Bodybuilding.com was recently raided this September 2009 for allegedly selling products containing anabolic steroids. The steroids that have become so popular in the recent news lately once again grab the headlines.

From baseball, football, track and field, to practically all Olympic sports the steroid saga has not stopped. Steroids enhance the performance of athletes through promoting bigger gains in lean muscle and assisting in fat

The recent raid at Bodybuilding.com has confused many people. Despite the on-going campaign against steroids that has reached even the congress, Bodybuilding.com still carelessly sold them. Is it really true that they did?

The simple answer would be: Yes. Bodybuilding.com, the world's largest bodybuilding store and bodybuilding website with millions of members did sell steroids. But as with all things in this world, it isn't that simple.

It isn't black and white. Several of Bodybuilding.com's products tested positive on the following substances: Madol, Tren, Androstenedione, Superdrol and Turinabol. Most of them are what you call "prohormones."

There were not classified as steroids until recently. They are not steroids but simply substances with steroid like properties. Prohormones accomplish this by transforming themselves into steroids when broken down by the body.

Although the manufacturers claim that these products produced effects that were equal to steroids they did not. But hordes of bodybuilders did believe the marketing hype and these supplements sold off the Bodybuilding.com website quickly.

So what went wrong?

The FDA issued several warnings to Bodybuilding.com about these products. It was not until recently that the FDA did not approve of that these prohormones were steroids. They actually allowed these products to pass off as supplements.

However, recently the FDA branded that these prohormones were steroids. Nobody really knows what steroids are anymore. Technically steroids, anabolic steroids, are derivatives of the male hormone testosterone. This hormone is responsible for male gender specific traits in bodybuilding's case muscle hypertrophy.

But since the FDA now considers prohormones in the same category as steroids they are now prohibited. That is why the raids on the Bodybuilding.com's warehouses and several other retailers as well.

For now bodybuilding supplements do not contain steroids. Prohormone based supplements are out of the market. Hopefully the FDA will make a clearer distinction to what constitutes a steroid. Because the steroid craze might never end.