JoeAdmin’s BodyBlog

Here we go again! Another athlete has blamed dietary supplements for him failing a drug test. Phillies reliever J.C. Romero was suspended for 50 games after he failed his drug test. He claims the dietary supplement 6-OXO made him fail it. Romero said his nutritionist assured him the label of the supplement showed no banned supplements. The Phillies strength coach sent it in to MLB official who then tested the product to find it contained a banned substance. Romero claims he immediately stopped use of the product upon finding out about this. 

ErgoPharm the manufacturer of 6-OXO claims there is no substance in their product that should result in a positive test in the MLB. I am not sure how knowledgeable ErgoPharm is of the banned list in the MLB, but if they tested it and found it contained a banned substance then I think it is safe to say that it did. 

Now I am not saying that ErgoPharm did anything wrong, nor am I saying that Romero was knowingly trying to cheat. He does however have to be responsible for what he puts into his own body. With the salaries these players are making I think they can afford to have the supplements they wish to consume tested prior to taking them. I think if I were a high paid athlete, and I seen all these reports about other athletes failing drug tests because of a supplement they took, I would personally have the supplements of my choice tested to ensure I don’t get a suspension and lose millions of dollars. I think they would definitely have a case to argue if they did that. Unless of course they truly were taking steroids or other banned substances, but that is a whole other beast that I am not going to get into. 

All I know is the supplement industry is continuously getting accused of being the cause of these athletes failed tests. Some may be legit and some may not, but it is giving the industry a bad name. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn out to be another case of a supplement containing a substance that isn’t listed on the label…a la StarCaps.

Yesterday the FDA sent out two letters of "no objection" to Cargill and Whole Earth Sweetener Company for self-determination of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) for rebaudioside A purified from S. rebaudiana Bertoni (also known as Reb A) as a natural zero-calorie sweetener. For an ingredient to be allowed for use in food it must be GRAS. Now let me get this clear, the FDA did not give Reb A there own GRAS status, they just said they do not object to the self-determination of GRAS by those companies. I also want to make it clear that this is just for Reb A, and not all stevia products. Unless the ingredient is Reb A it is not included in this "no objection" letter.

So what does this mean? Well it means that for now we will see some new options for sweeteners, as Cargill is launching their version Truvia, and Whole Earth Sweetener Company is launching their version PureVia. It also means we will see new options for drinks very soon too. Cargill has teamed up with Coke to launch low-calorie versions of Sprite and Odwalla juices. Pepsi has been working with Whole Earth Sweetener Co. to launch no-calorie versions of SoBe Lifewater and a low-calorie version of Tropicana orange juice.

This is good news for anyone looking for an alternative to the artificial sweeteners that are out there now, such as aspartame and splenda to name a couple. I am pretty excited about this as I have been waiting for a some time for this to happen. I feel that the more options people have the better. Well, I just wanted to share this exciting news with all of you. Take care and have a Happy Holidays!!!

Hey everyone! In case you didn’t know I am the FDA/FTC Compliance Advisor here at Bodybuilding.com. I just wanted to take a minute to give you a little insight into the FDA/FTC Compliance Department here. Currently I am the only person in the department, and have been with the company for about five and a half years. I have been the Compliance Advisor for over three.

To give you all an idea of what I do here, without going into too much detail, I make sure that the information that we get from the manufacturers of the products we carry is compliant with the rules and regulations set forth by the FDA and FTC. I also review the articles that we publish to make sure they are compliant as well. I work closely with our lawyers to review other sections, and new sections of the site to ensure that we are compliant.

Well, this is just a little bit about me and my department. I have a project I am working on right now that I can’t wait to launch for all of you. I think it will help you when making decisions on what products you want to purchase. I will tell you more in a future blog, but for now that is all you get. I just wanted to take a second to give you a quick peek into my area of the company. Talk to you later!