ESPN’s Shaun Assael on steroids, supplements and the nervous athlete

 

In the forthcoming book “Steroid Nation: Juiced Home Run Totals, Anti-Aging Miracles, And a Hercules in Every High School - The Secret History of America’s True Drug Addiction,” author Shaun Assael provides a detailed chronicle of America’s performance enhancing culture.

As part of that chronicle, Assael gives the “first truly in-depth account of how 1994’s Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act got passed, and how a crafty group of chemists and salesmen drove a truck through its loopholes,” he told NBJ. A senior writer for ESPN the Magazine, Assael interviewed industry leaders including Champion Nutrition founder Michael Zumpano, and United Natural Products Alliance Executive Director Loren Israelsen for the book.

In an exclusive interview, NBJ spoke with Assael to get an insider’s take on athletes’ current relationship with the supplement industry, and find out what he sees in their future.