понедельник, 30 июня 2014 г.

Journal Of Special Operations Medicine (JSOM) Paper

http://www.brinkzone.com/articles/jsom/


JSOMCover1
Hit cover picture to be taken to the JSOM home page
The Journal Of Special Operations Medicine (JSOM) covers a wide range of topics focused on special operations forces (SOF). Topics range from medical procedures and other medical based focus (diseases, etc) SOF can face and need medical treatment for. JSOM also covers topics such as training and injury prevention, and even topics such as nutritional supplements that may benefit SOF. For example, JSOM recently published a review of the importance of vitamin D for soldiers.
So, having a personal and professional interest in the topic, it should not be a big surprise I read this journal. Recently  Dr. Kyle Hoedebecke and yours truly had an LTE published in JSOM. This short paper was in response to a review paper  titled  “Operational stressors on physical performance in special operators and countermeasures to improve performance: a review of the literature.” by O’Hara R, Henry  A, Serres J, Russell D, Locke R.
In this review the authors  concluded that “The rigors of both physical training and prolonged deployments without adequate rest and food intake can compromise physical performance.” After doing a literature search, they  concluded that  “Specific countermeasures for these known decrements are lacking in the scientific literature.”
Dr.  Hoedebecke and I responded that there were published studies that demonstrate a number of nutritional supplements  may  counteract some of the decrements of training and combat specific to special operations forces (SOF) and other military personnel, and we covered a small sample of nutritional supplements that can directly assist SOF and other military personnel. This is the citation and abstract from what we submitted and was published in  JSOM as response:
Hoedebecke K, Brink W. Operational stressors on physical performance in special operators and countermeasures to improve performance: a review of the literature. J Spec Oper Med. 2014 Summer;14(2):84-5.
 Abstract:
In the article “Operational Stressors on Physical Performance in Special Operators and Countermeasures to Improve Performance: A Review of the Literature,” O’Hara and colleagues* performed a literature search for “specific countermeasures to reduce or prevent significant decrements in physical performance and reduce musculoskeletal injuries” with the conclusion that “specific countermeasures for these known decrements are lacking in the scientific literature.” This deduction, however, proves inaccurate as evidence within the military community does exist and, unfortunately, has been undervalued. Provided here are only a few examples of present Special Operations Force (SOF)-relevant supplement research.
NOTE: If you’d like to read the full paper by O’Hara R, Henry  A, Serres J, Russell D, Locke R. and the response to their paper by Dr. Hoedebecke and myself, JSOM does give a 3 day free membership where you can read back issues, full papers, etc. If interested, go HERE  for your free 3 day membership so you can read the above papers as well as others you may find interesting.



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About 

Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 15 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.

His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors.

Will is the author of the popular e-books, both accompanied by private members forum access , Bodybuilding Revealed & Fat Loss Revealed.



воскресенье, 29 июня 2014 г.

TESTOSTERONE UNDECANOATE:THE MARATHON MAN OF TESTOSTERONE ESTERS


http://musculardevelopment.com/articles/chemical-enhancement/1491-testosterone-undecanoatethe-marathon-man-of-testosterone-esters.html?showall=1&limitstart=#.U7BakxahbDM



The Marathon Man Of Testosterone Esters
Dan Gwartney, MD

Put aside the questions of ethics, as well as any arguments of health benefits or health concerns; in the end, steroid use is a pain in the rear- literally. Most anabolic steroid (AAS) users include injectable versions of testosterone, nandrolone and/or some other AAS in their stacks, as injectables are more consistent in maintaining androgenic concentrations, generally less expensive and less toxic.1 AAS are made suitable for injection through a variety of chemical modifications- the most commonly encountered being 17£]-esterification. Esterification is a chemical term that describes the bonding (chemical attachment) of an acid to an alcohol group. In the case of AAS, the esterification describes the attachment of a fatty acid to the hydroxyl (alcohol) group on the 17th carbon.
Was that confusing? It should have been to anyone without some exposure to organic chemistry or those self-educated in the structure of AAS. Many users take AAS chemistry for granted without realizing the drugs are elegantly designed and each has characteristics that make it better or worse for certain uses. In more basic terms, injectable AAS are chemically changed in order to develop a drug that is better suited for clinical use. Most are esterified, which is the term used when a long-chain fatty acid is attached. Pharmaceutical chemists esterify AAS so they release more slowly, allowing the drug to be active for a longer period. In general, the longer the fatty acid attached, the slower the release.2
Esterification has proven to be very beneficial in therapeutic use, as testosterone and related drugs would otherwise be cleared from the system within hours if injected in their normal form. Of course, some athletes competing in drug-tested organizations use this fact to their advantage in order to defeat certain drug screens- they use nonesterified or short-chain testosterone esters (like testosterone acetate), which are quickly flushed from the system. Anti-doping agencies have managed to catch up to this strategy by analyzing testosterone at the atomic level, looking at isotope ratios.3 Again, this is a very sophisticated technique that very few people understand unless they have been fortunate enough to have studied chemistry. For the noncompetitive athlete, or those who compete in organizations that do not test for or ban AAS, longer acting esters offer a number of advantages, including: less fluctuation (highs and lows) of serum (blood) testosterone concentrations, longer intervals between injections and more reliable anabolic response. Of course, there are some disadvantages to long-acting esters, as chemical karma always seems to require some tradeoff. Longer acting esters take longer to reach an anabolic concentration, are slower to clear the system, suppress natural testosterone production longer and contain less active component (testosterone) than short-chain esters by weight- for example, testosterone acetate is 87 percent testosterone, testosterone enanthate is 72 percent testosterone and testosterone undecanoate is 61 percent testosterone. Thus, 200mg of testosterone acetate provides 42 percent more testosterone (174mg) than the same amount of testosterone undecanoate (122mg).
Clearly, use of long-chain esters needs to be limited to long-term use in order to allow therapeutic (or anabolic) levels to accumulate. This is similar to the situation encountered with some familiar with AAS, such as nandrolone decanoate (Deca) and boldenone undecanoate (Equipoise). These AAS do not provide the rapid mass gains seen with orals or short-chain esters (acetate, propionate, etc.), in part because they are long-chain esters. Many users, accustomed to short six-to-eight-week cycles will report dissatisfaction with Deca or Equipoise, especially if they taper, due to the slow release. Post-cycle recovery is also much different with these drugs, as their suppressive effect persists for months in some cases, making it important to properly time hCG, Clomid or other drugs to restore natural testosterone production. Similar experiences can be expected with testosterone undecanoate. Finally, there is also greater difficulty in managing any adverse effect that might arise (irritability, hypomania, anger, aggression, gynecomastia, acne, hair loss, obstruction of the urine stream due to prostate growth, etc.), as elevated androgen levels will persist for weeks.


