by Dan Gwartney, M.D.

As this article is being written, Roger Clemens is appearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to testify as to whether or not he used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone. Interestingly, prior to this, a scathing commentary from a member of the Cato Institute (a libertarian think-tank based in Washington, DC) on CNBC (February 13, 2008) condemned Congress for becoming involved in regulating professional sports, spending extensive time and resources on a matter that is not within their purview and pales in comparison to the critical matters of national security and prosperity (Iraq, housing crisis anyone?) to serve their addiction for media exposure. The comment was made that were cameras not present, the Mitchell Report and related investigations would not exist. Some may have noticed that this was the treatment given to Barry Bonds, whose claim of the career home run record went relatively unnoticed and unheralded due to his (Bonds’) alleged use of numerous performance-enhancing drugs. It is a sad commentary on our elected officials, the media and the public. Frankly, there is a more critical need for all members of Congress, state and local legislatures, as well as teachers, to be subjected to random drug and alcohol testing.

For decades, there have been numerous different disincentive approaches taken to lessen the appeal of anabolic steroids to athletes and young people. Though the intent behind these approaches may have been charitable, they have served only to drive a wedge between professional and authoritative agencies and the audiences they are trying to reach. Similarly, disincentives against testosterone therapy for quality-of-life or aging-related treatment are current matters claiming headlines across the nation. While it is essential that patients be aware of potential risks involved with any medication or therapy, false allegations serve no one in the end. Since the publication of a paper in 1941 that reported that the growth of prostate cancer was slowed in one man who was castrated (surgical removal of testicles) after diagnosis, it has been assumed that not only can testosterone accelerate the growth of prostate cancer, but also cause the disease.1 This theory went unchallenged for decades until it was noted that prostate cancer is extremely rare in men under 40 and occurs with greater frequency in older men.2 This is counter to what one would expect, as testosterone levels are highest during a man’s teens and 20s; men in their 70s and 80s, when the prevalence of prostate cancer can be as high as 46 percent-80 percent, suffer from testosterone deficiency.3,4 Further eroding support for the assumption that testosterone causes prostate cancer is the observation that the prevalence of prostate cancer in men younger than 50 is on the increase, when average testosterone concentrations have been falling for the last several generations.3,5

by Brent Allen, MS, MBA

The perfect way to open this article is to tell you about my conversations with the many university and college Health/Physical Education department heads I talked to in order to guest lecture at their respective institutions. I would tell them they may not want me to lecture because I have a slightly controversial approach. I'm 100% objective and honest about the positive and negative effects of steroids. Upon reflection, I realized there is something seriously wrong when objectivity and honesty are controversial!

One of the major reasons for the controversy surrounding the steroid topic is very simple. There have been "many" (and I do emphasize many) different "highly" respected degreed individuals, official sports/medical organizations, and even well known steroid experts that have changed their stand literally 180 degrees, on selected steroid issues, with one changing his stand in the same hour! I know what you are thinking - there is no way this could happen. But it did and Ive discovered them in an exhaustive search of the steroid literature and have revealed them for you in this unique article.

Author: DIv Ha' DI bah

The prevalent use of pharmaceuticals as enhancers of performance or appearance in the athletic arena is well-known. However, the legal and moral issues surrounding their use prevent users from access to credible and reliable medical information on health issues associated with their use. Medical practitioners cannot legally or ethically prescribe them for use by athletes and the doctors themselves are often inadequately informed about the physiology of the drugs. This is especially true when you consider the various dosing schemes and polypharmacology that is often employed by athletes, especially bodybuilders. Even the published scientific information available to them is not free from bias. Although newly published studies are reporting more objective conclusions regarding increases in muscle mass and strength, the health risks associated with the supraphysiological doses and durations used by many athletes remain unknown.

Regardless, these drawbacks have not deterred many male athletes and bodybuilders from experimenting with illicit drugs to enhance their performance or appearances. Before anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) were legally classified as Schedule III controlled substances in 1990, the occasional athlete could obtain AAS for injuries by a few practicing MDs, but they were never freely dosed like antibiotics. In these cases, the physicians could monitor the users physical status. However, even then most AAS were illicitly obtained outside of medical approval and supervision. Obviously, the reclassification of AAS drove their use by athletes even more underground than before.

By by Dana Ohl, M.D. Associate Professor of Surgery University of Michigan

I. Introduction

Androgen use is very prevalent in society. Much of this is due to androgen abuse among athletes and bodybuilders, where black market androgen abuse has reached epidemic proportions. Indeed, in various studies of high school boys, it has been found that 4-12% had used androgens at least once (JAMA 27O:12l7, 1993). Androgens have also been prescribed for many conditions by physicians throughout the last several decades.

