The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers about a particular brand of vitamin B supplements that could contain harmful anabolic steroids.
In a statement released Friday, the FDA said that two types of steroids were found in Healthy Life Chemistry By Purity First B-50 -- methasterone and dimethazine.
“Products marketed as a vitamin but which contain undisclosed steroids pose a real danger to consumers and are illegal,” said Howard Sklamberg, the director of the FDA's Office of Compliance. “The FDA is committed to ensuring that products marketed as vitamins and dietary supplements do not pose harm to consumers.”
People take vitamin B supplements for a variety of reasons and they are thought to increase energy and metabolism. But the FDA found 29 reported incidents of negative side effects, including women who had reported unusual hair growth and men who reported impotence.
