Deer antler spray advertisement running on area radio stations

BROWN COUNTY - In a competitive sports world, a national radio advertisement for Complete Nutrition says the store will do whatever it takes to get athletes serious results.

The ad says, “due to the media frenzy, professional athletes and guys everywhere are going crazy for deer antler velvet and right now you can get deer antler velvet in our HGH liquid human growth hormone spray, only at Complete Nutrition.”

Deer Antler Velvet Spray came into the spotlight leading up to this year’s Super Bowl. Former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis denied a claim he used it to help him recover from an injury.

Using the spray is a violation of the NFL's policy for performance enhancing drugs.

“It's not something you just want to dive right into,” said Padriac Obma, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon for Prevea.

Obma says deer antler spray could be attractive to athletes of all ages or anyone just looking to get in better shape.

“People spray it underneath the tongue and it has a hormone protein that supposedly gets into your bloodstream that's supposed to help your muscles grow bigger and faster and help you recover quicker from workouts and injuries,” said Obma.

Complete Nutrition is a national chain of health and fitness stores, with two locations in our area, one in Grand Chute and one in Ashwaubenon. Corporate officials declined our request for an interview, but sent us a statement reading, “Complete Nutrition’s staff takes great care to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its customers, especially when dealing with products such as HGH supplements that my not be appropriate for all ages.”

Obma says there isn't a lot of research on the spray so its unknown how effective or safe it is.

“It's a supplement, this deer spray, it's not like a drug so the FDA doesn't necessarily monitor it like they would a drug as simple as Ibuprofen or Aspirin that we take, so there's a lot less restriction around it,” said Obma.

The spray contains IGF-1, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substances list. The WIAA also restricts the substance for its high school athletes.

“It really comes more down to diet for high school kids than anything,” said Gary Westerman, the head football coach at Bay Port High School.

Westerman doesn't restrict his athletes from shopping at health and fitness stores. But he says they are well educated when it comes to putting something in their body.

“You know people try to lead teenagers in a different situation whether its drugs, alcohol or supplements, so sifting through that hopefully they have good, guidance at home with their parents,” said Westerman.

He says continuing education will be key, especially with ads like the one for Complete Nutrition filling media airwaves.

A store manager for Complete Nutrition told FOX 11 its deer antler spray products are geared more to men ages 35 to 55. The products range from $99 to $129.