Drug Tests and Halodrol 50 and 6-OXO
Q: I recently bought the prohormone products halodrol 50 and 6-oxo. However, I play athletics at a division 1 university that randomly selects athletes all the time for steroid drug tests. I read on the label that they COULD result in a positive test. Is that true? What are the best supplements you guys would recommend I take without potentially failing a drug test and costing me my eligibility, maybe my scholarship? Is there anything I can take to raise my testosterone levels enough so I don't test positive.
A: The products you mentioned might indeed cause a positive result, so I would not recommend taking them if you are subject to drug testing.
6-OXO, for example, is a banned aromatase inhibitor. Most athletic bodies ban such drugs as a general classification. More specifically, however, detection methods for 6-OXO were published back in 2005 (Biomed Chromatogr 2005 Nov;19(9):689-95). So the testing labs have known about it for some time. And as could be expected,
we’ve already seen some hi-profile suspensions with this agent. This includes U.S. Olympic wrestler Nathan Piasecki, who was suspended from competition for 2 years after failing a urine test for 6-OXO in early 2007. U.S. Track and Field athlete Scott Boothby was also suspended for 8 years after failing a urine test for both 6-XO and finasteride. Halodrol 50 is also structurally very similar to Oral Turinabol, a drug made famous by the former East German doping machine.
Although I can’t recall any major athlete failing for its use as of late, it most certainly should shares some key metabolites in common with OT, and be a big failure risk as well.
As for what supplements are best to take, there is a fairly long list of products that might be used without causing a failure. Creatine is often looked at harshly by University athletics, but it is presently not an issue with testing. As you probably know, this supplement has been extensively studied by a number of Universities, and has proven to improve various measures of athletic performance. To this list I would also add BCAA (branched chain amino acids), arachidonic acid (my personal favorite of course), and arginine-based nitric oxide boosters. Beta alanine is also a very popular as of late, and seems to improve muscle endurance. Any one of these might help nudge your performance forward. As for boosting testosterone, you may be hard pressed to find an agent that can do this to very high levels, yet at the same time be non-steroidal in nature and lack the potential for testing positive. Even ATD, which was far less popularized in the media but still very potent, is on the testing radar these days. So your options are limited. It is of note that Longjack was recently tested, and proven to increase androgen levels in men. But the increases were within the normal range, not supraphysiological (in excess of normal), as I am sure you are trying to focus on. In all honesty, there are many non-banned supplement ingredients that have the potential to offer some benefit to you with regards to supporting your training and performance goals. Just remember, a positive can come from a banned substance, or steroidal or other banned components that may be in the supplement as a result of manufacturing contamination. Just be careful what you buy.