplements" (A.B. Miroshnikov et al., 2022). Its problem is that it's only an attempt to systematize foreign publications on this topic. No data on Russian or CIS markets.
What are prohormones dangerous with in general?
The answer is simple—with everything that regular anabolic steroids are, namely:
- suppression of natural testosterone production by the body;
- liver damage;
- gynecomastia (breast tissue growth in men);
- increased blood cholesterol levels;
- acne;
- cardiovascular diseases;
- toxic effect on kidneys;
- reduced cognitive abilities;
- alopecia development;
- increased aggression;
- prostate enlargement;
- infertility;
- testicular atrophy in men;
- masculinization (acquisition of male traits) in women.
And what to do?
I always told my clients that there's no reason to use supplements based on prohormones or SARMs. The former aren't as effective as AAS, but suppress natural hormone production. The latter simply aren't sold at all, since the same prohormones are sold under their guise (market studies on this topic also exist, but definitely not within this article's framework).
But what to do if you want to take something tonic, yet harmless? Pay attention to mono-preparations from world brands, while not abusing dosages. Start with regular Tribulus, Ecdysterone or the same DHEA. Add some pharmacy vitamins and simply establish work and rest regimen. In the overwhelming majority of cases, this will be sufficient for good well-being.
Conclusions
The modern sports supplement market is full of incredible diversity of choice for any taste, wallet and need. But business is conducted by people, and not all of them have good intentions. The problem of doping and health disorders has long gone beyond classical AAS frameworks, spreading to mass market where main money flows are located. The way out can be the decision to turn to a specialist working not only in fitness, but also possessing education in medicine/biology.
If you need an effective and safe training program, contact me, Gregory Kandiba. With my knowledge in physiology, you'll achieve your goals without health risks. I use a scientific approach, not relying on marketing tricks.
Interested in fitness and health improvement? Contact me for personal training and consultations. Together we'll create an optimal plan, avoiding risks from questionable supplements. Your health and safety are my main goal.
Studies used in writing the article:
A.B. Miroshnikov, A.V. Smolensky, A.D. Formenov POSSIBLE CAUSES OF DOPING SANCTIONS FOR YOUNG ATHLETES: FOCUS ON DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS // Bulletin of New Medical Technologies. Electronic Edition. 2022. No. 5.
Erik Duiven, Luc J.C. van Loon, Laila Spruijt, Willem Koert, Olivier M. de Hon. (2021) Undeclared Doping Substances are Highly Prevalent in Commercial Sports Nutrition Supplements. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (20), 328 - 338. https://doi.org/10.52082/jssm.2021.328
Helle C, Sommer AK, Syversen PV, Lauritzen F. Doping substances in dietary supplements. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2019 Feb 25;139(4). English, Norwegian. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.18.0502. PMID: 30808106.
Geyer H, Parr MK, Mareck U, Reinhart U, Schrader Y, Schänzer W. Analysis of non-hormonal nutritional supplements for anabolic-androgenic steroids - results of an international study. Int J Sports Med. 2004 Feb;25(2):124-9. doi: 10.1055/s-2004-819955. PMID: 14986195.
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