1. What is a steroid?

2. What is an anabolic steroid?

3. What is a stimulant?

4. What is the Prohibited List, maintained by the World
Anti Doping Agency (WADA)?

5. Why do supplements need to be tested?

6. How can supplements be inadvertently contaminated?

7. What detection levels should supplements be tested at?

8. What is required to test at levels in the nanogram per gram range?

9. Why can supplement products not be subjected to testing against "everything" on the WADA prohibited list?

10. What list of substances should be looked for within a supplement testing program?

11. Why can products not be subjected to the standard WADA test?

12. Is there a link between WADA testing and ISO 17025?

13. What are the important things to look for within a testing program?

14. How can I learn more about testing supplements and the associated science?

15. What if I need general help to understand the issue of contamination?

16. Can you test supplements for IGF-1?

7. What detection levels should supplements be tested at?

The labs that are accredited by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to screen athletes blood and urine samples use techniques that are very sensitive – with capability to detect banned substances down to 2 nanograms per millilitre of urine (i.e. 2 parts of substance in 1,000,000,000 parts of urine!).

Doses (total intake) of low levels of banned substance (in the microgram range) can generate such levels in an athlete's urine. As a result, supplements need to be tested for the presence of banned substances at sensitivity levels in the nanogram per gram or nanogram per millilitre range (as an athlete may ingest many tens of grams of supplement). Such low detection levels are beyond the ‘normal’ QC requirements of pharmaceutical and food industries.