Deer-antler spray: What is IGF-1?
Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens is tended to on the bench against the Indianapolis Colts during the AFC Wild Card Playoff Game at M&T Bank Stadium on January 6, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. / Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Deer-antler spray has been thrust into the Super Bowl spotlight with a new report alleging 37-year-old Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis ordered the spray along with deer-antler pills and other products from a company with ties to performance-enhancing drugs.
NFL linebacker on banned substance report
A Tuesday Sports Illustrated report states that Lewis sought help from the company Sports With Alternatives To Steroids (SWATS) in October after the star linebacker tore his right triceps.
SWATS owner Mitch Ross recorded a call with Lewis hours after the player hurt his arm in an October game against Dallas, the magazine reported. According to the report, Lewis asked Ross to send him deer-antler spray and pills, along with other products made by the company. Several athletes reached by the magazine also said they used the product.
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Deer-antler spray and pills contain a hormone called IGF-1 that is thought to help muscle recovery. The company said the hormone is harvested from deer in New Zealand.
"Their antlers are the fastest-growing substance on planet Earth . . . because of the high concentration of IGF-1. We've been able to freeze dry that out, extract it, put it in a sublingual spray that you shake for 20 seconds and then spray three [times] under your tongue. . . . This stuff has been around for almost 1,000 years, this is stuff from the Chinese," SWATS co-founder Christopher Key told SI.
SWATS calls their product natural, like a food, but the substance is banned by the NCAA and every major pro league, SI reports.
Just what exactly is IGF-1?
Dr. Spyros Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, explained to CBSNews.com that IGF-1 is an insulin-like growth factor, a hormone that naturally occurs in the body and circulates in the blood. A person's endocrine system contains a pituitary gland that produces a chemical called growth hormone that helps children grow into adults by making their bones stronger and helping their bodies mature. The brain's growth hormone then stimulates the liver to produce IGF-1, which then binds to receptors in muscle cells, signalling them to multiply and grow.
In normal ranges, IGF-1 in the body aids growth and boosts muscle strength, he said. The hormone also increases metabolism of carbohydrates, bringing more sugars to the cells that also help muscle growth.
Some people with medical conditions in which they have low growth hormone, such as dwarfism, can be treated with injections of IGF-1, according to Mezitis.
However, "We do not prescribe [IGF-1 ] on a basis for muscle building," Mezitis, who does not treat athletes, said. He added that he was aware of a spray, but notes it is not as potent as the injection. If IGF-1 is abused, he said, people may experience more muscle strength and issues with aggressiveness.
Athletes who take growth hormone in the form of HGH -- another substance banned by the league, but not currently measured in NFL drug tests -- may also experience more muscle growth.
IGF-1 is "just like giving someone human growth hormone," Don Catlin, the former head of UCLA's Olympic Analytical Lab, told The New York Times. "It goes to the same kinds of receptors and turns them on."
However, as SI reports, the spray may not even be effective in humans.
Dr. Roberto Salvatori, who studies growth hormone at Johns Hopkins University, told the Baltimore Sun that there's no evidence of a successful way to deliver IGF-1 in pill or spray form.
"If there were, a lot of people would be happy that they don't need to get shots anymore," he told the paper."
Ray Lewis
Lewis deflected questions on his use of the banned supplement at Super Bowl media day.
"That was a 2-year-old story that you want me to refresh ... so I won't even speak about it," Lewis said Tuesday, referencing a 2011 Yahoo! Sports story that former Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson was ordered by the NFL to sever ties with SWATS because the company promoted performing-enhancing products. Jackson reportedly had introduced Lewis to Ross. "Because I've been in this business 17 years, and nobody has ever got up with me every morning and trained with me. Every test I've ever took in the NFL -- there's never been a question of if I ever even thought about using anything. So to even entertain stupidity like that..." he said.
The team also downplayed the report.
"The team knew about this report. Ray denies taking anything and has always passed tests," added Ravens spokesman Kevin Byrne.
"He laughed about it," Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday, referring to Lewis. "He told me there's nothing to it. He's told us in the past and now that he has never taken any of it."
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As CEO of an international biotherapeutic company and the only makers of bonafide cytokines, including single IGF-1 the misinformation that has resonated throughout the media in the last week about IGF-1 is sensationalism at best.
Our chief consultant, Dr JO Serrentino, an internationally-known research scientist in biomedicine who developed Cytokine Therapy,
emphasizes the flagrant misinformation that has been circulating about IGF-1 in recent days. "IGF-1 is a major player in the repair of cartilage and can be used clinically to quell or halt osteoarthritis.
It is not a performance enhancer."
Uh, I might get some,... but not to spray on my triceps.
Uh, I might get some,... but not to spray on my triceps.
Didn't he murder two people once upon a time? How long has he been using this stuff?
I work for a supplement company, BioProtein Technology, that is based on Deer Antler Velvet. We are a fully integrated production company. We do not murder our deer! We have NEVER hurt or murdered any of our deer! For more information Contact me or check out our website... Bioproteintech.com We will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have!
Hows this for propaganda...
"There is a widespread belief, even today, that deer antler velvet possesses powerful aphrodisiac qualities and that is the reason why it is so keenly sought by Asian buyers
This is not surprising considering the important role that antlers play in the sexual life of the deer. The larger the deer antlers the more potent the stag is considered to be and the largest, superior grade velvet is traditionally regarded as much more valuable than the smaller antlers"
So size matters...the bigger the antler the more "potent"....
Nothing but horsesh**...and the barbaric way these critters are treated by these farms is a disgrace...
The farmers never show pictures of em sawing off living "feeling" tissue....
"A buck in velvet is sensitive and extremely protective of his antlers. These bucks will not fight or spar with their antlers when still in velvet, and if provoked they will rise to strike with their just as deadly hooves instead"
When will there be a profit in cutting off live peoples appendages, grinding them up, drinking or spraying or snorting the finger soup..