World Anti-Doping Agency

FDA issues consumer warning on sports products that contain SARMs

01-Nov-2017 By Hank Schultz

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a consumer warning against supplement-like body building products that contain SARMs, or selective androgen receptor modulators.

Colostrum supplements may reduce muscle damage and inflammation post-exercise: RCT

29-Mar-2017 By Stephen Daniells

A daily supplement containing bovine colostrum may reduce markers of muscle damage and blunt inflammation after exercise, says a new study with soccer players.

NPA announces Informed Choice partnership to boost sports certifications

14-Feb-2017 By Hank Schultz

The Natural Products Association is promoting a partnership with sports certifier Informed Choice to offer ‘preferential access’ to members who want to go through the certification process.

Kratom in sports: Is this a growing issue?

19-Dec-2016 By Stephen Daniells

A new paper in Drug Testing & Analysis calls for increased vigilance from anti-doping testing labs after four samples from athletes in strength sports tested positive in 2015.

Booming demand for certification drives LGC's lab expansion

05-Dec-2016 By Hank Schultz

LGC Group said strong demand for its supplement testing services led the need for an expansion at its laboratory in Lexington, KY.  The expanded facility was inaugurated at a ceremony last week.

BodyHealth’s PerfectAmino cleared for use in sports by LGC

11-Oct-2016

Kentucky-based LGC Science has successfully cleared BodyHealth’s PerfectAmino supplement of a wide range of substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

4Excelsior gets Informed-Choice certification

15-Sep-2016 By Stephen Daniells

Anaheim-based contact manufacturer 4Excelsior has attained the international sports nutrition manufacturing certification Informed-Choice.

Special edition: Sports nutrition

Booming demand for sports certifications seen as proof industry takes quality seriously

17-Sep-2015 By Hank Schultz

The market for sports certifications continues to boom, with new players entering the market and established brands scrambling to keep up with demand. 

ESSNA: “Thousands of people engaging in sport and activity at all levels use and benefit from legal sports nutrition products."

Euro sports nutrition sector: Supplements no gateway to doping

16-Sep-2015 By Shane STARLING

Consuming sports supplements is not a step on the slippery slope to doping, the European sports nutrition sector has said in response to a US sports coach turned whistle blower who questioned their use.

New developments in sports certification field as competition heats up

09-Jul-2015 By Hank Schultz

Competition is heating up in the sports certification field, as several companies offering verification schemes that test for banned substances announced developments recently.

BSCG offers expanded testing suite that looks for almost 400 drugs that have been found in supplements

22-Apr-2015 By Hank Schultz

In this new era when the quality of dietary supplements has been called onto the carpet in the mainstream media, a San Diego-based testing firm believes it has a solution.  The Banned Substances Control Group now offers an expanded testing suite that...

Special edition: Sports nutrition

Offside! ESSNA blows whistle on athletes’ doping excuses

24-Apr-2014 By Shane STARLING

Europe’s sports nutrition sector today launched a stinging attack on elite athletes who blame doping infringements on contaminated sports supplements as happened multiple times at the recent Winter Olympiad in Sochi, Russia.

Online retailers can help stop doping and questionable supplements: Consultant

06-Mar-2014 By Luca Bucchini, PhD

If the nutritional supplements sector is to ever cast off its reputation for ‘dangerous’ and unlabelled contaminants then big online retails must embrace and enforce stricter anti-doping policies, argues Luca Bucchini, PhD.

Editor's Blog

‘Play it again, Sochi’: DMAA food supplements stimulate ongoing Olympic dopiness

24-Feb-2014 By Shane STARLING

For 12 days the 22nd Winter Olympiad in Sochi, Russia, had escaped the scourge of doping. It may not have escaped the scourge of homophobic ranting from its paragon-of-progress president, Vladimir Putin, but it had been drug-free.

UK warns against another USPLabs pre-workout supplement

12-Nov-2013 By Shane Starling

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned consumers off VERSA-1, the second pre-workout sports supplement made by Texas-based manufacturer USPLabs containing the disputed ingredient, aegeline.

UK medicines agency issues OxyElite Pro 'no-no'

08-Nov-2013 By Shane Starling

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has joined the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) in warning consumers off pre-workout sports supplement, OxyElite Pro.

UPDATE: Swedish agency detects (legal) amphetamine-like compounds in sports supplements; not in ‘authentic’ Craze, says manufacturer

17-May-2013 By Shane STARLING

A Swedish lab has found amphetamine-like compounds in sports supplements containing a herbal extract that has been touted as a replacement for widely banned stimulant, DMAA. But the lab said the compounds were not illegal, while the product maker has...

