Steel Supplements: the Sarasota brand IronMag sued over its andro names, and the FDA wrote to the same day as IronMag

Who they are, and what the record says

Steel Supplements is a sports-supplement brand in Sarasota, Florida. In the federal record it is Steel Supplements, Inc., at 1948 Main Street, Sarasota: that is where the FDA sent its warning letter in May 2022.[1] In a lawsuit it filed in 2020, the company described itself as a Florida corporation with its principal place of business in Sarasota, and its founder as a former professional bodybuilder who ran a supplement and smoothie shop in the town before he "launched STEEL in August 2016". The same complaint says the company "grew from one employee to having approximately 60 full time employees" within four years, and sells from a retail store in downtown Sarasota and online.[2] Its own About page in 2023 names him as "Jason Huh, Founder & CEO".[3]

steelsupplements.com was first archived as a store in June 2017, selling a line of products whose names ended in AF under the slogan "forged in steel backed by science".[4] The company filed trademark applications for that line in September 2016 and has filed more than fifty in all.[5] The store was still selling in October 2026.[6]

Figure 1. June 2017, the first archived storefront. The banner sells a 1-Andro bottle labelled a "1-testosterone precursor" and a dietary supplement. [4]

What it sells

Pre-workouts and fat burners. The AF line is the core of the catalogue. Charged AF is a "high intensity pre workout formulation"; in July 2019 its page listed "caffeine anhydrous yohimbine higenamine n methyl tyramine" among its ingredients.[7] Focused AF, sold as "the strongest over the counter alternative for those seeking intense focus", listed "alpha gpc caffeine anhydrous higenamine mucuna sulbutiamine".[8] Shredded AF is an "advanced multistage thermogenic". Its 2020 page listed "caffeine anhydrous 300mg" and "hordenine hcl 100mg", with N-methyl tyramine, huperzine A and 150 mcg of 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine, a thyroid hormone metabolite.[9] The 2017 home page had already advertised Shredded AF for "t2 enhanced fat loss".[4]

Figure 2. Charged AF in July 2019. Higenamine is on the ingredient line the FDA would cite three years later. [7]

The andros. Alongside the stimulants runs a line of DHEA-type prohormones that the company calls andros: 1-Andro, 4-Andro, 19-Nor-Andro, 3-Epi-Andro, 7,3-Andro and 17a-Andro, sold as dietary supplements. 3-Epi-Andro was "the ultimate andro for boosting drive cutting up and drying out", with "epiandrosterone 100mg laxo 50mg" on its 2019 ingredient list. Its page argued that "the big knock against most anabolic agents" is poor absorption, and that its encapsulation is why customers will rarely see it "coming from a company who sells anabolics".[10] The 2019 page for 17a-Andro said "17a andro is the core product in all steel andro cycles", and listed a steroid by a chemical name, "17beta-3ketoethyl-androsta-1,4-diene-3-one-17a-ol".[11] Alpha AF, sold as "one of the best products for pct after using steel andro's", listed "5-alpha hydroxy laxogenin 25mg" and DHEA.[12] The designer steroids deep dive explains the prohormone market these products sit in. In 2026 the store still had an Andros menu and listed "1 Andro T booster" among its products.[6]

Figure 3. 3-Epi-Andro in July 2019: a prohormone sold as a supplement, in a page that talks about "anabolic agents". The laxogenin is the ingredient the FDA cited in 2022. [10]

Male enhancement. The company registered HARD-AF in 2018 for "herbal male enhancement capsules; natural supplements for treating erectile dysfunction". The registration was cancelled in July 2025 when no maintenance declaration was filed.[13]

IronMag Labs and the andro names, 2018 to 2019

Between October and December 2018 the company applied to register nine andro names, among them STEEL 1-ANDRO 3, STEEL 4-ANDRO3, STEEL 19-NOR-ANDRO3 and STEEL 3-EPI-ANDRO3.[5] IronMag Labs, the Nevada brand in its own dossier, already held registrations for ANDRO, 1ANDRO, 4ANDRO, NORANDRO and EPI-ANDRO.[14]

