Law on dietary supplements reviewed by Congress

Offices of many companies suspected of making bodybuilding products that illegally contain steroids and are sold as over-the-counter dietary supplements were raided by the federal agents.

A warning to consumers was issued by the FDA for not to use products marketed as bodybuilding products and containing steroids or that claims to enhance testosterone.

From NYTimes.com:

Now Congress is investigating whether laws, health agency resources and manufacturing guidelines are adequate to protect the public from products that illegally contain steroids but masquerade as dietary supplements.

Under the law, dietary supplements are generally defined as products that contain or are derived from natural foodstuffs like minerals or herbs and do not claim to prevent, mitigate or cure specific illnesses.

But when products marketed as supplements are found to contain pharmaceutical ingredients like steroids, the federal government considers them misbranded — and unapproved illegal drugs.

Many companies exploit the absence of premarket regulation for selling magic powders and pills while using reputation of the health food industry to cloak themselves with the appearance of respectability and safety, as per Travis T. Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Hydroxycut diet aids recalled

Citing reports of a death due to liver failure and other instances of serious health problems, the Federal drug regulators have warned consumers not to use the Hydroxycut line of weight loss products.

The FDA said that it had received twenty three reports of significant adverse health effects such as heart problems, muscle damage, and kidney damage in people making use of Hydroxycut.

From NYTimes.com:

The Hydroxycut brand, which has been widely sold at national chain stores including GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe, includes pills, drinks and powders marketed to increase energy, burn calories and fat, and control appetite. The maker reported selling more than nine million units of the brand last year, according to the F.D.A.

That company, Iovate Health Sciences of Oakville, Ontario, and its American distributor are voluntarily recalling 14 of the products. Two other products, Hydroxycut Cleanse and Hoodia, with different ingredients, are not affected by the recall. Calls to the company’s Canadian headquarters reached a recorded message that directed callers to the Hydroxycut Web site.

The recall of one of the best-known weight-loss brands is the latest in a series of incidents that raise the question of whether the Food and Drug Administration has adequate authority to regulate the dietary supplement industry and provide consumer protection.

At issue is the difference in the way the agency oversees drugs — defined as products that prevent or cure disease — and dietary supplements, which can offer general health benefits but cannot claim to treat specific diseases or symptoms.

Part of the problem is that the FDA looks at dietary supplements from a postmarket perspective and a single incident is often difficult to follow, according to Dr. Linda Katz, interim chief medical officer of the agency’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Coach of disgraced Johnson dies at 61

The Canadian coach, Charlie Francis, who trained star sprinter Ben Johnson, died in Toronto at the age of 61 years. Francis coached Johnson who was the first Olympic champion to be stripped of a gold medal after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

Francis became increasingly frustrated in the late 1970s and ’80s after getting poor response from the international track officials when it comes to punishing athletes using performance enhancing drugs, according to Richard Pound, a former vice president of the I.O.C.

From NYTimes.com:

In 1989, Francis was barred for life from coaching in Canada when he told an inquiry that Johnson and 10 other athletes had used performance-enhancing drugs as part of training programs he designed.
Francis continued to advise runners from around the world, in books, on the Internet and in person. For a time in 2003, the American sprinters Marion Jones and her companion, Tim Montgomery, worked with him in Toronto. Responding to pressure from sponsors and track officials, Jones and Montgomery left Francis. Both later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.
“Charlie’s legacy is multi-layered,” said Dr. Steven Ungerleider, a psychologist and author of “Faust’s Gold: Inside the East German Doping Machine.” “He wasn’t just an isolated coach, with an isolated athlete; he left this legacy that contaminated some of the greatest track stars of the world.”

It is worth noting here that Francis made an unapologetic admission that his athletes used performance enhancing drugs and IOC officials only thereafter formulated plans to handle incidents of drug abuse in sports.

Judge blocks suspension of five players

A federal judge has blocked, at least temporarily, the suspensions handed down to five NFL players (Pat Williams and Kevin Williams of the Minnesota Vikings and Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints) for violating anti-doping policy of the league.

More time is needed for passing a ruling on the case involving the NFL players, as per U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson.