However, in the balance of things, there is a growing support for long-chain esters, especially in the clinical world. Testosterone is actually used by some medical doctors legitimately, though the media would have the public believe quacks, rogues, madmen and medical mercenaries only prescribe the drug. A paper was recently published in the Asian Journal of Andrology describing the experiences of a group of physicians in Germany using the drug testosterone undecanoate for over eight years in men with low testosterone.4 In the article, the authors compared testosterone undecanoate to the more commonly encountered testosterone enanthate and found it to be equivalent or superior in all aspects. Numerous other reports of long-term use were referred to in the article, supporting the findings of the German clinicians.5-8
The crux of the advantage of testosterone undecanoate over all other forms of testosterone replacement relates to its ability to provide stable concentrations over an extended period of time (up to 14 weeks in some cases) without causing users to experience extreme highs and lows. Interestingly, it was noted that many patients were able to "feel" when their concentrations became low, allowing the clinicians to tailor the injection schedule to the individual.9 This is particularly interesting when one considers that testosterone levels drop so gradually when using testosterone undecanoate that day-to-day changes are very small. This suggests that individuals are able to somehow detect when a threshold minimum concentration is passed, instigating the request for additional dosing. There were no reports of patients requesting more frequent or higher dosing, which would be seen if habituation occurred. Habituation is a trait seen in addictive drug use, when a higher dose or more frequent use is required to satisfy the addict's cravings; habituation has been suggested to exist with AAS use. The absence of such behavior over eight years supports the suggestion that testosterone undecanoate can be used successfully in a properly supervised, clinical setting.
The German clinicians found that 1,000mg of testosterone undecanoate (4ml at 250mg/ml) injected six weeks apart for the first two treatments and then every 12 weeks thereafter provided most patients with satisfactory response. Certain patients did display quicker testosterone clearance and were given their maintenance doses every 10 weeks.4 Serum testosterone concentrations did tend to peak the first two weeks after injections, occasionally exceeding the upper limits of normal for a brief period, but otherwise they were maintained in the normal range for the entire course of treatment. It has been noted that larger volume injections decreases bioavailability and the article stated that a single, 4ml injection was given- so it is possible that dividing the dosing into two injections of 2ml (one shot for each glute) would provide a greater maximal concentration and prolong the effect...a consideration for a bodybuilder who would likely be seeking a supraphysiologic dose.10
An issue often raised against the use of testosterone is the risk of side effects. Testosterone undecanoate, used for testosterone replacement, was found to be safe and adverse side effects were minimal. In fact, the authors stated, "No major adverse effects were encountered in the clinical trials of testosterone undecanoate.4 This is not surprising, as the pharmaceutically active component is testosterone itself." DHT and estradiol (an estrogen) levels were normal throughout treatment; gynecomastia, breast tenderness and acne were only reported in a minority of patients. However, earlier trials did have a higher incidence of these symptoms when more frequent dosing led to supraphysiologic testosterone concentrations, as would be expected with any testosterone preparation.4 Prostate growth was noted early on in the patients, but it stabilized during treatment and remained within normal range. This was expected, as the men were selected from a group that had low testosterone to begin with and presented with undersized prostates collectively. None of the men showed a change in urine flow during treatment.4


Another side effect noted in a minority of the men was an increase in hematocrit (a measure of how much of your blood is red blood cells as opposed to fluid) above 52 percent.4 Though this does not sound threatening, and some athletes such as competitive cyclists use hyperbaric chambers, erythropoietin and steroids to increase their hematocrit (a higher hematocrit delivers more oxygen to working muscles); a high hematocrit increases the risk of blood clots that can cause strokes, heart attacks and other life-threatening conditions.11 The risk of any adverse health effect and the need to individually tailor the drug administration schedule argues strongly for testosterone undecanoate to be dispensed by a knowledgeable health practitioner.
The benefits noted during testosterone undecanoate treatment were noteworthy. Many of the subjects reported better mood, greater sexual interest and a reduction in fatigue.5,12 There was a drop in "good" cholesterol (HDL), but it was of the same or lesser magnitude of decrease seen with total cholesterol, "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides. Similar changes were reported in another report discussing long-term treatment with testosterone undecanoate, with the exception that there was a slight increase in the "good" cholesterol.13,14 Thus, it would appear, at least when used as hormone replacement, that testosterone undecanoate does not worsen the lipid (cholesterol and fats) profile and may even improve it slightly.13 The lipid profile provides some indication of a person's risk of a future heart attack or stroke.
Some of the most successful new drugs, relative to market sales, have been those treating erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra and Levitra. Yet, the positive effect testosterone has on erectile function has long been ignored. In part, this may be due to the fact that it would be difficult to profit from testosterone-based drugs, since there would be no patent protection; the politico-legal environment also discourages developing uses of this inexpensive treatment. However, it is still worthwhile to note that not only does testosterone improve erectile function in hypogonadal men- thankfully, since sexual desire and arousal is increased with testosterone use- but it works in many men who cannot achieve an erection with Viagra or similar drugs.15 Studies report that approximately half of all men with erectile dysfunction achieve normal erectile function within 12-24 weeks when treated with testosterone.16
Of course, this increase in sexual urges and ability could restore the hope for parenting for some, or increase the risk of an unplanned pregnancy for others. Depending upon one's outlook, testosterone undecanoate may hold an additional side effect or benefit. Studies among East Asian men showed testosterone undecanoate to be more effective than condom use in preventing unplanned pregnancies due to the suppression of spermatogenesis (creation of sperm).17 However, men should be cautioned that condom use is still necessary to reduce the transmission of most sexually transmitted diseases.
Unfortunately, the ability of testosterone undecanoate to induce infertility (no sperm produced, or azoospermia) is weaker among Caucasian men, with only 60 percent achieving azoospermia when dosed every six weeks.18 Companies are developing combination products, using long-acting testosterone preparation along with progestins (a type of hormone found in women's birth control pills) to make a suitable, long-acting contraceptive for men.18 Though many AAS users may become sterile while using testosterone undecanoate, it is not certain enough to guarantee against an unplanned pregnancy.



The question remains then, what about testosterone undecanoate as an AAS, not a contraceptive or hormone replacement? One study looked at the effect of testosterone undecanoate in healthy, normal, young men. As noted before, testosterone concentrations peaked the first two weeks after injection (reaching supraphysiologic levels in many subjects), increasing anger/hostility slightly, but with no increase in violence, aggressive or sexual behavior.12 Within four weeks, testosterone levels had returned to normal values in the test subjects. LH, the pituitary hormone that signals testosterone production by the testes, was quickly suppressed after the injection but rose gradually to maintain testosterone values near normal throughout the 12-week study. Thus, it appears that testosterone undecanoate may clear gradually enough that most users may be able to cycle off without requiring the use of Clomid or hCG. Being able to avoid the near-inevitable loss of muscle mass and onset of fatigue and mild depression that often accompanies AAS withdrawal at the end of a cycle would be very valuable.
The use of testosterone has been shamed into the shadows due to the ostracization by the media and its affiliation with sports doping. This has impeded research severely, to the detriment of AAS users and society who could benefit from many of the positive effects of testosterone treatment. Testosterone undecanoate appears to offer many benefits over traditional forms of testosterone by providing more reliable and sustained concentrations. Despite being used safely for nearly a decade in many patients receiving the drug for replacement, testosterone undecanoate is not without risk. However, most of the risks are dose-related, occurring most frequently when testosterone concentrations exceed the normal range. Unfortunately, this is exactly where many users would prefer to dose the drug. Though it is unlikely that clinicians will have the latitude to provide any AAS for anabolic purposes in healthy men, the authors of the German report agreed with earlier comments that testosterone therapy must be tailored to the needs and expectations of the individual. Considering the broad range of "normal" for serum testosterone concentrations, it is possible that many men may benefit from maintaining testosterone concentrations nearer to the upper limit of normal.
For the purpose of hormone replacement, testosterone undecanoate seems nearly ideal, allowing the patient to be dosed just four times a year, which would allow his physician to perform a brief physical and some lab tests to ensure that no adverse effects are being experienced. For the athlete or bodybuilder, it also holds a great deal of value. Considering that above-normal levels were experienced in healthy young men for four weeks after being injected with 1,000mg of testosterone undecanoate, it is conceivable that an anabolic cycle could be achieved with monthly, or less frequent, injections. Indeed, a separate study performed in Italy showed that men who received 1,000mg of testosterone undecanoate (for the purpose of contraception) every eight weeks experienced a linear increase in testosterone concentration over time.18 This means that testosterone concentration accumulated, as each "booster" shot was given before the full amount of the previous dose had cleared. Not only would this relieve a user from twice-weekly injections, as is standard with most AAS, but the prolonged release may allow a user to return to normal testicular function without relying upon Clomid or hCG.
Clearly, there is much yet to be learned about the use of testosterone undecanoate in healthy young men. However, as research continues in its use as a contraceptive and possibly as adjunct therapy in erectile dysfunction, common knowledge about this drug is certain to grow.


