Investigators G. S. Goldfield and D. B. Woodside surveyed 50 recreational bodybuilders for a 2009 study published in "The Physician and Sports Medicine." More than 40 percent of these athletes had taken performance-enhancing drugs. Ten currently used anabolic steroids and 12 had used them in the past. Illicit use of androgenic medications like anabolic steroids provides a competitive advantage. Such medications quickly enhance muscle recovery, strength, and size. Yet the drugs, which imitate the effects of testosterone, have long-term health risks. Studies demonstrating these effects have tested animals and humans.
Behavioral Change
Anabolic steroids produce delayed effects on behavior. These effects include apathy, aggression, submission, and risk-taking, depending on the context. For example, a 2010 experiment described in the journal "Behavioural Brain Research" reveals that male hamsters injected with anabolic steroids during adolescence showed little interest in female partners as adults. Androgenic drug abuse changes the behavior of male humans as well. A 2003 case report in the "Japanese Journal of Urology" describes libido loss in a 32-year-old man. This man used anabolic steroids for 7 years. Cessation of androgenic drugs did not recover his sexual drive. The latter finding suggests permanent steroid-induced damage.
Tissue Damage
Androgenic drugs negatively affect healthy tissue, such as muscle and skin. Changes like cell death and tissue cancer often appear in the body areas treated with steroids. A 1997 investigation presented in the "Journal of Neuroscience Research" used anabolic drugs to cause pathological results in muscles. Mice receiving steroids incurred tissue damage extensive enough to alter their DNA. Thus even short-term application of steroids may cause permanent tissue damage. Exogenous androgens produce similar effects in human tissue. A 2010 case report in the periodical "Human Pathology" describes two patients with extensive tumors induced by repeated steroid injections. While benign, the tumors in both men required surgical intervention.
Cardiac Arrest
Testosterone-affecting drugs may cause the arrhythmias frequently reported in chronic steroid users. Anabolic steroids alter cardiac structure and function. A 2010 experiment offered in the "Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology" evaluated the hearts of male rats given anabolic steroids for 8 weeks. Long-term administration of steroidal drugs changed the morphological structure of both ventricles and the electrical activity of the left ventricle. Such findings may explain the occasional report of steroid-induced cardiac arrest. A 1994 case provided in the journal "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise" shows that extensive use of androgenic drugs can prove fatal.
Kidney Failure
Long-term use of anabolic steroids negatively affects kidney structure and function as well. N. Deshmukh and colleagues have provided a possible explanation for these changes. Their 2010 paper in the periodical "Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy" indicates that some people lack the gene known as UGT2B17. This gene produces an enzyme that facilitates drug clearance by the kidneys. Athletes lacking this gene may benefit more from steroid use than people not having the gene. The body's failure to remove steroids enhances the steroids' positive effects on muscle development. This benefit, however, may come at the cost of kidney damage. Not efficiently removing drugs from the body puts undue pressure on the kidneys. Such pressure may ultimately cause kidney failure.
References
- "The Physician and Sports Medicine"; Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Anabolic Steroids in Male Bodybuilders: Current versus Former Users; G. S. Goldfield and D. B. Woodside; April 2009
- "Behavioural Brain Research"; Anabolic Steroids Have Long-Lasting Effects on Male Social Behaviors; K. Y. Salas-Ramirez et al.; Apr. 2, 2010
- "Japanese Journal of Urology"; Case of Androgenic Anabolic Steroid Abuse Caused Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism; A. Takayanagi et al.; November 2008
- "Journal of Neuroscience Research"; Anabolic Steroids Induce Injury and Apoptosis of Differentiated Skeletal Muscle; S. Abu-Shakra et al.; Jan. 15, 1997
- "Human Pathology"; Factitial Soft Tissue Pseudotumor due to Injection of Anabolic Steroids: A Report of 3 Cases in 2 Patients; I. Weinreb et al.; March 2010
