Whats the Buzz: False Positive drug testing DMAA

Competing in natural powerlifting competitions it's very important to make sure that anything i take in my body does not give a false reading. This is where my investigation on DMAA comes in. DMAA is like concentrated caffeine, what 150 mg of caffeine does 40 mg of DMAA does. We must honor and respect our body by knowing what we put in it. This not only goes with our supplementation but also with our food absorption. Preservatives can be more harmful than anything we absorb [but i digress].

The Department of Defense (DoD) operates six forensic urine drug-testing laboratories that screen close to 5 million urine samples for amphetamines yearly. Recently, the DoD laboratories have observed a significant decrease in the confirmation rates for amphetamines because of specimens screening positive by two separate immunoassays and confirming negative by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Previous studies conducted by the Division of Forensic Toxicology, Armed Force Institute of Pathology (AFIP) utilizing a GC-MS basic drug screen and a designer drug screen revealed no common compound or compound classes as to the cause of the immunoassay-positive results. Additional information obtained from an immunoassay vendor suggested the anorectic compound dimethylamylamine (DMAA) may be the cause of the false-positive screens. An additional 134 false-positive samples were received and analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) for DMAA. LC-MS-MS analysis revealed the presence of DMAA in 92.3% of the false-positive samples at a concentration of approximately 6.0 mg/L DMAA, causing a positive screen on both immunoassay kits. [1]


Based off of these findings we can clearly see that a false positive is highly likely in any situation. The body is roughly 6 Liters which means only 36 mg would be needed for a false positive. If a common pre workout contains 40 mg of DMAA you can false positive for meth amphetamine. 

1. Vorce SP, Holler JM, Cawrse BM, Magluilo J Jr. (april 2011) Dimethylamylamine: a drug causing positive immunoassay results for amphetamines. retrieved. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21439156