What About The Beans?

Many people became aware of a relatively new steroid during the BALCO scandal and media coverage related to Major League Baseball star Barry Bonds. They are called "beans," "beanies" or "Mexican beans" in gym slang because of their appearance- small, brown gelcaps containing the steroid Andriol (testosterone undecanoate)- and have reportedly been used by many athletes. However, real-world encounters with individuals who have used Andriol or other brands of testosterone undecanoate gelcaps are very limited. The reasons for this are high cost and low effectiveness.
Certainly, for a professional athlete, the cost is marginal and the addition of a quickly clearing oral steroid to stack with products like the "Clear" and the "Cream" might be enticing in such a situation. However, the average user finds Andriol offers very little bang for the buck. Bill Llewellyn reports in his book Anabolics 2005 that users find no anabolic effect using doses less than 240mg per day and gains are modest, even with higher doses. This compares very poorly to classic orals, which are mildly effective in the 10-20mg/day range and many are quite potent at doses less than 60mg/day.
At first, this is quite confusing, because the active ingredient in Andriol is testosterone. The long-chain ester undecanoate allows the drug to be absorbed through the lymphatic system, which is a separate circulation that does not pass through the liver. This preserves the steroid, as the enzymes that normally detoxify drugs before they enter the circulating bloodstream do not metabolize it. Thus, one would think that getting approximately 150+ mg of testosterone daily would lead to tremendous gains. After all, many recreational bodybuilders are quite satisfied with the gains achieved using 400mg per week of injectable testosterone esters. The problem, it appears, is that oral delivery of testosterone undecanoate is very inefficient.
Early studies showed that only trace amounts of testosterone undecanoate were absorbed after a single oral dose. Approximately 5 percent of the dose was considered to be bioavailable, meaning that each capsule is the equivalent of 2mg of testosterone. This would be in keeping with the observations many men report of seeing no results with less than six capsules (240mg), as this would basically replace the normal daily production of testosterone from the testes. Also, the clearance of the drug is quite rapid, so it is likely that if the dose is taken all at once, that mental and emotional effects might be noted, but anabolic effects may not be sustained, as the elevation in testosterone is not maintained.
A study in 2003 demonstrated that taking the gelcaps with a meal greatly increased absorption. In fact, compared to taking the drug on an empty stomach, nearly 10 times as much testosterone was delivered. Just recently, another study reported that the composition of the meal makes a difference as well. Higher fat meals increase the absorption of testosterone undecanoate, allowing nearly five times as much to become bioavailable. Thus, compared to taking the drug on an empty stomach, it would appear that taking testosterone undecanoate gelcaps with a fatty meal (19 grams of fat or greater) increases the effectiveness of the drug greatly.
Clinically, this would be very important, but most sophisticated bodybuilders were already aware of this and still found the effectiveness of this drug to be lacking. While the design of the drug is quite elegant and allows for the oral delivery of testosterone without resorting to 17Éø-alkylation, which is known to cause liver stress and subsequent damage, it provides little for the purposes of enhancing muscular size or strength.
References:
Llewellyn W. Andriol (testosterone undecanoate). Anabolics 2005. Body of Science Press, Jupiter, FL, 2005:100-2.
Tauber U, Schroder K, et al. Absolute bioavailability of testosterone after oral administration of testosterone-undecanoate and testosterone. Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet, 1986;11:145-9.
Bagchus WM, Hust R, et al. Important effect of food on the bioavailability of oral testosterone undecanoate. Pharmacotherapy, 2003;23:319-25.
Schnabel PG, Bagchus W, et al. The effect of food composition on serum testosterone levels after oral administration of Andriol Testocaps. Clin Endocrinol, 2007;66:579-85.


References:
1. Parkinson AB, Evans N. Anabolic androgenic steroids: a survey of 500 users. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2006;38:644-51.
2. Llewellyn W. Synthetic AAS Development. Anabolics 2005. Body of Science Press, Jupiter, FL;2005:20-24.
3. Cawley AT, Kazlauskas R, et al. Isotopic fractionation of endogenous anabolic androgenic steroids and its relationship to doping control in sports. J Chromatagr Sci, 2005;43:32-8.
4. Saad F, Kamischke A, et al. More than eight years' hands-on experience with the novel long-acting parenteral testosterone undecanoate. Asian J Androl, 2007;9:291-7.
5. Von Eckardstein S, Nieschlag E. Treatment of male hypogonadism with testosterone undecanoate injected at extended intervals of 12 weeks: a phase II study. J Androl, 2002;23:419-25.
6. Morales A, Nieschlag E, et al. Clinical experience with the new long-acting injectable testosterone undecanoate. Report on the educational symposium on the occasion of the 5th World Congress on the Aging Male, 9-12 February 2006, Salzburg, Austria. Aging Male, 2006;9:221-7.
7. Zitzmann M, Nieschlag E. Long term experience of more than 8 years with a novel formulation of testosterone undecanoate (Nebido) in substitution therapy of hypogonadal men. Aging Male, 2006;9:5 (abstract).
8. Schubert M, Minnemann T, et al. Intramuscular testosterone undecanoate: pharmacokinetic aspects of a novel testosterone formulation during long-term treatment of men with hypogonadism. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2004:89:5429-34.
9. Zitzmann M, Faber S, et al. Association of specific symptoms and metabolic risks with serum testosterone in older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2006;90:4335-43.
10. Minto CF, Howe C, et al. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of nandrolone esters in oil vehicle: effects of ester, injection site and injection volume. J Pharm Exp Ther, 1997;281:93-102.
11. Barbui T, Finazzi G. Therapy for polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia is driven by the cardiovascular risk. Semin Thromb Hemost, 2007;33:321-9.
12. O'Connor DB, Archer J, et al. Effects of testosterone on mood, aggression and sexual behavior in young men: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2004;89:2837-45.
13. Zitzmann M, von Eckardstein S, et al. Long-term experience with injections of testosterone undecanoate for substitution therapy in hypgonadal men. In: 87th Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society; 2005 June 4 - 7; San Diego, CA; p. 306.
14. Schubert M, Zitzmann M, et al. Innovation in testosterone therapy for the treatment of male hypogonadism. J Men's Health & Gender, 2006;3:356-62.
15. Yassin AA, Saad F, et al. Testosterone undecanoate restores erectile function in a subset of patients with venous leakage: a series of case reports. J Sex Med, 2006;3:727-35.
16. Yassin AS, Saad F. Treatment of sexual dysfunctions in men with late onset hypogonadism treated with testosterone only. World J Urol, 2006;24:639-44.
17. Gui YL, He CH, et al. Male hormonal contraception: suppression of spermatogenesis by injectable testosterone undecanoate alone or with levonorgestrel implants in Chinese men. J Androl, 2004;25:720-7.
18. Qoubaitary A, Meriggiola C, et al. Pharmacokinetics of testosterone undecanoate injected alone or in combination with norethisterone enanthate in health men. J Androl, 2006;27:853-67.

