Part 6: Supplements and Steroids

 In the world of nutritional supplements, it seems that the supplement manufacturers have the upperhand ... for now, anyway.

In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act. Under that piece of legislation, nutritional supplement manufacturers can essentially make any outrageous claim they like providing they don't claim to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any illness or disease.

So guess what?

They don't do the latter, but they grossly exaggerate and oft times outright lie about what their particluar supplement does -- and there's no watchdog. There's no one out there to monitor and place supplements under stringent chemical analysis.

However, from some of the tests performed by Major League Baseball some supplements can increase testosterone levels and do act in a similar manner to anabolic androgenic steroids.

Therefore, ball players should be cautious before taking any nutritional supplements because serious side effects may, and often do, exist.

Andro was banned by Major League Baseball in 2001.

(Series continues....)