The Sports Council has called on the International Olympic Committee to set a urine concentration for a nandrolone metabolite (19-norandrosterone) above which athletes will be considered to have committed a sports drug offence.
The call is made in a special report published on January 18. The report was commissioned because of a recent rise in the number of alleged sports drug offences involving the banned steroid nandrolone.
The report also calls for studies to investigate influences on the endogenous production of nandrolone. In addition, it says that some dietary supplements contain nandrolone or similar compounds and metabolic precursors which can lead to production of the same metabolites as nandrolone. Sports participants are warned that they risk ingestion of banned substances if they consume inadequately or incorrectly labelled products, including herbal products.
The report adds that the risk of failing drug tests as a result of eating meat can not be fully assessed, but that the possibility is remote if only good quality unprocessed muscle meat from common food species is consumed. It advises avoiding offal from boar and horse.
The committee that produced the report included two pharmacists - the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's chief scientist (Professor Tony Moffat) and Professor David Cowan (head of the Kings College London drugs control centre).