The sports supplement industry is a booming industry estimated to be over-1.5 billon in annual sales and quickly growing! The supplement craze may have actually taken root slightly before the introduction of anabolic steroids. However, the explosion in the sports nutrition category, as you can well see, is very closely linked to the increasing use and demand of anabolic steroid use for performance enhancement.

The modern sports supplement industry originated as early as the 1940's with the introduction of protein powders by Joe York of York Barbell and Joe Weider. Soon after these came numerous products that were mostly home brewed concoctions of uncertain quality and effectiveness. Desiccated liver tablets, predigested protein powders, wheat germ and just some really horrible tasting stuff! Many of these "secret formulas" were spiked with real anabolic steroids. In fact, until the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1991, which actually criminalized the illegal use of steroids, bodybuilding supplements were frequently “spiked” with large doses of "secret" anabolic compounds… some of these products were very popular, of course because they worked so well... It was kind of a little known, camouflaged type of steroid trafficking of the time! For those of you that were around back then, from the mid 80’s until now, we have seen all of the different sports supplements come and go… The “Stuff” products, Boron, Dibencozide, Gamma-Organyzol, The Russian Secret, Vanadyl Sulfate, Yohimbe, Ralgro Cattle Pellets, Clenbuterol, GHB, Furanone, Cyclofenil... and of course the more recent "andro-type" products like 19-Nor, 4-AD, 1-TEST, all the "methylated" compounds and the list goes on. All of the products just mentioned were actually sold over the counter during this time in some way or another! Some reasonably safe and effective and others... well let's just say it’s a good thing they are not around any more.

Now, during this time also came the introduction of products that were actually backed by real science and considered very safe for long-term use. It was these types of products that finally gave a sense of legitimacy to the industry. In 1993, the first truly scientifically backed muscle-enhancing supplement was introduced called creatine monohydrate.