Since 2009, at least six athletes have been caught taking the drugmost recently Red Sox pitching prospect Michael Kopech. Beyond the legal issues surrounding it, the drug has been associated with potentially serious long-term health problems, among them nausea, vomiting, ferment, and heart problems.

Motivated by the lack of regulation surrounding supplements, Cohen and his team designed a study to determine if oxilofrine was secretly present in supplementsand if so, how many.

Cohen searched the National Institute of Healths Dietary Supplement Label Database and observed 57 products with the word methylsynephrine on the label. Many of the supplements listed were no longer on the market, and others were unavailable, but of the 27 supplement brands the team did test for oxilofrine, 14 tested positive for the drug. Of those, simply 15 percent listed the amount of the drug present, 75 percent of which were inaccurate.

While the drug has been studied on humans in small doses, there has been little research on the effects of a large amount of oxilofrinewhich the researchers fretted could include palpitations, arrhythmias, and other potentially lethal problems with the heart. Of specific fear to the researchers are children who, if exposed to second-hand supplements, could unknowingly be taking more than triple the highest dose allowed for their age.

Cohen concedes that the study arrived with limitations, including a small sample size, but said the overall findings are a reflection of the dangerously unregulated supplement industry. Supplements can be introduced into the market with zero oversight. The FDA is always in the position of playing catch-up and trying to remove illegal and dangerous products, he told The Daily Beast. The only way to remedy the situation is to require that products are registered with the FDA before they are sold.

Its not the first time Cohen has uncovered problematic substances in supplements. A year ago, he published a similar report that observed the amphetamine -methylphenylethylamine( BMPEA) was present in 11 supplements.

In the New England Journal of Medicine examine that observed supplements send 23,000 Americans to emergency departments every year, weight-loss and sports supplements were most commonly the cause. Now Cohen, who discovered oxilofrine in these very supplements, has one more reason for athletes to stay away.

We have identified many potentially dangerous products that the FDA should have removed from stores years ago, told Cohen about the products with oxilofrine. In the meantime, consumers should be suspect of all sports and weight-loss supplements, as theres no way to know which ones contain potent, illegal drugs.