Anabolic Steroids for Non-Therapeutic Use Essay -- Sports Athletes Ath

Anabolic Steroids for non-therapeutic use Competition is in our blood. The human drive to compete-and-win—in the Ice Age hunters fighting to drag home the biggest woolly mammoth, the ancient Greek athlete aiming for a greater distance in the discus toss, and the modern weightlifter pushing for the gold medal—has been linked to steroid hormones, namely testosterone and its derivatives, circulating within us. In the latter half the last century, many looking for an added edge have turned to synthetic testosterone-like anabolic-androgenic steroids to build muscle and enhance competitive drive. The ingestion of substances for better performance is not new. Ancient Greek athletes took in lots of protein to build muscle. Norse warriors known as Beserkers looked to hallucinogenic mushrooms for inspiration in preparation for battle. The earliest documented modern "doping" with xenobiotics for enhanced performance is among swimmers in Amsterdam in the 1860s. In the decades that followed, doping with nonfoods such as strychnine, caffeine, cocaine, and heroin spread to other sports (24,4). The synthesis of testosterone in the 1930s sparked the introduction of anabolic steroids into competitive sports. In the 1952 Olympics, synthetic testosterone enhanced the Russian weightlifting team’s ability to pump metal, and heave off with a heap of medals. In 1958 the first anabolic steroids were developed by a U.S. pharmaceutical company. Use of anabolic steroids spread through the wide world of sports in the 1960s and 1970s and by the 1980s the drugs were discovered by nonathltetes in search of a better body (24,8). Reports from the 1990s have indicated use of steroids among college, high school, and even middle school students (24). Exa... ...ropionate injections on serum lipoprotein concentrations in rats. Medicine and Science in Sports Exercise. 31 (1999) 664-9. Plalatini, P et al., Cardiovascular effects of anabolic steroids in weight-trained subjects. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 36 (1996) 1132-40. Mewis, C et al., Manifestation of severe coronary heart disease after anabolic drug abuse. Clinical Cardiol. 19 (1996) 153-55. Ferrandez, MD et al., Anabolic steroids and lymphocyte function in sedentary and exercise-trained rats. J. Steroid Biochem. Molec. Biol. 59 (1996) 225-32. Boada, LD et al., Evaluation of acute and chronic hepatoxic effects exerted by anabolic-androgenic steroid stanozolol in adult male rats. Archives of Toxicology 73 (1999) 465-72. NIDA Report, Anabolic Steroids: A threat to mind and body. DHHS Publication No. (ADM) 91-1810. Norman, A, Hormones, 2 Ed. Academic Press, 1997.