The Pentagon has published a list of dietary supplements it says contain dangerous ingredients that may cause troops to pop positive on a urine test.
The Defense Department's Human Performance Resource Center, part of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, introduced its "High-Risk Supplement List" this week as part of Operation Supplement Safety, the center's initiative to educate service members and their families about supplements.
The inventory, which contains more than 130 bodybuilding supplements, dietary aids and fat-burners, is nearly identical to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's high-risk supplement list and actually was developed in conjunction with that organization, said HPRC senior nutrition scientist Andrea Lindsey.
"We basically used the World Anti-Doping Agency list as a guide. We also have our own specific inclusion document" for adding supplements of concern to military personnel, Lindsey said.
Officials from the supplement industry object to their products' inclusion.
HPRC leaders hope the list, which is sortable and searchable, becomes the first resource troops go to when deciding whether to take dietary supplements.
"This is an educational tool, but it's only one piece. The HPRC has many different resources to help a war fighter, health care provider or family member make an informed decision," Lindsey said.
HPRC officials say the list contains diet aids that are harmful and not healthful, from stimulants and unapproved drugs to steroids or synthetics.
The list contains several supplements that have made headlines, including:
- 12 that contain DMBA, or 1,3-dimethylbutylamine, which some researchers say is a synthetic stimulant never tested on humans.
- Jack3d Micro, a reformulated product introduced after predecessor Jack3d was banned for containing DMAA, or 1,3-dimethylamylamine.
- Mayhem, a supplement found to contain undeclared drugs such as dexamethasone, a prescription anti-inflammatory, and cyproheptadine, a prescription antihistamine.
"Many dietary supplements contain ingredients that are banned in the military, like controlled anabolic steroids, and this list reveals many of these products," said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, USUHS Kellerman School of Medicine dean. "USADA has a similar website to help athletes, and USU's partnership with them allows us to help do the same for service members."
Before logging into the site, users must read and accept a lengthy set of disclaimers. HPRC officials add that just because a product is not listed, doesn't mean it's safe.
"They are on on the list because they are deemed to be high-risk. But if something is not on the list and someone is interested in taking it, they should be a savvy consumer, look at the ingredients and use all the tools we provide them to decide [whether to take something]," Lindsey said.
Many dietary supplement makers and marketers have challenged research on their products and question the validity of the USADA high-risk list.
Their concerns now extend to the HPRC list.
Supplement company Driven Sports has one product, Lean Xtreme, on the list. According to the database, Lean Xtreme contains 7b-hydroxy, 17b-dihydro DHEA, a steroid or "steroid-like substance."
Driven Sports attorney Marc Ullman called Lean Xtreme's inclusion on the list "absurd."
"The substance in Lean Xtreme ... is a non-anabolic, non-androgenic metabolite of DHEA. It is natural, safe, and has been the subject of several safety/efficacy studies. ... USADA has set itself up as the unchallengeable authority on tainted products, makes pronouncements as to what should be banned, and feels no obligation to provide any substantive explanation from those pronouncements," Ullman said.
After researchers called DMBA a synthetic stimulant that has not been tested on humans, VPX, marketers of Redline White Heat and MD2 Meltdown -- two products on the USADA and HPRC "high-risk" lists -- published an open letter on their website attacking the report as "fear mongering and fact twisting."
The company said DMBA is a naturally occurring substance found in Pouchung tea and is "100 percent … legal."
VPX did not respond to a request for comment about the new high-risk list.
HPRC expects to update the list weekly or as needed. The USADA updates its list as often.
"We want to provide service members, their family members and health care providers information on the topic of dietary supplements and arm them with the information to make their own decisions ... We hope people will go to Operation Supplement Safety to see all the great resources we have," Lindsey said.
