Workout Supplement Confirmed to Contain Meth-Like Substance, Poses Serious Health Threats to Users

A popular workout supplement has tested positive for containing meth-like substance, according to Live Science.

The said supplement, called 'Craze', manufactured by Driven Sports Inc., is marketed as a workout enhancement supplement that can help enhance muscle gains. Its label states that it contains extract from dendrobium orchids. A study prompted by several athletes' failure in urine drug tests after taking Craze consistently found that the supplement contains a methamphetamine-like compound that is not listed on the product's label and which has not yet been studied in humans. The lack of tests on humans makes the effects of the said stimulant unknown.

Researchers from the Harvard Medical School published their findings in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis and reported that the Craze that they purchased from a GNC store and two other websites contained 21 to 35 milligrams per serving of a banned stimulant also known as N,a-diethyphenylethylamine or N,a-DEPEA, which suggests that the supplement was not accidentally contaminated.

However, Marc Ullman, lawyer of Driven Sports Inc. said that the company disputes the findings of the research. He also said that the new study is published in its shortened form which means that it lacks certain details and information that will allow the company to properly respond to the said allegations.

On the other hand, study researcher Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance in Boston said "we found that, instead of anything from an orchid, it had an unlisted, practically unknown, cousin of methamphetamine." As of late, there is no clear explanation as to how Craze and other supplements may have contained meth-like substances but Dr. Cohen said he suspects that dietary supplement manufacturers are purchasing N,a-DEPEA that's labeled as dendrobium as a "cover-up".