DMAA in the dock

DMAA blamed for London marathon death

31-Jan-2013 By Shane STARLING

A single dose of the banned stimulant DMAA was the most probable cause of the heart attack that killed Claire Squires in hospital after she collapsed during the final metres of the 2012 London marathon.

Marlyn Nutraceuticals earns NSF GMP for Sport certification

25-Sep-2012

Marlyn Nutraceuticals Inc., a Phoenix-based contract manufacturer, has successfully completed an NSF GMP for Sport certification program, the company announced recently.

USADA official cautions athletes about supplement use

12-Sep-2012 By Hank Schultz

There is a continued gap in the perception of dietary supplements between those who make them and the organizations that regulate their use in sports.  The latest example comes in the form of comments from a U.S. anti-doping official.

DMAA in the Dock

France hunting ‘unauthorised’ DMAA products as Australia condemns stimulant

01-Aug-2012 By Shane STARLING

The French agency responsible for policing the country’s food supplements market told NutraIngredients today the controversial stimulant DMAA has been prioritised by its 2500 agents in a nationwide crackdown.

UK busts 84 sports supplements for “dangerous ingredients”

23-Jul-2012 By Shane Starling

The bad week for the sports nutrition sector continued this morning as the UK medicines regulator announced it had warned retailers and manufacturers to remove 84 products containing “dangerous ingredients”.

Industry hopes Olympics will torch supplement contamination concerns

21-Jun-2012 By Shane STARLING

The Olympic Games have in the past brought the food supplements industry to the edge of its collective seat – but not necessarily in fevered anticipation of the world-class sporting fare on offer as anti-doping scrutiny has raised contamination issues.

DMAA fallout: 'The industry is always on the lookout for the next big stimulant', says All American EFX boss

07-May-2012 By Elaine Watson

With the road ahead now appearing closed - or at least decidedly rocky - for pre-workout stimulant DMAA (1,3-Dimethylamylamine), attention is turning to alternatives. But could they be just as controversial?

Twinlab prepares for June launch of new Clean Series range

12-Mar-2012 By Elaine Watson

Twinlab is preparing to unveil a new range of sports nutrition products under the Clean Series brand to tap into growing demand for products with ‘cleaner’ labels.

CRN: There should not be a ‘trial by the press’ on DMAA

20-Jan-2012 By Elaine Watson

There should not be a ‘trial by the press’ on the controversial stimulant DMAA (1,3-Dimethylamylamine), says the Council for Responsible Nutrition (USA).

Class action targets 'dangerous' DMAA in BPI Sports' products

17-Nov-2011 By Stephen Daniells

Florida’s BPI Sports has been hit with a proposed class action in the state of California over allegations of its products containing a ‘dangerous amphetamine-like ingredient’ with ‘potentially life-threatening side effects’.

Dispatches from SupplySide West

USADA chief explains dietary supplement ‘confidence killers’

08-Nov-2010 By Shane Starling

NutraIngredients-USA.com caught up with United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive officer, Travis Tygart, at the recent SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas to get an update on USADA’s position on dietary supplements.

AHPA welcomes “openness” of USADA

24-Jun-2010 By Shane Starling

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has welcomed a newfound willingness on the part of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to engage openly with the dietary supplements industry.

Special edition: Sports nutrition

The curious case of sports nutrition regulation

08-Jun-2010 By Shane Starling

In the fourth part of NutraIngredients’ sports nutrition series, we scan a category as reliant on its elite sports roots as it is at times reviled by them and the rules that can lead to perfectly good products being called foul.

Dietary supplements win Olympic gold

15-Sep-2008

To coin a phrase oft-used by winning athletes, Beijing was 'a good games’ for an increasingly mature dietary supplements industry.

Dutch programme ensures sports supplements safety

17-Apr-2008 By Shane Starling

The recent food supplements contamination case that led to banning
from competition of a number of Greek weightlifters, would never
have happened in the Netherlands, according to the trade
association there.

Olympic ideals raise bar on supplements contamination

08-Apr-2008 By Shane Starling

Greece's Olympic weightlifting team is blaming contaminated
Chinese-made food supplements for some of its members being charged
with doping violations.

Test claims sports supplements contain illegal substances

06-Dec-2007 By Clarisse Douaud

A non-profit supplement testing program has issued a report
revealing banned substances exist in certain sports-related dietary
supplements, which has generated a buzz in the mainstream media and
concern from industry itself.

NSF program could encourage athletes' supplement use

11-Jul-2006 By staff reporter

The Canadian Center for Ethics In Sport (CCES) has teamed up with
NSF International over a supplements certification program intended
to minimize the risk of products used by athletes containing
substances prohibited by the World...