ДОПИНГ В КИОКУСИНКАЙ

пятница, 20 июня 2014 г.

Альтернатива инсулину?



Прямые инъекции инсулина опасны и могут привести к летальному исходу. Ведущий специалист по спортивному питанию доктор Мауро Ди Паскуале рассказывает о безвредных методах повышения секреции важнейшего анаболического гормона. Открытие анаболической роли инсулина еще более усугубило и без того нездоровую атмосферу вокруг фармакологии в бодибилдинге. К арсеналу доморощенных приемов добавились инсулиновые инъекции. Применение инсулина происходит в полных научных потемках, подпольно. Это исключает возможность анализа и обобщения неизбежных побочных последствий инъекций, создает опасную иллюзию легкого и безопасного достижения результата. В этой статье мы рассмотрим применение соединений, которые способны повысить естественную секрецию инсулина.

Углеводы и аминокислоты
Секрецию инсулина стимулируют многие природные соединения. В этом смысле было бы большой ошибкой полагать, что у культуриста, решившего испытать на себе анаболический эффект инсулина есть только два выхода - либо делать себе инъекции, как это делают больные диабетом, либо принимать лекарства, расчитанные на тех, кто находится в преддиабетическом состоянии. Самый доступный натуральный стимулятор инсулина - углеводы, простые и сложные. Углеводы, если не употреблять их вместе с жирами и протеинами, исключительно быстро всасываются кишечником, что приводит к выбросу инсулина поджелудочной железой. Проблема лишь в том, что инсулина может выделиться слишком много, и тогда уровень глюкозы в крови понизится ниже критического уровня. Начнется головокружение, усиленное потоотделение и тремор рук - проявятся симптомы гипогликемии. Организм, защищаясь включит защитные механизмы - начнется выделение в кровь адреналина, норадреналина, глюкагона и соматропина. Эти меры помогают вернуть уровень глюкозы к норме. Аминокислоты, и прежде всего аргинин и глютамин, тоже влияют на секрецию инсулина. Так что если углеводы и аминокислоты принять комбинировано, реакция поджелудочной железы станет максимальной. Такой метод стоит применять в течение часа-двух сразу после тренировки. Именно в этот временной интервал секреция инсулина имеет решающее анаболическое значение. Инсулин облегчает прохождение через мембраны мышечных клеток и глюкозы, и аминокислот, а это в свою очередь усиливает и синтез белка, и синтез гликогена. Ну а тестостерон и гормон роста, которые выделяются на 35-40 минуте тренинга, дополнительно подхлестнут этот процесс и вдобавок удлинят его протяженность.

Хром
Это наиболее безвредный элемент, поддерживающий анаболическую функцию инсулина. Современные пищевые продукты крайне бедны хромом, поэтому у большинства культуристов обычно наблюдается его дефицит. Кстати, снижение функции инсулина может быть прямым следствием постоянной нехватки хрома в питании. Добавьте к этому интенсивный расход хрома под действием физических упражнений, и вам станет ясно, почему многих культуристов отличает крайне невысокий уровень анаболизма. В этом смысле прием хромсодержащих пищевых добавок необходим как своего рода подстраховка нормального течения белкового синтеза с участием инсулина.

Сульфат ванадила
Мнение о том, что данное соединение имеет анаболический эффект, основывается на результатах опытов с крысами, у которых было спровоцировано заболевание диабетом. Как известно, это заболевание характеризуется неспособностью поджелудочной железы вырабатывать инсулин. Поскольку этот гормон контролирует уровень сахара в крови, то в его отсутствие концентрация сахара нарастает, пока не приводит к смерти больного. Современный метод лечения диабета сводится к инъекциям инсулина, которые делаются каждые несколько часов. Скармливание крысам ванадила в виде таблеток явно уменьшило диабетическое состояние, замещая инсулиновые инъекции. Введение ванадила здоровым животным также приводило к снижению сахара в крови. Все это позволило сделать вывод о том, что сульфат ванадила копирует действие инсулина и, возможно, усиливает его. Для культуристов такой вывод не так важен, поскольку без ответа остался такой вопрос: копирует ли сульфат ванадила анаболические свойства инсулина? Более того, ряд опытов показал обратное. Во всяком случае крысы даже после массированного приема сульфата ванадила не прибавили и грамма в весе. Тем не менее, культуристам рекомендуют к применению не только этот препарат, но и куда более сильный - ванадил в комплексе с бис(малтолато)оксованадиумом(IV). Сторонники ванадия и его соединений утверждают, что это такой же анаболик, как и инсулин. Однако даже они не отрицают крайней токсичности ванадиевых препаратов. Если культурист вдобавок принимает стероиды, то ванадий с гарантией приведет к отравлению печени. Особенно опасно длительное применение ванадия. Опыты на крысах привели к полной гибели подопытных животных.

Медикаменты
Речь пойдет о лекарствах, которые применяют для лечения больных диабетом в целях стимуляции деятельности поджелудочной железы и секреции ею инсулина, а также для замещения инсулина. Наиболее употребляемыми являются медикаменты класса сульфонилуров: ацетогексамид, хлорпропамид, глипизид, глибурид, толазамид и толбутамид. Эти лекарства улучшают деятельность поджелудочной железы. Их прием теоретически тоже может вызвать гипигликемию, однако эта вероятность куда ниже, чем при инъекциях чистого инсулина. Тем не менее известны случаи, когда культуристы взявшиеся принимать такие препараты на свой страх и риск, оказывались в коме. Правда, врачам удалось их реанимировать и вернуть уровень глюкозы в норму прямыми внутривенными вливаниями. Другой класс лекарств - бигуаниды. К ним относится метформин и фенформин. Впрочем, в последнее время наиболее перспективным считается полипептид IGF-1. Он не только копирует известные качества инсулина, но еще и сдерживает катаболические процессы в мышцах, сдерживает падение веса тела у диабетиков, снижает уровень триглицеридов (жиров) и холестерина в крови. Наиболее важно, пожалуй, то, что I6F-1, как и инсулин, имеет отчетливое анаболическое действие. Производители I6F-1 настаивают на том, что их препарат настолько безвреден, что может приниматься не только диабетиками, но и здоровыми людьми. Но так ли это на самом деле? Известны многие лекарства, считавшиеся безвредными, которые со временем проявляли отсроченные побочные последствия, проявлявшиеся через 3-5 лет после приема. Так что лучше не рисковать. Управляйте уровнем инсулина за счет высокоуглеводной диеты. Как показывает опыт, это настолько же эффективно, насколько безопасно.
Сила и Красота

четверг, 19 июня 2014 г.

