Every year it seems more than a handful of student-athletes test positive for steroids they didn’t even know they were taking, all because an unregulated supplement industry led them astray. This year is no different. Despite repeated pleas from institutional and medical personnel to student-athletes about not relying on supplements of any kind to boost performance, too many student-athletes ignored the message and have only lost eligibility to show for it.

A few months ago for example, a football student-athlete at an NCAA member institution used a supplement called Pheraplex. After thoroughly researching the product online and checking the label, he found no banned substances. Even though the school’s athletic trainer had warned the student-athlete repeatedly about supplement use of any kind, the player still decided to begin taking Pheraplex.

Two weeks later he tested positive for steroids.

If that’s not scary enough, take the case of the baseball student-athlete who tested positive for steroids and had an unopened bottle of the product he used tested by a laboratory. The lab found the supplement was contaminated, despite the label not listing the banned substance that was detected.

While both student-athletes matched the supplement labels against the NCAA’s banned-substance list, they were each hit with one-year suspensions for failing drug tests. Although the labels were inaccurate, the student-athletes didn’t receive any leniency in their appeals.

As supplements proliferate on the shelves of health food and vitamin stores, student-athletes have countless choices of products that promise performance enhancement without breaking any rules. The promises, however, often are unreliable.

"The student-athletes may be saying that there wasn’t anything on the label and we may agree with them," said Mary Wilfert, NCAA associate director of education outreach/health and safety. "But supplements are risky and can be contaminated. There’s no guarantee that any of them are safe."

Supplement contamination is a by-product of an industry that doesn’t regulate its product manufacturing.

"Contamination is a bigger risk than student-athletes think," said Rachel Olander, resource specialist with The National Center for Drug Free Sport’s Research Exchange Center. "We don’t know where the products are manufactured and you don’t know what else the manufacturing facility produces."

Abstinence is best practice

Marc Paul, head athletic trainer at the University of Nevada, Reno, said student-athletes believe supplements are safe because they can pick them up over the counter at any health food store. What student-athletes need to do, Paul says, is verify all products through their sports medicine staffs.

But since even athletic trainers and doctors don’t know what’s in supplements most of the time, they often tell student-athletes not to take them, regardless of what the label describes.

"Student-athletes need to stay away from supplements. It’s that simple," Olander said. "We have to teach student-athletes that advertisements made by manufacturers aren’t validated by any sort of research. Whatever amazing outcome the product is advertised to accomplish is simply not going to happen. If you see any effects, they’ll most likely be placebo."

Paul and his staff tell student-athletes to bring in any supplements they’re considering taking. The suspect nature of the products always causes Paul and his staff to discourage their student-athletes from putting unregulated substances in their body, regardless of what the label proclaims.

"We’re trying to get the message out to all colleges and universities, and in particular, sports medicine staffs, compliance officers and others who have direct contact with these kids on a daily basis," Paul said. "We’re trying to reiterate that supplements are not the way to go. Proper diet, nutrition and hydration, along with working out, are the safest way to go. There aren’t any shortcuts or substitutes for doing it right."

‘At your own risk’

When Olander speaks with student-athletes, she warns them of the risks supplements pose to their health, as well as the fact that they could find themselves ineligible for competition because of a positive test.

"The impurity risk is by far what I’m trying to hammer home the most," Olander said. "Many of them aren’t aware that supplements aren’t regulated in the same manner as medicine."

Wilfert said that the onus truly falls on student-athletes to do their homework, which requires much more than reading a label. She said testing supplements before consumption would be unrealistic.

"Testing prior to use is too expensive and not readily available. They’d have to test every single bottle because every batch could be different," Wilfert said. "We send these warnings to campuses and hope that they’re telling the student-athletes."

NCAA Bylaw 30.5 requires institutions to educate student-athletes about banned supplements, but Wilfert acknowledged that sports medicine staffs can’t control what goes into the bodies of student-athletes.

"Some schools do a better job than others with regard to emphasizing the risk," Wilfert said. "If student-athletes choose to take supplements, they do so at their own risk."

Olander said it’s difficult to convince student-athletes that supplements won’t help them get where they want to go. She recognizes the allure but needs student-athletes to understand why they should steer clear.

"I don’t know exactly how we combat the use of supplements, but there isn’t a supplement that is 100 percent risk free." Olander said. "I believe that we have to give student-athletes choices. If ultimately they decide to use a supplement, they need to be aware that they’re assuming the risk and the choice is theirs."

Divisions I and II student-athletes are drug tested throughout the school year. At its meeting earlier this month, the Division III Presidents Council approved a two-year pilot program to evaluate student-athlete use of performance-enhancing drugs. Currently, Division III student-athletes are subject to testing only at NCAA championship events.

Paul said that the drug-testing program catches a number of student-athletes who have performance-enhancing supplements in their systems. He worries about how many the program will never hit.

"The case studies are the ones we know about, the kids who happen to get caught," Paul said. "The percentage is going down, but it’s such a hard figure to judge. Who knows how many cases there are that we didn’t test? We test enough to be a deterrent and to try and get the message out."

While drug-testing initiatives began because of rampant supplement use in college football, Wilfert said student-athletes in all sports are now tested.

"It’s not just a Division I football issue. We see reported steroid use from this research in all sports," she said.

Paul said that the only supplements that are safe to take are the ones that come from the sports medicine staff.

"If a student-athlete has a need for some supplement, whether it’s medicinal, nutritional, or whatever the case may be, we’ll get it for them and write down what it’s supposed to be," Paul said. "For a kid to go out and do it on his own is a huge risk, and it’s just not worth it."