When contaminated dietary supplements cause positive drug tests: methylhexaneamine as a doping agent in sport

ABSTRACT

Researchers estimate that contaminated dietary supplements cause between 6.4% and 8.8% of all positive drug tests in competitive sport. Methylhexaneamine (DMAA), an amphetamine derivative banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2009, has caused more positive tests than any other stimulant. The current article examines DMAA as a potentially hazardous supplement contaminant and doping agent, beginning with an historical overview. Sections addressing its status as both a performance-enhancing substance and potential health threat follow. The article then situates methylhexaneamine in a sport-policy context, identifying DMAA-related challenges to the effective and uniform enforcement of the WADA Code. A final section offers suggestions for both athletes and athletic organisations.

KEYWORDS:

• Dietary supplements
• doping
• DMAA
• methylhexaneamine
• WADA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Eichner and Tygart (2016, p. 304) defined sport supplements as ‘products marketed for body-building, weight-loss, [and] pre-workout/energy’.

2. In addition to athletes cited in Table 1, five minor-league baseball players received 50-game suspensions in August 2010 for positive DMAA tests (MLB.com 2010). Also in 2010, British shot putter Rachel Wallander received a 4-month ban (Gibson 2011), and in 2012, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) issued 6-month bans to Portuguese runner Sara Moreira and South Korean sprinter Lim Hee-nam (Associated Press 2012a). In 2012, Welsh boxer Enzo Maccarinelli received a 6-month suspension; British boxer Dillian Whyte received a 2-year ban (Ziegler 2013) and Major League Baseball suspended Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Marcus Stroman for 50 games following a positive DMAA test (Barrs 2012). Syrian hurdler Ghfran Almouhamad tested positive for DMAA at the 2012 London Olympics (Associated Press 2012b), and Uzbekistani wrestler Soslan Tigiev lost his 2012 Olympic medal after a positive DMAA test (Associated Press 2012c). In March 2013, the International Tennis Federation suspended Dimitar Kutrovsky for 15 months after a positive DMAA test (Lattman and Singer 2013), and in December 2013, boxing officials announced that Brandon Rios had tested positive for DMAA following his 23 November loss to Manny Pacquiao (Smith 2013). In November 2014, Minnesota Twins catching prospect Alex Real received a 50-game suspension (Associated Press 2014), and at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, bobsledder William Frullani, biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and hockey player Vitalijs Pavlovs each tested positive for DMAA. Finally, in January 2016, the Confederation of African football suspended Algerian footballer Kheiredine Merzougi for 2 years, which the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) extended to 4 years (ESPN 2016).

3. See, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/questions-answers/strict-liability-in-anti-doping.

4. Travis T. Tygart, CEO of USADA, stated the following as part of the U.S. Department of Justice (2015) indictment announcement: ‘We work to educate athletes on the risks associated with choosing to use supplements, and we will continue to support further action at a national level to prevent dangerous substances and products from being allowed in the marketplace where they can easily be attained by unsuspecting athletes and other consumers.’

5. More recently, Hi-Tech sued Dr. Pieter Cohen, a supplement critic and assistant professor in the Harvard School of Medicine, for allegedly defaming Hi-Tech in an article (Cohen et al. 2015) that located an amphetamine isomer, β-methylphenylethylamine (BMPEA), in multiple weight-loss products. Hi-Tech lost the case (Robbins 2017). Cohen et al. (2014) also identified methamphetamine analogue N,α-diethyl-phenylethylamine (N,α-DEPEA) as a supplement contaminant.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bryan E. Denham

Bryan E. Denham is a professor in the Department of Communication at Clemson University.