Proteins, creatine, pre-workout, BCAAs, vitamins: on the shelves of sports supplement stores, and even in pharmacies, there are dozens of pots of colored powder. All promise, either or all at once, performance, muscle mass gain, recovery or energy.
But these products are barely controlled by Health Canada. On its site, we can read that “the holder of a marketing license is responsible for the quality of the product”. In other words, the federal watchdog relies solely on manufacturer declarations to authorize a product, and only tests it when a complaint is filed.
“So there may be, intentionally or not, prohibited substances which will have contaminated the product that you are going to use,” says Evelyne Telmosse, nutritionist at the Institut national du sport du Québec.
According to a 2018 study, conducted over almost 10 years, the American equivalent of Health Canada, the FDA, detected anabolic steroids in no fewer than 82 supplements sold to increase muscle gain. Of these, 73 did not indicate it on the label.
Then, a US study published in July 2023 showed that, out of 57 commercially available sports supplements analyzed by researchers, 7 contained at least one illegal substance – one of them contained 4. These products were sold as “fat burners,” “energizers,” or “pre-workouts” – supplements supposedly improving endurance, energy, and focus.
The Canadian market is not spared: between April 2021 and March 2024, Health Canada banned 39 products containing drugs or other potentially dangerous ingredients not declared on the label, according to figures communicated to La Presse.
And this isn’t limited to supplements sold in powder form. At the Doping Control Laboratory of the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS), researchers sometimes test products consumed by athletes. “We have already had energy drinks for which we would never have believed that they could be positive,” says Jean-François Naud, director of the laboratory. And across a whole range of drinks, only certain flavors contained doping substances. “The lemonade wasn’t contaminated, but the grape drink was. And in several batches,” he emphasizes.
Result: high-level athletes, like Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, must scrupulously select the products they consume. The judoka, world vice-champion in her category in 2022, said in an interview with La Presse to take vitamins and caffeine, but to be wary of pre-workouts. “I thought about taking some, but I was a little afraid of these products. You never really know what’s in there,” she confides.
Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard ensures with her nutritionist that each supplement she takes has official anti-doping certification.
Athletes are sometimes encouraged to write down the batch number of each product they consume, keep a sample of it, or even buy it in duplicate, to keep proof in case they get tested.
Questioned by La Presse on this subject, several experts explain that these contaminations can occur in the factory where the supplements are manufactured – if it also produces anabolic steroids, for example -, or even during the transport of raw materials in containers that have not been cleaned properly. But none rules out the possibility that substances could have been introduced intentionally.
In addition to their careers, athletes who unknowingly use illegal substances risk their health – and this also applies to amateur athletes. Taking anabolic steroids, for example, can cause severe acne, masculinization of the body in women, and even serious cardiovascular problems.
To minimize the risk, experts advise turning to products that have been certified by an independent organization, such as the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), Informed Choice/Informed Sport or the Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG).
During a visit to a pharmacy in downtown Montreal, La Presse found that out of about a hundred different sports products sold in powder form, less than one in five had an official anti-doping certification clearly indicated on the label. Many mentioned that the product was “clinically tested,” “safe,” “free of banned substances,” but without any official certification being visible.
“We can also favor large Canadian companies which are well established, known and which have no history of contamination,” advises Evelyne Telmosse.
“But there’s never a 100% guarantee. The best way to do this is to avoid taking supplements if possible,” says Elizabeth Carson, senior manager of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program at the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport.
For its part, Health Canada indicated that in June 2023 it had extended the provisions of the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act to natural health products, which allows it “to order the recall of a product or require the modification of a product label, in the event of a serious or imminent risk to the health of Canadians.”
He reminds that it is possible to report any non-compliance using its online complaint form.