On 18 January 2019 the trademark examiner refused STEEL 1-ANDRO 3: registration was "refused because of a likelihood of confusion with the mark in U.S. Registration No. 4949114", IronMag's 1ANDRO.[15] STEEL 3-EPI-ANDRO3 was refused the same day over IronMag's EPI-ANDRO. Steel answered that IronMag's mark was descriptive. The examiner recorded the argument, "Applicant argues that the registered mark has little or no source-identifying significance because it is descriptive or generic", and made the refusal final in March, holding that "Consumers are likely to believe that 3-EPI-ANDRO3 is a specific product line of" IronMag's mark.[16] Both applications were abandoned in October 2019. The notice for STEEL 3-EPI-ANDRO3 says it was "abandoned because we did not receive a response to the previous office action within the six month response period".[17][5]

Figure 4. March 2019, the trademark examiner's final refusal of STEEL 3-EPI-ANDRO3. Registration 4808351 is IronMag Labs' EPI-ANDRO. Three excerpts from one letter. [16]

Ten days after the first refusal, on 28 January 2019, IronMag sued Steel Supplements in the federal court in Los Angeles, case 2:19-cv-00633. The court's report to the trademark office lists the five IronMag registrations as the marks in the case.[18] The case was closed on 9 May 2019. The court's closing report gives the decision as a minute order in chambers, dated 10 May.[14][19] The minute order itself is not in the public court archive, so how the parties resolved it is not on the record we could read.

Figure 5. The court's closing report to the trademark office, May 2019. The five registrations are IronMag's ANDRO, 1ANDRO, 4ANDRO, NORANDRO and EPI-ANDRO. [14]

A buyer in r/prohormones noticed in April 2019 that the 1-Andro, 4-Andro and 19-Nor labels on Steel's site had changed, and that "now it just says 1 dhea".[20] Steel kept two later andro marks: STEEL 17A-ANDRO3 and STEEL 7,3-ANDRO3 are registered and live.[5]

What buyers report

We searched the Reddit archive for "steel supplements" in r/prohormones (100 posts, April 2019 to October 2026), r/Supplements (100) and r/Preworkoutsupplements (21), and read fourteen threads.[21] Most are questions about how to run the andros. The complaints are about strength and price rather than delivery. A 2019 post said "Steel Supplements among other companies are under dosing their products".[22] Others report results: "I gained 12lbs, big strength gains, tons of vascularity on their 1 andro".[23] In February 2021 a buyer asked "Is 18 too young for a cycle of just 1andro from Steel?", having already bought the bottle and its post-cycle product.[24] In November 2025 a buyer described a severe illness after taking 1-Andro and 4-Andro capsules that had "sat in my garage in a box for about 1.5 years" in Florida.[25] We found no thread describing an order that did not arrive.

Age. The site's disclaimer says its products are "not recommended for persons under the age of 18".[26] Its terms of service ask a buyer to confirm being of age, and allow an adult to give "consent to allow any of your minor dependents to use this" site.[27] We saw no age check at checkout in the archived pages. The buyer who asked about 1-Andro at 18 had already bought it.[24]

Lab results

The company says its suppliers are "required to show us their independent testing for quality and purity", and its 2020 complaint says its ingredients are "tested for accuracy and purity before and after manufacture".[28][2] It publishes no results that the archive kept: among the 355 archived page addresses and 1,120 product addresses on the domain there is no certificate, lab or test page.[29]

One independent test exists. In 2021 a group led by Pieter Cohen published an analysis of 17 brands labelled as containing deterenol, a beta-agonist never approved in the United States. "Supplements were purchased online in April, 2018", and a stimulant was reported only if "independently confirmed by two laboratories".[30] Shredded-AF by Steel was one of them. Its label listed isopropylnorsynephrine, a name for deterenol. The laboratories found 15 mg of deterenol per two-capsule serving, and 1.3 mg of phenpromethamine, a stimulant not on the label. The paper notes that deterenol and phenpromethamine "have not been subject to any FDA enforcement actions or consumer warnings".[30] The pre-workout stimulants deep dive discusses both compounds.