Steroids: The Birth of a Demon

How Steroids Became the Scourge of America


Ben-johnson

Here's what you need to know...

•  Due to harsh laws based on Reefer Madness-like myths, the personal use of steroids for aesthetic purposes can land lifters in prison or get them fined for more money than they probably have. Ironically, steroid usage in sports, which these laws were created to curb, has not decreased.
•  Steroids and other PEDs have been in widespread use in bodybuilding and Olympic lifting since the late 50s. Their usage in baseball, the Ben Johnson debacle, Lyle Alzado's questionable death, the Lance Armstrong farce, and the sad case of Taylor Hooton brought steroids to the forefront. Politicians and those with agendas took full advantage.
•  Although it has many medical uses and is now commonly prescribed to aging males, the illegal use of testosterone puts you into the same criminal category as a heroin addict. And science has never backed up the hysterical claims made by anti-steroid zealots.
"I think it's absolutely disgraceful that our government should be in the position of converting people who are not harming others into criminals, of destroying their lives, putting them in jail." - Milton Friedman
The following account is something I lived through and was a small part of. It is my view of the fascinating history of how steroids emerged as an ergogenic aid in sports and subsequently became an ominous facet of the modern age - becoming criminal while at the same time assaulting the very core of America by representing a proposed danger to our youth and, worse still, sullying the most hollowed of all things American - baseball.
This odd journey, especially the inception, involved numerous colorful characters from all over the globe who together eventually created a culture. Many of you reading this have adopted this culture without perhaps knowing the full extent of what it means to be a steroid-using bodybuilder and how it got that way.
I find it unfortunate that the younger guys embracing our culture today have to adapt to a whole different set of circumstances regarding steroids than my contemporaries did. Today you have to understand that the general public - the people you deal with, work with, live next to - believes that "steroids" cause a plague of maladies, from liver, brain and kidney cancer, to heart attacks and strokes, to psychotic episodes that end in madness, mayhem, murder and death. Given the current state of the public discourse, if your next door neighbor found out you were a juicehead, he'd probably wish you were a heroin addict instead.
Back when I adopted our culture it was perfectly acceptable to drive down to Mexico and buy all the real pharmaceutical gear I wanted, at incredibly low prices, and drive it back to LA with no problema. And no one cared if a bunch of guys down at the gym took steroids. We didn't bother anyone. We were totally under the radar and really not doing anything that wrong, certainly nothing even remotely felonious.
Well, it's not like that today. Not only are steroids listed by the feds in the same class as narcotics - with prison time for possessing, importing or selling them - the media has also driven the "Reefer Madness" hysteria to such a degree that there are families in Kansas who believe Gold's Gym is the incubator for the Zombie Apocalypse. What hatched such two-headed insanity? I'm going to skim over the last 30 years and describe what I believe are the milestones that lead to the concomitant criminalization and vilification of the very sex hormones our bodies produce.


The Perfect Steroidal Storm

The demonization of steroids in America has been perpetuated by three equally reprehensible yet powerful groups: vocal alarmists with agendas who incite hysteria based on fiction, the media who reports it, and the vote-hungry law-makers in Washington who believe they can do something about it.
In the 80-90 years that steroids have been around, they've gone from virtually innocuous, unknown medical compounds to a public menace nearly eclipsing heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and club drugs, with federal penalties for distribution and possession that can put you away for a fairly extended part of your life. How did the media wrap itself around this issue and funnel politicians, athletes and bereaved parents into promoting one of the biggest scams in US pop culture?
I've been around the block a few times, seen a bit of the world with all of the bark off, but I can't for the life of me think of another situation in which a single topic has gotten so misconstrued as that of performance enhancing drugs. With the mega amount of intellect in the demonization camp regarding PEDs, any person of reason would have to ponder... why? Unfortunately, when it comes to this group of drugs, most, if not all, common intellect goes right out of the window.
It was about that very same time 24 years ago that noted economist Milton Friedman uttered the words quoted above, and President George H. W. Bush signed house bill HR 4658 IH "Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990" into law, adding anabolic steroids to Schedule III of the DEA's list of controlled substances: the same legal class as amphetamines, methamphetamines, opiates, and morphine. Subsequently, in 2004, the law was amended to add prohormones and other "steroid like" compounds to the category, thus criminalizing anything that even remotely resembles testosterone or its effect. Later, the US Sentencing Commission reconvened to raise steroid penalties.
Today, in America, it is possible to be sentenced to 30 years in prison, and fined up to $5,000,000 for the possession and distribution (or importation) of testosterone, the very same hormone that human males and, to a lesser degree, human females, have been carrying around in our bodies since the early dawn of man. Let that sink in for a minute. Did I just say thirty years and 5 million bucks fortestosterone? Yes, I did. We're talking about America here, not North Korea, right? How could such an insane thing happen? Well, let's work backwards.