From Espnstar.com:

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail to PA SportsTicker on Friday that the league is confident Magnuson will uphold the suspensions once he has time to fully review all aspects of the case.

"We welcome that scrutiny," Aiello said. "We are confident that, once he has had an opportunity to review all of the relevant materials, including the Collective Bargaining Agreement, he will uphold our longstanding agreements with the NFLPA that protect the health and safety of NFL players and the integrity of our game."

Magnuson heard arguments from attorneys for the players' union and the NFL in a three-hour hearing before rendering his decision shortly after a recess Friday.

The players were suspended Tuesday after testing positive for Bumetanide, a banned diuretic that can mask the presence of other substances, including steroids.

However, the NFLPA said in its lawsuit that league officials were aware that a supplement called StarCaps contained the banned substance but failed to share that information with players.

Magnuson wrote in his ruling that the case issues are contentious and complex and it is not easy to find out in two days that remain before the players at issue are next scheduled to take the field.

Police issued warning for steroids

The Laval Police has issued to all who have bought steroids on the black market after they found out that a clandestine lab was dealing in many products made in filthy conditions.

The police warned that any one who has made use of drugs identified with the label Sun labs should immediately seek medical advice and those who have such products should immediately dispose them off.

From Montrealgazette.com:

"What they found on the main floor were large bags of powders and jugs of liquids. Some were labelled, others weren't," Laval police Constable Nathalie Lorrain said.

After obtaining a search warrant, investigators found 200 vials ready for sale containing a liquid labelled as an anabolic steroid. A small vial of growth hormone was also seized, along with pills, more than 9,000 empty vials, a machine used to seal them and a machine to make pills. Labels from what is believed to be a fictitious pharmaceutical company were also found.

"The worst thing was that the liquid we found, which could be injected, was made in very dirty conditions. All the pots and bottles we found were very dirty," Lorrain said.

"Also, there were so many powders and chemicals that we can't identify them. We have to wait for Health Canada to analyze them. We think there could be a lot of chemicals that are bad for your health.

The patrol officers found the products after receiving a call about a break-in about a home on Leandre Descotes St.

Soares defends case on steroids

An Albany judge has been asked to forge ahead by prosecutors with a criminal trial for five Florida pharmacy operators accused of being at the center of an alleged illegal steroids business. The steroids case drew national interest in 2007 but has since then brought attacks on office of the Albany County district attorney.

The remaining criminal case targeting the pharmacist-owners of Orlando's former Signature Compounding Pharmacy has been languished for three years and exposed illegal steroid use by professional athletes and others.

From Timesunion.com:

More than 15 people, including doctors and business owners, pleaded guilty to related drug charges in a case that exposed systemic abuse of prescription drug laws. But the case against the pharmacists and their managers, who were also targets of a related federal criminal investigation, has thrust a spotlight on District Attorney David Soares' decision to indict operators of a faraway company that did a small percentage of its multi-million-dollar business in New York state and Albany County.

Two years ago an Albany County judge threw out the first indictment against the pharmacy's operators, citing prosecutorial missteps in the grand jury proceedings. A month later, the pharmacists fought back with a federal civil rights lawsuit in Florida seeking millions of dollars in damages for false arrest and malicious prosecution. They sued Soares, an assistant district attorney, the Orlando Police Department and other law enforcement officials.

But their criminal case in New York was not over. Earlier this year a state appellate court reversed a portion of the county judge's dismissal order that barred prosecutors from bringing a new indictment, which they did in June.

Soares not only participated in, but also directed the Assistant District attorney and others for violating plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful arrests.

Contraceptive pills effective for controlling severe premenstrual disorder

According to a recently concluded study, a low dose of oral contraceptive shows as much efficacy as the standard treatment for the most severe form of premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Kimberly Yonkers, M.D., associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology and Public Health and lead author of the study, remarked that individuals with this complication generally cyclical mood, behavioral and physical symptoms.

From News-medical.net:

In this multi-center, double-blind, randomized clinical trial, 450 women ages 18 to 40, from 64 medical centers across the country with symptoms of PMDD, were given either the oral contraceptive or a placebo.