Figure 6. Shredded-AF in the 2021 deterenol study, bought in April 2018. Deterenol was on the label under another name. Phenpromethamine was not. [30]

The Shredded AF page archived in May 2020 lists neither deterenol nor phenpromethamine.[9] From 2023 the page lists "n isopropylnorsynephrine 25mg" again, and Charged AF's later lists name it too.[31][32]

The company keeps "timeline" pages that show each formula's label. Charged AF runs from "2018 formula 1.0" to "2022 formula 4.0".[33] 3-Epi-Andro's page dates its second formula to June 2022: "3-Epi-Andro 2022 formula 2.0 June".[34]

Regulatory and legal

A class action over DMHA, 2020. In April 2020 a California buyer filed a class action saying he bought "Charged-AF Pre-Workout Powder" on Amazon in April 2019 and that "The Product contains Dimethylhexylamine" (DMHA).[35] The case was closed six weeks later, in May 2020.[36] That is an allegation in a complaint. None of the Charged AF ingredient lists archived from 2019 to 2026 names DMHA or one of its usual label names.[7][37][32]

Proposition 65, 2021 to 2023. In July 2021 Environmental Health Advocates served a notice on the company and Amazon. "The type of product that is causing exposures in violation of Proposition 65 is protein powder", namely "VEG-PRO Vegan Protein Powder, Hot Cocoa", and the chemicals were lead and cadmium.[38] The case was filed in Alameda County Superior Court and ended in a consent judgment, amended in March 2023, with "injunctive relief: reformulation or warnings; non-contingent civil penalty: $5,000.00", and $45,000 in attorney fees and costs.[39]

Figure 7. July 2021, a Proposition 65 notice over lead and cadmium in one protein powder flavour. The case ended in a consent judgment: reformulation or warnings. [38]

Text messages. Two class actions under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act concern the company's marketing texts. One was dismissed in March 2021 "in its entirety with prejudice as to the named Plaintiff".[40] The other, filed in New Jersey in March 2025, says the company "continues to text message consumers after they have opted out".[41] That is an allegation; we did not find its outcome.

The endorsement contract, 2020 to 2023. In December 2020 Steel sued Blitz NV, LLC, the company through which it had paid for social-media endorsements since March 2017.[2] The court's January 2023 order describes Blitz's principal, Dan Bilzerian, as "a social media celebrity whose persona is attractive to young, mostly male, body-builder types". It records that he endorsed Steel's products "forty-three times" over the contract, that Steel's sales rose, and that his company was paid nearly $8 million. Its conclusion: "Both parties breached the Agreement."[42] The case matters here for two things it put on the record: who the company marketed to, and what its own expert said about the FDA. In December 2021 that expert testified that Steel, to his knowledge, "has not received a FDA warning list so it's probably a moot point".[43]

Figure 8. January 2023, the court on Steel's endorsement contract: "Both parties breached the Agreement." [42]

Figure 9. December 2021. Steel's expert witness in its contract case: no FDA warning letter so far, "probably a moot point". The letter came five months later. [43]

The FDA, 2022. Five months later it had. The FDA's letter of 4 May 2022 begins: "This letter concerns your products Shredded-AF, Charged-AF, Alpha-AF, 3-EPI-Andro, Focused-AF, and Amped-AF, which are labeled as dietary supplements". It found that "The label of your product Shredded-AF declares hordenine HCl as a dietary ingredient" and that "The label of your product Charged-AF declares higenamine HCl as a dietary ingredient"; that Alpha-AF and 3-EPI-Andro declare 5-alpha-hydroxy-laxogenin; and that "The label of your Focused-AF product declares higenamine as a dietary ingredient", with hordenine in Amped-AF. The first four were adulterated because those substances are not dietary ingredients and are unsafe food additives. Focused-AF and Amped-AF were adulterated because higenamine and hordenine are new dietary ingredients with no required notification, and "there is no history of use or other evidence of safety establishing that higenamine and hordenine will reasonably be expected to be safe when used as a dietary ingredient". The letter asked for a reply "Within fifteen working days of receipt of this letter".[1] The FDA's search shows no other letter to the company.[44]

Figure 10. The FDA's letter of 4 May 2022: six products, three ingredients. [1]

It was one of ten companies the FDA named that week. IronMag Labs, which had sued Steel three years earlier, got its letter the same day. The FDA's announcement cited "the potential adverse effects of higenamine on the cardiovascular system".[45] The pre-workout stimulants deep dive tells the history of higenamine in supplements.

