Richard Piana (May 5, 1971 [1] [2] – August 25, 2017) was an American bodybuilder and businessman. He won the Mr. California title and other competitions in Los Angeles in 2003 and Sacramento in 2009. [ citation needed ] He had his own nutrition line called Rich Piana: 5% Nutrition. [6] He publicly admitted that he had been using anabolic steroids and synthetic human growth hormone as part of his bodybuilding regimen during his 25-year career in competition, starting when he was 18 years old and ending around 2014. [7] He said steroid use was a necessary part of competing at the highest levels of bodybuilding, and that it was a risk he was willing to take. He died at the age of 46 after a sudden cardiac arrest that may have been caused by his use of bodybuilding enhancement drugs.
