Spiked nutritional supplement causes livertrauma

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FDA Warns Against Body Building Supplement


An FDA warning was issued on Monday Dec. 23 2013 for Mass Destruction, a body building dietary supplement that is used to stimulate muscle growth. The FDA issued the warning after a healthy 28-year-old man experienced liver failure after using the product for several weeks. The man required a liver transplant.

Mass Destruction
The FDA warns that Mass Destruction may cause sudden liver failure.

Mass Destruction is a product that is available at retail stores, gyms and online and contains at least one synthetic anabolic steroid according to the product’s label. The FDA is investigating whether there are more possible harmful substances in Mass Destruction that may not be labeled.

“Products marketed as supplements that contain anabolic steroids pose a real danger to consumers,” Howard Sklamberg, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release. “The FDA is committed to ensuring that products marketed as dietary supplements and vitamins do not pose harm to consumers.”

Mass Destruction is a product of Blunt Force Nutrition, a fitness company from Sims, N.C., although it is currently unclear who the actual manufacturer is and where it is made.

The FDA urges anyone who has been using Mass Destruction to look out for the following symptoms and seek medical help if they experience one or more of them.
•Unexplained fatigue
•Abdominal or back pain
•Discolored Urine
•Unexplained health changes

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the analyses

The FDA claims it includes at least one anabolic steroid. The prohormone Mass Destruction is said to contain the following steroids:
•mass destruction prohormone17a-methyl-1,4-androstadiene-3b
•18-methylestr-4-en-3-one-17b-ol

Probably more concerning is that the North Caroline Department of Health and Human Services is reporting that a 28 year old male is now in need of a liver transplant due to the use of Mass Destruction (oh the irony). But did the hormones in Mass Destruction actually lead to his liver failure?

17a-methyl-1,4-androstadiene-3b is more commonly known as M1,4ADD or a prohormone to dianabol (“D-bol”). It’s not a particularly popular prohormone, but nonetheless it can theoretically be hepatotoxic to a certain degree with abuse in the form of high doses or extended use. To my knowledge no existing reports of liver failure exist with this prohormone (either in published literature, or in anecdotal reports). In addition Mass Destruction only uses 13.33 mg’s per serving (30 serving bottle), which is a low dose and many believe the optimal dose to be 4-8 times a serving of Mass Destruction. Which suggests the culprit may actually be 18-methylestr-4-en-3-one-17b-ol.

18-methylestr-4-en-3-one-17b-ol is a relatively unknown in the prohormone world. Mostly because of the few products that contain it, none are popular, or come from trusted brands. Another brand includes it in a blend in a product called Androgeddon by Anabolic Androgenic Research (AAR). It’s alpha isomer is actually a controlled substance, and it’s believed that the act that banned the alpha isomer was actually intended for 18-methylestr-4-en-3-one-17b-ol. Nonetheless all we really know about 18-methylestr-4-en-3-one-17b-ol is that it is “deca” like in effects. I personally do not know anyone who has used it, which also means we know little about how hepatotoxic it really is.

The FDA news release indicated they would complete further testing on Mass Destruction to determine if it was accurately labeled. And considering the fact they said it contains at least one anabolic steroid, suggests they do in fact believe 18-methylestr-4-en-3-one-17b-ol to be a controlled substance. It’s hard to say at this point. In the end, in cases like this it’s typically not the fault of the prohormone itself, but the fault of the user’s abuse of that prohormone. Of course they will never admit to it when they are in need of a new liver. Who would?