Muscles, Narcotics, and Prison Time

Prison
First let me give you the sentencing guidelines as they stand today to give you the full magnitude of just how far we've come since the dawn of testosterone in the lab - the very same hormone that half of the American male voting public used to produce when they had testicles.
In the wake of the BALCO case, high ranking government agents were incensed over the four month slap on the wrist Victor Conte received after the government spent four years and over 50 million dollars chasing and prosecuting him. On March 27th, 2006, the US Sentencing Commission amended the sentencing guidelines for anabolic steroid cases by changing the way steroid quantities are factored to effectively increase sentences. The Commission's amendment made injectable and oral steroids comparable to other Schedule III drugs in a 1:1 ratio. That means that now, instead of the 50 pills that used to equal one unit, one "unit" of oral steroids is now one pill. One "unit" of injectable steroids goes from a 10 cc bottle down to half a cc.
Naturally, the government's 1:1 ratio is wrought with stupidity, not the least of which being the absence of any language pertaining to the potency of a particular drug. In the eyes of the law, a steroid is a steroid. That means a 5 mg Anavar tab is as equally felonious as a 50 mg tab of Anadrol, or 1 cc of equipoise being equal to a Sustanon 250 preload.
The guideline change also pays no attention to the diametric differences between steroids and other Schedule III drugs. All Schedule III drugs are narcotics that elicit an immediate, mind-altering effect when used for recreation, while steroids actually elicit a beneficial physical effect and no mind-altering effect. Unfortunately, no cogent argument can usurp the law of the land, which under title 21 U.S.C. states that possession of just one tablet of any steroid is now a federal crime punishable by up to one year in jail for a first offense, and up to two years in prison for anyone with a prior drug conviction.
And, if you think that's bad, you really don't want to get caught "distributing" steroids. The following increases apply to possession with intent to distribute, importation and internet sales.
For convictions of a "controlled substance in Schedule III, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 15 years, a fine not to exceed the greater of that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18, United States Code, or $500,000 if the defendant is an individual or $2,500,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both."
"If any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 30 years, a fine not to exceed the greater of twice that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18, United States Code, or $1,000,000 if the defendant is an individual or $5,000,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both."
What could this mean to you? Let's imagine you have a buddy down at the gym who picked up a few bottles of test for you and a few of his other buddies while he was down in Mexico. On his way back to the US he was detained by US Customs and searched, uncovering 30 or 40 bottles of various steroids. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary - for bodybuilders.
He was brought before a federal magistrate and charged with importation and intent to distribute a Schedule III drug. The judge looked at the unit amount of juice and figured he better not kick back to the state the prosecution of such a high-level steroid kingpin and assigned the case to federal court. And he probably won't grant bail because your buddy is considered a flight risk because he's an accused importer with alleged ties to a foreign country. Since the feds tend to feed upstream, they're not too likely to offer your buddy a deal to follow him to your house and wear a wire. But, the possibility does exist, especially if the investigation is being handled by inexperienced agents who, based on the unit amount and country involved, think they're investigating a savage steroid cartel.
If your buddy doesn't have a good lawyer he'll be convicted of steroid importation and possession with intent to distribute, and if it's his second offense, he could be looking at 20 years in prison. If someone gets hurt using the gear he imported then add another 10 years. And then there's the seven-figure fine...
While such sentences rarely ever see the top of the guidelines, the potential still exists, under the law, for a 30 year sentence for what would amount to a few bottles of testosterone you picked up for a few of your buddies along with your own. More down to reality, for a first offence: up to two years just for having it in your possession and up to five if you're importing and distributing anything even remotely considered rich.
The government has made sure there's no such thing anymore as a slap on the wrist for steroid crimes. The shameful truth of today is, if you're a national level bodybuilder and had all the gear you were going to need all year to compete hidden in a small trash bag under your bathroom sink, and your door got kicked in (after you accepted a package from a controlled delivery), the unit amount of all the gear in your house makes you a kingpin dealer and - if you don't have a good lawyer - you're going to pay a hefty fine, lose your house, your car, your job, any licenses you might have, the local media is going to portray you as something just shy of a child molester, you're going to prison for a long time and when you get out you'll have nothing coming; your felony record will haunt you long after you're off paper. Interesting risk that poses to a great many competitors these days.
Any reasonable person who knows anything about these drugs knows this is a tough pill to swallow, especially when you consider how steroids compare to other legal over the counter drugs, not to mention cigarettes and alcohol. To any reasonable person, the government's position on steroids is nothing short of lunacy.


Sports, Congress, and "Protecting the Children"

Test
How was public opinion swayed so far away from the truth? The media drove America into a virtual attack frenzy, concomitantly criminalizing and vilifying a non-narcotic, non-mind altering drug - a hormone naturally occurring in our bodies that can help us be stronger, more muscular, leaner, perform better and add quality to an aging male's life.
It basically boils down to this simple formula: alarmists with an agenda get the attention of the media that misstates facts, exaggerates claims, sensationalizes accounts and assigns blame without cause just to make the story sexy. This vomit lands on the over-coiffed crepe hair of vote-hungry politicians who will stand on their soggy vomit-clogged heads in front of the media and congress to lead another blind crusade against the biggest scam to ever invade politics: "save our children."
As far as steroids go, the most simplified version of what happened is this:
Steroids and other PEDs had been in fairly widespread use in bodybuilding and Olympic lifting during the late 50s and early 60s, especially internationally. While the iron sports kept a pretty low profile, the performance benefits of the drugs started seeping into other, more popular sports such as cycling and track and field. Their use proliferated, particularly in Olympic lifting, cycling, and track as well as other professional sports, particularly football - baseball came way later (at least that's what most people think).
While the NFL and MLB were still decades away from a published drug policy, an uproar was starting to build among top level amateur athletes amid failed drug tests and the marked increase in disqualifications in cycling and Olympic lifting, but nothing made quite enough noise to raise many eyebrows. Then in 1988 at the summer Olympics in Seoul, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson plucked just 9.76 seconds out of the thin air that spanned the entire Olympic games and made them the most talked about sequence of numbers in recorded history next to 666.
It's not so much that Johnson tested positive for Winstrol after the race and ostensibly cheated his way to the world record. It had more to do with the Canadian beating the American favorite, Carl Lewis, by cheating - by using steroids! - in what's considered the most popular of all summer Olympic sports. Among the Walmart crowd, the only way Canada could beat America was to cheat.
But remember, science does not prove negatives. While Johnson's positive test proved he was taking Winny, Lewis's negative test results for banned drugs does not prove he wasn't taking them. It just means the test didn't detect any. Be that as it may, controversy breeds contempt just as well as it breeds headlines, and now steroids had a face: a revered champion of the most hallowed of Olympic sports. Johnson was surely a role model for millions of kids. The proposed message that sends to our youth, combined with growing alarmist reports that high school football players were using steroids, and the politicians had the hors d'oeuvre they needed to get dinner started.
Between Johnson's disqualification in 1988 and into 1990, Congressional hearings were held to determine whether the Controlled Substances Act should be amended to include anabolic steroids along with more serious drugs like Valium, opiates, and amphetamines. Congress was able to call witnesses whose stories would help support criminalization - from the masculinisation of a female Olympic athlete, to a pro football player suggesting (without any medical evidence) that his heart problems were linked to his past steroid use, to the conditioning coach for the Philadelphia 76er's who insisted "steroids must be considered a controlled substance, no different than cocaine."
However, it was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, a guy named Kenneth Kashin, who spoke, verbatim, the words the politicians wanted to hear. The good doctor testified that "steroid use can cause an addiction with similarities to alcohol, opiate, and cocaine addiction." He talked about "dangerous criminal-like behavior while intoxicated on anabolic steroids" and individuals who have "lost control of their behavior," or "became violent." Yes, this puppet show really went on.
When all was said and done, despite the opposition of the DEA, AMA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the recommendations of the most knowledgeable experts, Congress changed the classification of anabolic steroids to a Schedule III controlled substances under Title 21 of the United States Code, which regulates food and drugs.
This is an incredibly significant milestone in the demonization history of steroids, especially where bodybuilding is concerned. It marks a turning point where a series of very interesting questions were being unanimously answered by American athletes, particularly bodybuilders, not to mention federation officials, judges, promoters, magazine publishers, supplement company executives, basically the entire iron industry. The dawn of the 90's ushered in the era of advanced pharmacology in bodybuilding just in time for the government to make most of it a federal felony.
The unanimous decision everyone ultimately made was to ignore the law. To this day, since the law was passed 24 years ago, the entire bodybuilding industry - among the competitors of all the various disciplines to the cottage industry that feeds off their bodies - there isn't the slightest hint there's a federal law that prohibits steroid use, trafficking, importing, buying it over the internet, possessing it, etc. Any top national bodybuilder and most IFBB pros could walk around with a flashing neon sign over their heads that says "steroid user," "drug dealer," "smuggler," or "internet buyer." It's a wonder they don't get caught, all of them, like yesterday, me included.
But such arrests are not as common as you'd think. Given the multitude of obvious, illegal drug-using bodybuilders out there, at least ten a week, and/or their dealers, should be getting popped all over the country. But they aren't. High profile bodybuilders, and most other athletes for that matter, seem almost immune to the law of the land. So, who is getting caught?


