Deer antler spray? Huh?

  • Makers of deer antler spray say their product contains an insulin-like growth factor.
Makers of deer antler spray say their product contains an insulin-like… (MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO )
February 11, 2013|By Tim Darragh, Of The Morning Call


You might have heard of Ray Lewis, the star linebacker of the Baltimore Ravens, who just played in the Super Bowl. You may have heard how he made an amazing recovery from a torn triceps.

You also may have heard allegations (which Lewis denies) that he may have gotten some chemical help — in the form of deer antler spray.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Deer antlers, to put it briefly, grow quickly. If you wanted to grow muscle quickly, wouldn't it be great to be able to tap into that chemical in antlers?

That's the theory. But is there any validity to the theory?

The short answer is: We don't know.


(The story quotes a Johns Hopkins researcher who says flatly that deer antler spray wouldn't do the job, and that IGF-1 is too unstable to be packaged and shipped in common retail containers. We'll simply say we haven't found any studies that are conclusive about deer antler products.)

Here's one thing we do know — golfer Vijay Singh has admitted taking deer antler spray, a banned substance. He said he is cooperating with the PGA in its investigation.



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