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Substances: Tribestan (also known as triboxin and tribulus)

Tribestan is a plant steroid compound extracted from herbs, seeds and plants.

Manufacturers claim it is a natural anabolic substance that will assist athletes during high intensity and high volume training loads. There is no scientific data available to support or deny these claims.

Status in Sport

The status of Tribestan in sport is currently undetermined.

Status in medicine

Tribestan is available for purchase as an oral nutritional supplement in Australia. It is a listable substance under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and a licence must be obtained to import the product into Australia.

ASADA cannot determine the status of supplement products in sport.  Due to their multi-ingredient nature, supplements are considered to present more risk to athletes than registered pharmaceutical products - therefore ASADA is unable to accurately determine the status of any supplement product.

There is a risk that supplements may contain impurities, such as ingredients that are not listed on the label, which could cause a positive test. 

A 2001 International Olympic Committee study reported nearly 15 percent of supplement products tested (all non-Australian products) contained substances not labelled that would result in a positive test.

Use of supplement products is at the athlete's own risk.

 

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