It was found that the women who were given the oral contraceptive had significantly greater improvement, over 48 percent compared to 36 percent, of women on the placebo.

They experienced greater enjoyment of hobbies, social activities, and interpersonal relationships, and greater symptom reduction.

It seems that forty-four women from both groups withdrew from the study due to adverse effects such as nausea and intermenstrual bleeding.

The low dose oral contraceptive contained drospirenone, a new progestin, and ethinyl estradiol.

In the study it was taken for 24 days followed by four days of inactive pills, which differs from traditional courses of therapy which have seven days of inactive pills.

It was remarked by researchers at Yale School of Medicine that a low dose of oral contraceptive with a unique progestin and dosing regimen is good enough for treating PMDD along with suppressing ovarian activity.

Marion Jones all set to join basketball

Marion Jones, the disgraced sprinter, who lost five Olympic medals after testing positive for steroids and jailed for lying to federal prosecutors has signed for the Tulsa Shock, Women's National Basketball Association team.

Jones spent six months in a federal prison after she lied about use of steroids and her role in a cheque fraud.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Jones, who was awarded gold medals for winning the 100m, 200m and 4 x 400m relays at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and two bronzes in the long jump and 4x100m, admitted two years ago that she had taken steroids before, during and after the Games and was stripped of her five medals. She also spent about six months in a Texas federal prison for lying about doping and her role in a cheque fraud.

Jones said playing for the Shock is not about her past but instead fulfils her dream of playing basketball against some of the best players in the world.

"The word redemption is not in my vocabulary," Jones said at a news conference, flanked by the team's president, Steve Swetoha, and coach Nolan Richardson. "I'm a competitor, I want to play against the best in the world, and I know that I will be doing that."

The former sprinter may have been a success with athletics but her association with disgrace and doping is bound to have a serious effect on how sport fans accept her.

Harvard Chemists synthesize HGH group

The synthesis of a family of hormones that could be of as much medical importance as the steroid drugs are today has been made by a Harvard Research Group. The steroids that can be classified as another group of hormones are the active ingredients in drugs such as birth control pills.

Detailed report of the research appeared in an issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

From Thecrimson.com:

Major Effects

Earlier researchers have intensively studied the prostaglandins because of indications that even as little as a billionth of an ounce of the hormones could have major effects on many different body processes.

Some have been found to speed up or to slow heart rate, to raise or lower blood pressure, to control deposits of fat inside blood vessels, or to change nervous activity in the brain. And present studies are testing their capability in birth control and the ability to withstand stress.

Icelandic Sheep

But all of these studies have been limited by the difficulty of obtaining working amounts of the hormones in pure form. The largest of the present meager sources is in extracts from the tests of Icelandic sheep.

Since all the prostaglandins have a closely similar chemical structure--based on a backbone of a ring of 5 carbon atoms to which 15 others are attached--synthesis of all members of the family should be a relatively easy matter. This will make possible their production in large enough quantities for research into their medical uses.

The group, which was led by Elias J. Corey, professor of Chemistry and chairman of the Chemistry department, was able to synthesize five members of a class of fifteen hormones called as prostaglandins.

Potential detection system for performance enhancing drugs

A potential detection system that can be used to test athletes for performance enhancing drugs is currently under the development stage by scientists at the University of Nottingham.

The research is considered to provide a more reliable way of detecting drug molecules in the body.

From News-medical.net:

Some methods overcome these problems but add carbon to the target molecule, irreversibly overprinting the carbon source ‘signal’. The research into hydropyrolysis, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, has developed a new approach that delicately strips molecules of their ‘sticky’ parts but retains the carbon skeleton intact, allowing easy detection of the carbon source.

The new detection system could allow scientists to pinpoint banned substances in an athlete’s system — even the new designer steroid specifically manufactured to avoid detection recently uncovered by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

Professor Snape added: "Our discovery of a method to produce easy to handle molecules without destroying their carbon source signal opens up the whole body’s molecules to intense scientific scrutiny."

The research is led by Professor Colin Snape in the University’s School of Chemical, Environmental and Mining Engineering and published recently in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.