Deer Antler Velvet Handbook: Part 9 - Is Deer Antler Velvet Banned?

No, deer antler velvet is not banned (except in some Major League sports). Deer antler spray was banned for a very brief period of time due to scammy marketing that compared it to a drug which still goes on today.

What is Deer Antler Spray?

Deer Antler Velvet Sprays are dilutions of deer antler velvet with little nutritional value and often mixed with other vitamins and herbs in an attempt to falsely mimic performance enhancing drugs (PED) like IGF-1.

Deer Antler Velvet is Not the Drug IGF-1

Deer antler sprays tricked a lot of people and still do by their whacky marketing which has left them with a bad experience, even big names and big sports. How, they put IGF-1 as an ingredient on the supplement label, so are they adding drugs?

False Marketing Claims Strike Again

Several years ago, back in 2013 deer antler spray became a controversy that got Ray Lewis into trouble when he was taking deer antler spray which the NFL thought was a drug due to false marketing claims.

Tricky Devil Did It

Luckily Ray Lewis wasn't kicked off the team and out of football for using deer antler spray, which was confusingly thought to contain the banned drug substance IGF-1.

Major Sports Leagues Ban Drugs

The National Football League (NFL) banned deer antler velvet anyway because it naturally contains anabolic growth factors called IGF-1 and was falsely associated with performance enhancing drug (PED) use. Equally ridiculous, Major League Baseball (MLB) banned deer antler velvet supplements for possibly containing testosterone drugs, not IGF-1.

WADA Bans Deer Antler Velvet - Then POOF! WADA Un-bans Deer Antler Velvet, WTF?

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was freaking out, quickly banned deer antler velvet, and then changed their minds to only warn athletes. Professional Golf Association (PGA) athlete Vijay Singh, got suspended. Vijay and the PGA settled out of court in 2018 over being wrongly accused of using a PED.

Does the Label Say IGF-1? Beware!

Inaccurately labeled supplements that claim they contain IGF-1 as an ingredient in the supplement facts can get athletes sanctioned. Are other companies adding IGF-1 drugs to their supplements?

DoD is Scared of Deer Antler Velvet

The Department of Defense (DoD) mistakenly claims that deer antler velvet is risky and wrongly advises athletes to exercise 'extreme caution' because there may be growth factors, which are an everyday and integral part of animal and human cellular metabolism, in the velvet antlers of deer! LOL! The DoD thinks supplements, like deer antler velvet, are NOT 'real' food. Isn't all of this just dumb since the definition of a supplement is that it is food?

Medical Quacks Prove a Supplement is Not a Drug

Contradictory websites like the NIH compare deer antler velvet to drug medication and are scared that it contains growth factors; plus they prove it is NOT a performance enhancing drug. wtf, right? Isn't this medical quackery?

It's sure funny how confused everyone got about performance enhancing drugs and a simple dietary supplement like deer antler velvet!

And yet many will still be tricked into thinking deer antler velvet is a drug...spritz, spritz the deer antler velvet spray!