Figure 11. May 2022: the same round of letters reached IronMag Labs and Steel Supplements. [45]

After the letter. On 22 May 2022, eighteen days after the letter, the Charged AF page still listed "n-methyl tyramine, higenamine HCl, theophylline".[37] By January 2023 higenamine was gone and the list included "halostachine, huperzine A".[46] In August 2026 the stimulant list read "caffeine anhydrous, theophylline, halostachine, n-isopropylnorsynephrine, alpha yohimbine".[32] Focused AF listed higenamine in January 2022, four months before the letter, and still listed "alpha gpc caffeine anhydrous higenamine mucuna sulbutiamine" in February 2023, nine months after it.[47][48] Shredded AF dropped hordenine: its August 2021 list had "hordenine hcl 100mg", and by January 2023 the list had none, and had instead "n isopropylnorsynephrine 25mg", the label name for deterenol, with theacrine and alpha-yohimbine.[49][31] 3-Epi-Andro still listed "5a hydroxy laxogenin 50mg" on 21 May 2022 and moved to a new formula that June; by March 2023 its list ended at "epiandrosterone 100mg".[50][34][51] Alpha AF's list in August 2022 had no laxogenin.[52]

Figure 12. Charged AF's stimulants as its page listed them. Higenamine was still listed eighteen days after the letter and gone by January 2023. Drawn from the archived pages cited in the text. [37]

Figure 13. October 2026. Andros & Test is the first goal in the menu, and 1-Andro is among the best sellers. [6]

Figure 14. The record in one column. Drawn from the documents cited below. [1]

Still open

• How the IronMag case ended. The record we read shows a closing minute order and nothing of its content.[14][19]
• The 2018 Shredded-AF label. The tested bottle listed isopropylnorsynephrine; the page archived in 2020 does not. No archived text of the 2018 page was found.[30][9]
• Who makes the products. Buyers in r/prohormones say another supplement company manufactures Steel's andros. We found no document that shows it.[21]
• What became of the DMHA and New Jersey suits on the merits. The DMHA case closed six weeks after filing; the New Jersey case outcome was not found.[36][41]

Changes

• 2026-10-12: first version.

