Josh Robbins spoke with Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list and methods sub-committee and a clinical associate professor of Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine about what exactly dehydroepiandrosterone is and how it affects a person.
Some enlightening comments, including his assessment of whether or not DHEA is an effective performance enhancer.
OS: What is DHEA?
GW: DHEA is a compound which converts to androstenedione, Andro from the McGwire days, and that in turn converts into testosterone. Under federal law, although it has many characteristics associated with anabolic steroids, under the Controlled Substances Act the decision was made not to categorize it as a steroid but as a dietary supplement. It is very widely used in supplemental and complementary kinds of medicines and it’s in food stores.
In the international community, in doping, DHEA is considered to be an anabolic steroid. So there is a difference between the criterion internationally and the one used in the United States. Then it would depend on the list of the NBA, whether they characterize DHEA as an anabolic steroid, or, and it’s more likely, it would go along with the United States’ categorization that it is not an anabolic steroid. Whether it looks like it or not, the decision was made in many ways on political grounds.
Some agree on scientific grounds that it is not an anabolic steroid. But in WADA and in the Olympic movement and the international community it is considered to be an anabolic steroid for the purpose of sanctions.
OS: So, whether it is or isn’t a steroid depends on what?
GW: It depends on the jurisdiction that’s involved. Under the United States’ jurisdiction it is not. For example, take a player in the NBA that competed in the Olympic Games. At the time he was under the aegis of the Olympic Games, he would sanctioned as if it were an anabolic steroid. If he played for the Chicago Bulls in an NBA game, it would not be considered an anabolic steroid, I believe. You’d have to check the current list that the NBA uses to advise their players as to what they cannot take. . . .
OS: So you can get a supplement containing DHEA at GNC, for example?
GW: Yes.
OS: What benefit would this give an NBA forward?
GW: If in fact he was taking it to enhance performance, he would be looking to raise his testosterone. It’s not very effective, I must say. I think the performance-enhancing aspects of it are nowhere in the same league as other substances that are categorized as anabolic steroids. So, one might think it’s a way of trying to boost your testosterone legally without taking a prohibited substance, namely testosterone, but using something that becomes testosterone. The distinction all started with Mark McGwire. When that occurred, Andro was considered to be a dietary supplement just the way DHEA is now. . . .
OS: How long would DHEA stay in your system?
GW: Most people wouldn’t take one pill. Usually, people on these programs are on them for long periods of time. So, if he took a single dose, you’re talking probably a day or two. But if you’re doing it on a regular basis, that’s a whole other story.
