The very wide range in the proportions of counterfeit or substandard AAS from the black market shows the uncertainty about quality, thus leaving users with unpredictable risks. Rather than caused by study design issues, the differing proportions of counterfeit or substandard AAS reflect the selection of the tested AAS samples, with real differences in the quality of AAS found on the black market. With this systematic review and meta-analysis, we demonstrate that substantial mean proportions of black-market AAS are counterfeit and of substandard quality. The very wide range in proportions of counterfeit or substandard black market AAS puts the user in a situation of unpredictable uncertainty. ‘Drug checking’ allows people who consume illegal and legal drugs acquired from unregulated drug markets to submit samples for chemical analysis and receive feedback on the quantity, quality, and purity of those substances. It is our endeavor at LA Pharma to manufacture the purest most potent steroid formulations and make our products available to athletes across the globe. LA Pharma S.r.l. produces the full range finished products of anabolic hormone under Good Manufacturing Practice. This allows sufficient time for the user to experience the full benefits of the steroid while minimizing the risk of adverse effects. This is attributed to the steroid’s ability to enhance nitrogen retention, which is crucial for muscle growth. One of the most notable effects is rapid muscle mass gain. It is a modification of testosterone with a methyl group at the C17α position and an additional double bond between the C1 and C2 positions. The elimination half-life of metandienone is about 3 to 6 hours. The drug is metabolized in the liver by 6β-hydroxylation, 3α- and 3β-oxidation, 5β-reduction, 17-epimerization, and conjugation among other reactions. It has very low affinity for human serum sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), about 10% of that of testosterone and 2% of that of DHT. As with other 17α-alkylated AAS, metandienone may be hepatotoxic, especially with prolonged use of high doses. Most samples (74%) originated from seized compounds by the police, custom authorities, or justice departments and a minority of samples were bought directly from the black market or provided by gyms and users themselves. Most included study designs (95%) were nonclinical laboratory studies. In addition, other countries from this region (Switzerland, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Austria, and Belgium) are represented in our list of included studies. We constantly provide research and development for our products aiming to achieve our customer satisfaction as well as our significant brand value as leaders in endocrinology globally. According to the new International and local FDA regulations, the product license is mandatory to be displayed.Hence the standard concentrated control as mentioned is always applied in our production process with all our products. LA PHARMA S.r.l ® does not ship to countries, which classify these pharmaceuticals as special controlled or scheduled substances, including but not limited to the United States, Australia, Canada and Europe. Research in the Americas was only done in Brazil, which alone includes 7 of the 19 studies. The authors provided sufficient information in the methods section so that, by consensus between the reviewers (RM/PB/LF), we were confident to include the study for extraction and analysis. For one study, the study design (retrospective database analysis) did not qualify for the analysis by ToxRtool and was individually assessed by the study team . All quality appraisal results can be found in Supplementary file 1. Additional articles were excluded after full-text assessment for the reasons mentioned in the flowchart (Fig. 1). We retrieved a total of 24 full-text articles from these different sources. After the quality appraisal stage, an overall number of 19 full-text articles were included for data extraction and analysis. Secondary outcomes are proportions of adulterated, substituted, and inert substances for counterfeit results, and over-concentrated and under-concentrated substances for substandard results. Primary outcomes are proportions of counterfeit and substandard substances. The effect of supraphysiologic doses of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) on muscles, especially combined with strength training, has been described and recognized in literature for decades 1–5. In addition to promoting hypertrophy, Dianabol also enhances muscle strength, allowing athletes to lift heavier weights and perform at higher intensities. Users often report significant increases in body weight and muscle size within weeks of starting a cycle. In addition to its anabolic properties, Dianabol also boosts glycogenolysis, helping the body to utilize carbohydrates more effectively. The use of such substances may carry legal, health, and ethical implications. Among the included studies, most approaches are based on liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) 32, 42, 47, 49, 50, or gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS) 32, 35, 40, 42, 47, 49, 51–54. Funnel plot for counterfeit AAS (left), funnel plot for substandard AAS (right). In some studies, the contained active ingredients in "under-concentrated" preparations was much lower than 50% of that indicated (e.g. 0.5–1.5% , 9% or 16% ) if quantitative data was available. Firstly, defined ranges of declared labels could vary massively between articles, had a quantitative analysis been performed, with defined ranges between 50–200% , 80–130% , 80–120% or 90–110% . Importantly, whenever anabolic agents were analyzed with other classes of substances, anabolic agents made the highest proportion of analyzed classes. In 17 articles we were able to extract samples that exclusively analyzed anabolic agents (WADA class S1). Meta-regression analyses provided in R software were conducted to explore the association between studies’ publication year and outcome measures . The detailed data extraction and data analysis plan have been published elsewhere . • Levels of AI detected are not between the acceptable range defined for original productsa (quantitative)