WELLINGTON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Athletes and the body-conscious should beware that at least six sports supplements on sale in Australia and New Zealand contain anabolic steroids not declared on their labels, researchers said on Wednesday.
Designer anabolic steroids, also known as androgens, pose a potential health risk and, for athletes, may lead to a positive doping test and a ban from competing in a sport, according to a study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, which was carried out by researchers from the University of Otago and the University of Technology Sydney.
Research leader Prof. Alison Heather of the Department of Physiology in Otago's School of Biomedical Sciences said that athletes use supplements hoping they will make them more competitive and healthy.
"Sports supplements, as well as other forms of nutritional supplements, are very popular with athletes, at the professional, amateur and recreational levels. In some sports, 100 percent of the athletes use such supplements, such as in body-building," Heather said, adding that some members of the general population also take them in the hope they might improve body image or vitality.
The sports supplement market is not well-regulated and manufacturers can market their products with unsubstantiated claims, she said.
European studies have shown up to 16 percent of sports supplements contain a banned substance.