Despite the prevalence of legal and illegal androgen use, the science of androgen effects has greatly lagged behind the understanding of biological effects of estrogen and indications for estrogen replacement therapy. Female oral contraceptives have been in use for many years, but only recently have we seen studies regarding hormone contraceptive agents in men. Although there are a few very well-defined clinical syndromes of male hypogonadism which require androgen therapy, the use in other clinical situations, such as mild hypogonadism and hypogonadism associated with aging is less well established.

The Positive Effects of Testosterone on the Heart
by Doug Kalman MS, RD

Steroids will cause your kidneys to implode, your heart to blow a ventricle, and your liver to squirt out of your arse, fly across the room, and knock the cat off the futon. We read it on the Internet and saw an after school special about it, so it must be true, right?

Actually, the more you learn about steroids, the more you come to realize that, like all drugs, there's a difference between their intelligent use and outright abuse. In this article, Doug Kalman takes a look at the effects of Testosterone on the heart. What he found may surprise you.

Over the years we've all heard the repeated mantra that anabolic steroids are bad for the heart. Some physicians will tell you that gear raises your risk of heart disease by lowering your good cholesterol (HDL) and raising your bad cholesterol (LDL). In fact, as some docs will tell you, steroids are known to even induce cardiac hypertrophy (enlargement of the heart). And since you can't flex your heart in an effort to woo women, who'd want that?

I never met Mohammed Benaziza or Andreas Munzer--top IFBB pros in the 1990s, both now dead--and I've yet to meet Michael Francois or Don Long or Dennis Newman, all of whom suffered major health problems that dramatically shortened their careers and nearly their lives. I've only once spoken to Orville Burke, weeks before he lapsed into a coma, and have exchanged few words with Flex Wheeler--the best bodybuilder to never win the Olympia and now, like Long, a kidney transplant survivor.

Tom Prince is different. Prince is someone I speak with in Gold's Gym, Venice, nearly every day, and when we talk, it's rarely about hack squats or carb loading. Prince is the first pro bodybuilder that I considered a true friend. That's why it crushed me when his kidneys failed in April 2003. That's why it made me question much about modern bodybuilding. It's why I was conflicted about the controversial article I wrote on Prince ("To Hell and Back ... Now What?," January 2004) and still more conflicted about writing the article you're reading now. But whether you see the journey detailed here as courageous or reckless, noble or futile, his tale needs to be told, now more than ever.

Anabolic Steroid Therapy and Moods

Hermann and Beach (1976), in a review of the psychotropic effects of androgens, concluded that ?????¦androgen deficiency appears to cause a slowing down of both physical and mental functions, a reduction in libido and potency, and a tendency towards moodiness and depression. Conversely, androgen excess seems to stimulate physical and mental function, and to induce assertiveness rather than passivity, although the degree to which these people are overtly aggressive is somewhat unclear.??™ Hermann and Beach also concluded that, ???As yet no work, to our knowledge, has been done on the possible contribution that the reported variations in hormone levels make to the changed behaviour of those who become mentally disordered, nor to their exact role in metabolic changes which are supposed to accompany such illness.??™ Unfortunately, although a number of studies have been conducted over the intervening years, little can be added to their conclusion at this point in time. This following section summarises research and clinical observations and effects in individuals with androgen deficiencies receiving androgen therapy.

Anabolic Steroids, Growth Hormone, and Hypertrophy of the Heart

by Willem Koert

Willem Koert is a Dutch science writer. Although his favorite subject is muscle enhancement and life extension, in his professional life he writes primarily about health, the food industry and biotechnology. In his spare time, he publishes Ergogenics, a newsletter on bodybuilding related science.

The debate on the effect of anabolic substances on the structure of the heart reached another phase, since Finnish scientists studied twenty local bodybuilders who had just finished their cycles. Steroids don??™t damage the heart, the researchers found. But the combination of steroids and growth hormone does.

Ban Athletes Who Don't Use Steroids

by Sidney Gendin, Ph.D.

Sidney is is a professor of philosophy of law at Eastern Michigan University. He has taught philosophy for 36 years, specializing in philosophy of law. He has co-edited several books and authored about 20 articles appearing in leading philosophy journals.

Isn't it time for the brainwashed public to know the truth about steroids? In their ideological zeal to ban "performance enhancing" drugs, national governments and the various local and international sports federations have ignorantly and self-righteously declared that steroid use is cheating, dangerous, and stupid. In fact, in general, it is neither dangerous nor stupid and it is cheating only because it has been capriciously commanded to be so.