For Olympic athletes, body builders and avid gym goers, anabolic steroids and drug store supplements may offer more downfalls than advantages.
Athletes looking to make themselves more competitive may look to steroids, said Dr. Don Catlin, professor emeritus of molecular and medical pharmacology and founder of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory.
But any person looking to bulk up or meet the demands of a physically intensive job may also be interested in steroid use, he added.
Anyone from club bouncers to firefighters to police officers may look to anabolic steroids to help with job performance, Catlin said.
Steroids have medical uses, particularly for men who have low levels of testosterone or older individuals suffering from a degenerative muscle disease, said Christian Roberts, adjunct assistant professor of physiological science.
Roberts has studied the use of steroids in amounts that are relatively small compared to the dosages that athletes may take. Steroid use in small dosages may be used to improve the health of men who naturally have low testosterone levels, he said.
Those who take high levels of steroids will most likely see significant results, but not without consequences, Roberts said.
Steroids taken orally are broken down in the stomach and absorbed into the bloodstream. The molecules migrate to androgen receptors, which regulate the body’s response to hormones like testosterone. The active components in anabolic steroids fit to the androgen receptors like a lock and key. This action triggers the production of proteins, which results in larger musculature, more energy and a shorter recovery time from workouts.
These changes can occur after as little as a week of taking steroids, Catlin said.
The negative effects of steroid use can be far-reaching, he added. Since the body senses the introduction of testosterone from outside sources, it stops making its own, he said. As a result, men who take testosterone as a steroid can develop breast tissue, acne and a reduction in sperm production.
Women undergo masculinization because of the addition of too much testosterone to their body, Catlin said. Their breasts may shrink, their voices may get lower in pitch and their menstruation cycles may stop.
Steroids can also bring on side effects that are not physically recognizable like liver toxicity and heart problems, Roberts said.
Catlin founded UCLA’s Olympic Analytical Laboratory in 1982, when the Olympic Games came to Los Angeles. The lab was started to combat the use of anabolic steroids in the athletic world, Catlin said.
“The world of sportsmen were concerned because there was no testing center in the U.S. They assumed that all (U.S.) athletes were doped,” Catlin said.
The lab was the first anti-doping and steroid testing lab in the United States. Now, it is one of 33 in the world. The lab has since tested for the Olympics as well as the NCAA, the NFL and Minor League Baseball.
But even a world-class testing lab is constantly trying to keep up with the new strains of undetectable steroids being produced, Catlin said.
The problem lies in the difficulties of detecting a compound that has never been seen before, said Anthony Butch, director of the lab and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine.. A few small changes to a steroid’s basic chemical compound can create a completely new and undetectable substance, he added.
There are also issues surrounding the manufacture of supplements sold in drug stores that contain substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, Butch said. These banned substances are not considered steroids, but work in different ways to increase testosterone production and build musculature, he said.
Athletes who use such dietary supplements may not have knowledge of the chemical ingredients and suffer the consequences of a positive lab test, he said.
Such dietary supplements do not need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration before they hit shelves.
“One of the things that becomes a problem is that (the supplement companies) are manufacturing different things in the machines, and substances get contaminated,” Butch said. “This week’s batch can be safe, but next week’s batch may be contaminated with something.”
Even the ingredient labels for these supplements can be deceptive to athletes, since ingredients can be listed in a way that doesn’t make it clear whether supplements contain prohibited substances, Butch said.
The struggle between athletes and testing labs is ongoing, but the future of anti-doping is looking better than it did before, Catlin said.
The lab performs about 45,000 tests per year, looking for substances designed to give athletes a competitive edge.
“Compared to where we were 25 years ago, it’s been cleaned up a lot,” Catlin said.