Tainted Body Building Products
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FDA is notifying consumers of certain products promoted for body building that have been found to contain hidden ingredients and may pose a significant health risk. The public notifications listed below include those products FDA testing found to contain active drug ingredients not listed on the product labels, including some with ingredients found in prescription drugs. These products may cause potentially serious side effects and may interact with medications or dietary supplements a consumer is taking. Consumers should use caution when considering purchasing these types of products.
It is clear from the results of our decade of testing that retailers and distributors, including online marketplaces, do not effectively prevent these types of potentially harmful products from being sold to consumers. FDA cannot test all products on the market that contain potentially harmful hidden ingredients. Enforcement actions and consumer advisories for tainted products only cover a small fraction of the tainted over-the-counter products on the market.
FDA encourages consumers and health care professionals to report any adverse events to the agency’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program so the agency can take action to protect the public from any unsafe products. FDA is committed to protecting consumers from the risks of buying medicines online and helping them be more aware of how to buy online safely.
The list below includes only a small fraction of the potentially dangerous products marketed to consumers online and in stores. Even if a product is not included in this list, consumers should exercise caution before using these types of body building products.
Public Notifications
- 04/13/2015 Press Release: FDA warns consumers not to use muscle growth product called Tri-Methyl Xtreme
- 11/13/2014 Public Notification: Mayhem Contains Hidden Drug Ingredients
- 07/28/2009 Public Health Advisory: The FDA recommends that consumers should not use body building products marketed as containing steroids or steroid-like substances
- 07/28/2009 Body Building Products Marketed as Containing Steroids or Steroid-Like Substances
- 07/28/2009 Warning on Body Building Products (video)
- 07/28/2009 The FDA recommends that consumers should not use body building products marketed as containing steroids or steroid-like substances
- 11/01/2009 FDA's MedWatch Safety Alerts: November 2009
- 01/27/2009 FDA Warns Consumers Against Dietary Supplement Containing Undeclared Drug
Enforcement
- 05/01/2015 May 1, 2015: Entrepreneur Sentenced, Ordered to Forfeit $650,000 for Distributing Anabolic Steroids as Dietary Supplements
- 08/30/2010 Unlimited Nutrition Warning Letter
- 09/30/2009 Body-building Products and Hidden Steroids: Enforcement Barriers
- 01/20/2010 Supplement Manufacturer Pleads Guilts to Selling Products Containing Anabolic Steroids
- 07/27/2009 Americell-labs.com VMG Global Inc Warning Letter
- 05/11/2009 Dietary Supplements Worth $1.3 Million Condemned and Forfeited to the United States Under Consent Decree
- 04/04/2008 Federal Agents Seize Nearly $1.3 Million of Illegal Dietary Supplements
Recalls
- 10/07/2010 Gaspari Nutrition Nutrition Issues a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Novedex XT
- 09/16/2010 Advanced Muscle Science Issues a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of AROM-X Capsules, AROM-X UTT Liquid, AROM-XL Liquid, 4-AD Capsules and Decavol Capsules
- 09/16/2010 iForce Nutrition Issues a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Reversitol
- 09/15/2010 Fizogen Precision Technologies, Inc. Recalls OFF CYCLE II HARDCORE
- 09/14/2010 Kilosports Inc. Issues Voluntary Recall of Clomed
- 09/13/2010 G.E.T. Issues Vouluntary Recall of ArimaDex
- 03/30/2010 Natural Wellness, Inc. Issues a Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Masxtreme Capsules
- 01/15/2010 MuscleMaster.com Conducts a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Certain Body Building Products
- 11/03/2009 BODYBUILDING.COM Recalls 65 Dietary Supplements That May Contain Steroids
- 07/28/2009 Nutracoastal Trading LLC Recalls S-DROL Dietary supplement lot 810481