Athletes Walk, Recreational Lifters Do Time

What motivated Congress to ignore the advice of the experts and bulldoze this legislation through? Page after page of congressional testimony focused on just two points. First, the unfair advantage the steroid user has over those who don't use them; and second, Congress was able to leverage the nefariousness of cheating with the unsavory message that steroid use in top-level sports sends to our youth. If nothing else it would take the spotlight off of the pro athletes getting arrested for domestic violence charges, coke busts, sex offences and dog fighting. It's none of that, kids, it's steroids that sully the image of sports for you. Remember, cheating is bad. Especially if baseball is involved.
However, after two decades on the books it wasn't the cheating athletes who were getting caught - they just kept on cheating to the degree that college, and probably high school, football players figured out that it's just a matter of time before steroids come their way. It's a given.
For its intent, the law was a flop. What happened was that thousands of otherwise law-abiding Americans - not athletes, but mature adult males - have been arrested, arraigned, prosecuted, convicted, forfeited property, lost their jobs and their licenses, and sentenced to prison for the personal use of anabolic steroids. Virtually none of them have been top pro bodybuilders, Olympic athletes, NFL players and certainly not baseball players. They're not cheating in sports; they're not even playing sports. But they're the ones being dragged through the system by a law that was never meant for them.
Hundreds of pages of congressional transcript focused on promoting the even playing field in sports. Not a single word was ever paid to the probability that a healthy adult male, running a light cycle of test and deca to enhance the effects of his training, would be arrested and prosecuted. He's no one's role model and he's not cheating any other athletes. He's not bothering anybody. Yet I know for sure that the nation's top steroid law firms' files would support the claim that it is he, not the cheating athlete, being snared.
In light of the number of big-named athletes not appearing in the press on steroid charges, there were, nevertheless, widespread reports of steroid use among athletes using them to cheat. There was not yet any real danger associated with them. Of course there were reports of side effects and overdrawn reports of rage, but nothing to really irk the public in terms of the dangers steroids represent, especially to our precious youth.
Eventually, by direction of the media, the public discourse shifted to become less about cheating role models and more about health. Surely, if Junior is injecting a drug in the same class as heroin, he's going to become a strung-out juicehead and end up hanging himself in his bedroom or die another gruesome death from a degenerative disease such as cancer, or completely go crazy and shoot up his high school.
It was pretty much accepted that athletes are prone to cheating and probably using steroids to do so, but at what cost? Simply passing a law to target the athlete wasn't enough (never mind the fact that it wasn't even working). America needed a stronger message to send our darling children. Cheating isn't just immoral, cheating had to be dangerous because steroids are bad drugs. But, how bad?


Steroids: They'll Kill You Until You're Dead!

Lyke-Alzedo
A year after the legislation was passed, the most feared man in the NFL, Lyle Alzado, was diagnosed with brain cancer he said was brought on by steroid use. A year after he was diagnosed, he died from it: a frail, weak, quivering shadow of the man he used to be. Now, according to the media, steroids had openly claimed their first victim, a high ranking NFL star who died from steroids. The only problem? It wasn't true.
Of course the truth didn't matter. The health dangers of steroids now officially had a face, and it wasn't pretty. But it was selling like hotcakes on the multi-media machine. Kids looked up to Lyle, then he took steroids and he lied and then he died because he lied and took steroids. Oh, the travesty to our precious youth! Imagine the money the therapists will be making down the road when this trauma surfaces, manifesting mild schizophrenia and issues with trust and intimacy.
This set the stage for what was about to come. Steroid hysteria was in full swing. Any aberrant violent behavior, murder or suicide involving any athlete and Geraldo Rivera would immediately "smell steroids" with that enormous schnozz of his. News reports would abound about how - without any proof - steroids caused or contributed to such shocking behavior while completely ignoring much more relevant factors such as being on mismanaged psychotropic drugs, narcotic pain killers, alcohol or a combination thereof with or without underlying psychosis.
It got to a point in the mid-90s where virtually any unusual aberrant behavior reported in the press had some mention of "steroids." Defense attorneys even invented a "steroid defense" that relied on a convincing argument that "the steroids made their client do it." It worked a few times, but then the judges got wise.


Dirty Cheaters Save Major League Baseball

Sosa
The ensuing years brought us another pivotal point in the demonization history of steroids: the infamous baseball strike. More to the point, the subsequent resurrection of the game that had all but died during the strike.
The players going back to work wasn't enough to refill the stadiums. Nope, the strike-weary fans still weren't very happy. What baseball needed was some excitement. It needed a homerun race and the Bash Brothers and Roger Maris getting bumped out of the way. They needed McGwire and Sosa and Barry Bonds cracking them out of the park in a seemingly endless volley, racking up homeruns like nobody's business. The fans came screaming back.
MLB had its best year in history: a ten-digit payday at the very height of the steroid scandal, while the players who made it happen - who were told to do "whatever it takes" to make it happen - were getting thrown under the bus. The game was juiced and even Jose Canseco said so. In 2004, during his state of the Union Address, President Bush (former managing partner of the team for which Canseco played and earned the nickname "The Godfather of Steroids") demanded a crackdown on the drugs "because they are dangerous and send a bad message to our youth."
Weeks later, then Attorney General John Ashcroft read the indictment of Victor Conte and three others involved in the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (later to become infamous as "BALCO") on national TV - the scandal that later metastasized and drew Barry Bonds into the fold. All the while Congress convened and reconvened and held hearing after hearing on steroids in baseball to the preposterous degree that it spent more time talking about steroids than it did the economy, the war in Iraq or why the levies broke during hurricane Katrina, combined.


