Although most recently in the news for their misuse by professional athletes, anabolic steroids have legitimate medical application for men with low testosterone and people with certain types of anemia. Two anabolic steroids available in the United States, nandrolone decanoate and oxandrolone, have been used to help increase weight and muscle mass in small studies of people with wasting. Athletes can be sitting ducks for an endless list of scams aimed at them: protein supplements, vitamin or mineral supplements, steroid replacers, "muscle-building" powders, electrolyte pills and many other so-called ergogenic aids. Some athletes take dangerous, illegal drugs to try to gain a competitive edge. Others use sodium bicarbonate, caffeine, or other products. The term ergogenic implies that such products have special work-enhancing powers, but no food or supplement is really ergogenic.
An athlete who takes a nutrient supplement to improve performance can not be sure that it will deliver on its verbal promises. Supplements are not required to be tested for safety or effectiveness because they are a special case. FDA does not regulate supplements as it regulates drugs. FDA could question claims made by a drug manufacturer that their product “rams the body into turbo charge” or that it “deposits slabs of muscle bulk,” yet such claims for supplements shout from the pages of magazines that appeal to athletes. If the products were drugs, FDA would require clinical evidence of those turbo-charged bodies and muscle slabs and would also require proof of safety.
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