When female track and field athlete Shelby Houlihan tested positive for nandrolone decanoate at an Olympics some years back, her defense raised eyebrows across the sport: the d**g came from a burrito she had eaten. On a recent episode of the Tim Ferriss Show, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman and host Tim Ferriss took that claim apart.
Huberman described nandrolone decanoate, commonly known as “deca,” as a compound that is “non-aromatizing” and “doesn’t convert to estrogen as far as we know,” adding that “people use it for joint healing and things of that sort.”
The explanation painted a picture of a compound with a specific pharmacological profile that is well outside any accidental contamination scenario.
Ferriss was direct about his assessment of the athlete’s explanation. “The burrito alibi is pretty flimsy,” he said. “Last time I checked, you can’t just nibble on deca and have it do much for you.”
The discussion then turned to a more pointed question: what outcome would anyone watching the case actually prefer for the athlete?
Huberman offered a candid take, noting that “someone in our studio said this and I think they’re spot on. They hope she used it because if she didn’t and she got nailed for it from a burrito or some other source, that sucks because there’s a huge stigma that goes with that. She can’t compete and you never really shake that reputation.”
He added, “My hope is that she actually took it and got caught as opposed to didn’t take it and got caught for something.”
The exchange drew a comparison to boxer Canelo Alvarez’s failed clenbuterol test, where Alvarez attributed the finding to meat he had eaten in Mexico.
Huberman referenced it wryly as “the clen cow hypothesis,” nodding to the familiar pattern of athletes reaching for food-based explanations when confronted with positive doping results.
Deca carries particular significance in track and field because it is a long-acting comp0und with a detection window that can stretch for months. Even trace amounts of nandrolone can produce positive tests well after use has stopped, which makes arguments around accidental ingestion through food very difficult to sustain.
