re: SI: Alabama Football Team took Deer Antler Spray (steroids)

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Dr. Roberto Salvatori, who runs a lab studying growth hormone deficiency and has been on the Hopkins faculty since 1998, said there is no scientifically accepted way to deliver IGF-1 orally.

“If there were, a lot of people would be happy that they don’t need to get shots anymore,” he said. “It’s just simply not possible for it to come from a spray.”

IGF-1, short for insulin-like growth factor, is used to treat a rare form of dwarfism known as Laron syndrome and in other cases where children fail to produce or process growth hormone.

It occurs naturally in the body and is actually produced as a result of the increased presence of human growth hormone, one of the performance enhancers allegedly used by cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Dozens of websites advertise deer antler spray or pills with claims of delivering IGF-1 and subsequent benefits like muscle growth and increased energy. But Dean Nieves of Florida-based Bio Lab Naturals said it is disingenuous to make such claims.

“IGF-1 is very unstable,” said Nieves, whose company sells the spray under the Bio Protein Technology brand. “It could not exist outside of a very controlled environment. And when you order bottles of deer antler extract, it's not coming in a freeze-dried case.”

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