India National Anti-Doping Agency Reports Powerlifters and Bodybuilders Use A Lot of Steroids

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The use of anabolic steroids in powerlifting and bodybuilding is generally thought to be pervasive in the sports. In the United States, few major sporting leagues implement steroid testing protocols compliant with the Anti-Doping Code published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association have all adopted some form of anti-doping for their athletes but none approximate the “gold standard” of testing published by WADA. Also, WADA-type testing is usually only reserved for sports featured in the Olympic Games.

So, the fact that there is very little steroid testing in powerlifting  and bodybuilding in the United States should come as no surprise. However, in many countries around the world, especially Asia, the sports of powerlifting and bodybuilding are recognized and regulated by the government being subject to the protocols of national anti-doping organizations.

In India, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) administers steroid testing as part of their WADA-compliant anti-doping protocol to all competitive powerlifters and bodybuilders. Every year, NADA is required to publicly publish a statistical report summarizing the results of athlete testing.

India’s NADA recently reported the results of in and out of competition testing for 39 sporting disciplines and found that steroid use is pervasive in both powerlifting and bodybuilding. Of the 50 steroids tests administered to powerlifters, 40% of the athletes tested positive for an anabolic steroids or substances prohibited by the WADA code. Bodybuilders tested positive in 27.8% of the tests administered. Most other sports only showed a failure rate in the low single digits.