References

1. FDA warning letter to Steel Supplements Inc, MARCS-CMS 622405, 2022-05-04 — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
2. Steel Supplements, Inc. v. Blitz NV, LLC, No. 8:20-cv-02971 (M.D. Fla.), complaint, 2020-12-14 — CourtListener (RECAP)
3. Our story page, archived 2023-12-11 — Wayback Machine
4. steelsupplements.com home page, archived 2017-06-03 — Wayback Machine
5. USPTO trademark search, owner 'Steel Supplements', run 2026-10-12 (54 records) — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
6. steelsupplements.com home page, archived 2026-10-08 — Wayback Machine
7. Charged AF product page, archived 2019-07-24 — Wayback Machine
8. Focused AF product page, archived 2019-07-24 — Wayback Machine
9. Shredded AF product page, archived 2020-05-06 — Wayback Machine
10. 3-Epi-Andro product page, archived 2019-07-24 — Wayback Machine
11. 17a-Andro product page, archived 2019-07-24 — Wayback Machine
12. Alpha AF product page, archived 2019-08-30 — Wayback Machine
13. USPTO TSDR status, HARD-AF, serial 87255882, registration 5638524 — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
14. Report on the determination of an action regarding a trademark (AO 120), IronMag Labs v. Steel Supplements, Dkt 14, filed 2019-05-10, in the EPI-ANDRO registration file — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (TSDR)
15. USPTO office action on STEEL 1-ANDRO 3, serial 88154098, 2019-01-18 — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (TSDR)
16. USPTO final office action on STEEL 3-EPI-ANDRO3, serial 88225751, 2019-03-06 — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (TSDR)
17. USPTO notice of abandonment, STEEL 3-EPI-ANDRO3, serial 88225751, 2019-10-04 — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (TSDR)
18. Report on the filing of an action regarding a trademark (AO 120), IronMag Labs v. Steel Supplements, C.D. Cal. 2:19-cv-00633, Dkt 2, filed 2019-01-28, in the EPI-ANDRO registration file — U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (TSDR)
19. Docket, IronMag Labs, LLC v. Steel Supplements, Inc., No. 2:19-cv-00633 (C.D. Cal.), Internet Archive mirror of the RECAP docket — Internet Archive (RECAP)
20. Noticed Steel Supplements recently changed the labeling/ingredients of 3 of their prohormones (2019-04-14) — r/prohormones — anecdotal report, not evidence
21. Reddit archive search for 'steel supplements' in r/prohormones (100 posts, 2019 to 2026), r/Supplements (100) and r/Preworkoutsupplements (21), run 2026-10-12 — Arctic Shift
22. Steel Supplements PSA (2019-06-17) — r/prohormones — anecdotal report, not evidence
23. Anyone like steel supplements? Thoughts? (2020-03-07) — r/prohormones — anecdotal report, not evidence
24. Is 18 too young for a cycle of just 1andro from steel? (2021-02-24) — r/prohormones — anecdotal report, not evidence
25. Expired Pro Hormones? What just happened? (2025-11-09) — r/prohormones — anecdotal report, not evidence
26. Disclaimer page, archived 2023-06-10 — Wayback Machine
27. Terms of service, archived 2019-06-14 — Wayback Machine
28. Prop 65 explained page, archived 2024-10-15 — Wayback Machine
29. Wayback Machine index of steelsupplements.com, 2017 to 2026 (1,120 product and 355 page addresses) — Wayback Machine
30. Cohen PA et al., Nine prohibited stimulants found in sports and weight loss supplements, Clinical Toxicology 2021;59:975-981 (full text) — Cohen PA, Travis JC, Vanhee C, Ohana D, Venhuis BJ (copy hosted by Sciensano)
31. Shredded AF product page, archived 2023-01-05 — Wayback Machine
32. Charged AF product page, archived 2026-08-13 — Wayback Machine
33. Charged AF timeline page, archived 2022-12-08 — Wayback Machine
34. 3-Epi-Andro timeline page, archived 2023-02-07 — Wayback Machine
35. Jaques v. Steel Supplements, Inc., No. 5:20-cv-00670 (C.D. Cal.), class action complaint, 2020-04-02 — CourtListener (RECAP)
36. Docket, Jaques v. Steel Supplements, Inc., No. 5:20-cv-00670 (C.D. Cal.), Internet Archive mirror — Internet Archive (RECAP)
37. Charged AF product page, archived 2022-05-22 — Wayback Machine
38. Proposition 65 60-day notice AG 2021-01720, Environmental Health Advocates to Steel Supplements, Inc. and Amazon.com, 2021-07-14 — California Department of Justice
39. 60-day notice 2021-01720: complaint and settlements (EHA v. Steel Supplements, Inc., Alameda County Superior Court 21CV002809) — California Department of Justice
40. Moore v. Steel Supplements, Inc., No. 2:20-cv-11659 (C.D. Cal.), order of dismissal, 2021-03-10 — CourtListener (RECAP)
41. Fuentes v. Steel Supplements, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-02105 (D.N.J.), class action complaint, 2025-03-27 — CourtListener (RECAP)
42. Steel Supplements, Inc. v. Blitz NV, LLC, No. 8:20-cv-2971 (M.D. Fla.), order on cross-motions for summary judgment, Dkt 244, 2023-01-10 — CourtListener (RECAP)
43. Steel Supplements, Inc. v. Blitz NV, LLC, Dkt 139-14, deposition of Steel's expert witness taken 2021-12-21 — CourtListener (RECAP)
44. FDA warning-letter search for 'steel supplements', run 2026-10-12 (one result) — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
45. FDA Sends Warning Letters to Multiple Companies for Illegally Selling Adulterated Dietary Supplements, constituent update, 2022-05-09 (revised 2022-05-11) — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
46. Charged AF product page, archived 2023-01-05 — Wayback Machine
47. Focused AF product page, archived 2022-01-20 — Wayback Machine
48. Focused AF product page, archived 2023-02-03 — Wayback Machine
49. Shredded AF product page, archived 2021-08-18 — Wayback Machine
50. 3-Epi-Andro product page, archived 2022-05-21 — Wayback Machine
51. 3-Epi-Andro product page, archived 2023-03-26 — Wayback Machine
52. Alpha AF product page, archived 2022-08-27 — Wayback Machine