Detection and determination of anabolic steroids in nutritional supplements

A method is described for the determination of anabolic steroids including testosterone, 19-nor-4-androstene-3,17-dione, 4-androstene-3,17-dione and nandrolone in food supplements. Initial clean-up is done by HPLC followed by determination with GC/MS. A 'contaminated' food supplement was analysed and appeared to contain 19-nor-4-androstene-3,17-dione and 4-androstene-3,17-dione. One capsule of this nutritional supplement was ingested by five male volunteers. Urine samples were collected and analysed by GC/MS and GC/MS-MS. Neither the ratio testosterone/epitestosterone, nor the ratio androstenedione/epitestosterone increased significantly. Concentrations above 2 ng/ml for norandrosterone, the major metabolite of nandrolone, were detected until 48-144 h after ingestion of the food supplement.