The Taylor Hooton Tragedy

Hooton
During one of those hearings, testimony was given by a guy named Don Hooton who blamed steroids for his son Taylor's suicide, as well as baseball itself, i.e. Bud Selig, for sending this lethal message to our youth. Hooton's convincing testimony chastising the idols of the great American pastime caught the attention of international news media and within minutes cemented Taylor Hooton's face among Alzado's and Johnson's when he gave teen steroid death a name that became a household word.
A handsome, white, 17 year-old high school baseball player from Texas named Taylor, cut down in the prime of his youth by the evil Schedule III drug that pro ball players use to cheat at America's great pastime... You might as well dress up as Hitler and set fire to the flag on your front lawn on Veteran's Day.
To us, Don Hooton's campaign is a laughing stock replete with sophomoric scare tactics and loads of erroneous suppositions, misinformation and outright lies. To the millions of bodybuilding forum members, Don Hooton is a tool. While that's a sad thing considering he buried his son, the truth is that for over a decade neither he, nor his Taylor Hooton Foundation, have proffered a singe truth when it comes to anabolic steroids. In no other single instance in the history of the steroid debate has the alarmist with the agenda made out as well for himself as Don Hooton, and mislead more people - including congress - doing it.
The ruckus Hooton has made over his son's suicide made Taylor's death a trending topic online for many years and certainly marks another milestone in the demonization of steroids. However, the Hooton case has also festered in the scientific community for over a decade now, calling into play some of the most respected and informed experts in the field. Among them, the widely accepted consensus is that steroids didn't kill Taylor Hooton.
The scene in Bigger Stronger Faster with Dr. Norm Foss pretty much epitomizes the opinion of unbiased experts. If there's a chemical to blame for inciting the ideation to hang himself, Taylor's death is, from a clinical standpoint, far more likely to have been motivated by the prescription anti-depressant drug he was taking: Lexapro, a popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). The data is just not there to put the blame on anything else.
And therein lies the rub. The Taylor Hooton suicide has been dissected numerous times over the last decade by numerous clinicians, scientists and healthcare professionals amassing quite a bit of peer reviewed and published data. Here's a brief synopsis of the published material by Dr. Jack Darkes:
"Taylor Hooton reportedly colored his hair and looked twice when he passed a mirror and was always concerned about his looks. In combination with a reported desire to be bigger suggests potential body dissatisfaction which is associated with both AAS use and suicide as a form of 'socially-prescribed perfectionism.' He had low self-esteem, a family history of depression (mother), a suicide attempt (sister) and was taking anti-depressant mediation (Lexapro). His AAS use was allegedly motivated by wanting to excel at baseball, although some sources have suggested it had more to do with personal appearance and status."
To date, there is no published data in the medical literature that suggests steroid use, or cessation of steroid use, by itself, incites suicidal ideation. However, the journals are rife to demonstrate suicidal ideation in adolescent patients treated with SSRIs. So, with so much statistical data against him, why has Hooton been blaming steroids and not SSRIs? Why is he picking on steroids, scientifically the least likely of culprits? Why is he campaigning so hard to demonize them?
Because, with such a vocal steroid attack in the wake of your son's suicide you not only get to testify before Congress during the baseball hearings, but also twice more. You get to start a non-profit foundation in your son's name and guilt guys such as Bud Selig into donating a million dollars on behalf of MLB. Then you name yourself president and decide to pay yourself up to 32% of the millions you take in to run the foundation. You get to go all over the country sounding like an expert and getting your picture in the paper and being named Texas Sports Personality of the Year by the Dallas Morning News. You don't get that going after SSRIs. Steroids made Don Hooton a celebrity. Steroids made Hooton a lot of money. Suing the makers of Lexapro would have gotten him nothing.
Either way, he's not getting his son back. Alzado's son isn't getting his dad back and history isn't taking back Johnson's nine-seven-six. So, rather than rile suburban soccer parents with sensationalistic lies that have the sky falling on our children, why not just tell the truth?
Forget the reality of their widespread use in professional sports, good science has demonstrated a real time and place for steroids among healthy adult males, especially as they age. The absolute garbage being proffered by guys such as Don Hooton is only eclipsed by the money they're making doing it. Proof, I'll reckon, is the fact that since Taylor Hooton's suicide over a decade ago, the scientific community has still not assigned "anabolic steroids" as the cause of one single teen suicide. Yet Hooton is still out there raking in millions preaching that it could still happen because - despite mountains of evidence to the contrary - Don says he knows that his son died from them. I'm sure Hooton is claiming this statistic as his victory. The only thing more revolting than Hooton's mission is the abject moron who supports him. Unfortunately, there are more than a few.


BALCO and Barry Bonds

Bonds
Shortly after the plea deal was reached with Victor Conte and the name "BALCO" became as much a household word as "Kleenex", the US Sentencing Commission reconvened to raise sentences for steroid cases. The 4 months Conte spent at Club Fed following a 55 million dollar investigation by the federal government was just not enough. The result of those Sentencing Commission hearings were those penalties I described at the beginning of this article.
While the circle seems complete, the story continued on. The federal agent who headed the BALCO investigation, Jeff Novitzky, became sort of a cult anti-hero, carrying the torch onward in his self-appointed fight against steroids. While there was never a formal order ever given to go after BALCO, Novitzky did, and to this day continues to do his best to lock up as many athletes as he can. Novitzky's tactics usually push the limits of legality and ethics, cheating just as much as the athletes he's chasing. The only difference is that he really doesn't ever truly win.
The BALCO case didn't yield much in the form of prison time for any of those snared in his investigation - at least not for steroids anyway - although several promising athletic careers were smashed and Olympic medals were taken back. Gold medal sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery actually did jail time, but for perjury and writing bad checks, not juice. Nevertheless, when the dust settled, Novitzky still had his claws in homerun king Barry Bonds, at that moment the most famous athlete on earth.
Novitzky's entire impetus for going after BALCO was to get Barry Bonds. Now he had him where he wanted him. Novitzky knew Bonds had taken steroids. He knew that Bonds's trainer, Gregg Anderson, gave/administered them to Bonds. All he had to do was prove it by getting Anderson to testify against Bonds, his childhood friend. Novitzky, the master of getting athletes to roll on each other, couldn't get Anderson to talk no matter how many months he spent locked away on contempt charges for refusing to testify. Ultimately, Anderson got out of jail. Finally, after an appeals court upheld his sentence in 2013, Bonds started serving his whopping two months of house arrest... for obstruction of justice.


Lance Armstrong

Lance
Ten full years and tens of millions spent since the BALCO raid that started it all and Novitzky still doesn't have a drug conviction of an athlete. So, what does he do in light of what could only be construed as a black eye for the government? Novitzky spends millions more going after America's favorite son, Lance Armstrong. Seven Tour victories? He must have been on something.
First, Novitzky went after disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and promised him immunity if he rolled on former teammate, Armstrong. Naturally, Landis agreed and then suddenly the most tested athlete in the world - who never failed a drug test - was being brought down by an "administrative positive." Landis, and an assortment of others, ratted out Lance. Luckily for Lance, the government is easing off on steroid prosecutions and opted not to prosecute him. Novitzky got to the altar a little late.
The Obama administration has openly said that enough time has been spent on steroids; those resources can be used for better things. Lance did have to step down from his philanthropic foundation and give back all his Tour victories as well as the silver medal he won in the Olympics. I'm sure we all sleep better at night now.
Novitzky's star seems to be fading. There's no one really left after Lance. Although he could start going after rappers. LL Cool J looks pretty jacked.


So Where Does This Leave Us?

A closer analysis of current events might look like we've come full circle. While the laws and penalties for steroids are quite unfavorable right now, you have to work a little harder at getting caught. My old friend Dr. Gary Wadler, a former leader of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said, "I don't think this administration has the same vigor as the previous administrations on the [PED] issue. That was clear from the beginning when Barack Obama was running for election [in 2008]."
So, where does that leave us? Well, you can still get 30 years for testosterone, if you get caught. That's a big if. It does however seem to be a bit smaller of an if as it was a few years ago. The hysteria seems to have ebbed. The alarmists have lost much credibility from parent groups calling creatine a steroid and Don Hooton proclaiming that veteran actor Tom Hanks opened a show on Broadway "high on steroids" for having had a cortisone shot in his injured hand. Don sounds a bit desperate.
Steroids are perhaps a bit less vilified today and have in fact been inducted into the modern American lexicon. "On steroids" is a phrase openly accepted even in advertising to depict the deluxe version of just about anything from pick-up trucks to non-stick cookware. Baseball is boring again. And any time any athlete ever does anything noteworthy it will automatically be assumed that he's "on steroids."
Chances are he is and no government willing to enforce laws against it is ever going to stop him. Part of the reason for that is the high degree of chemical engineering going on today that was extremely rare just a few years ago. Designer labs are certainly the new frontier. And the feds know it.
There's a big difference between hunting down high-profile elite athletes and cracking down on the new forms of steroids designed to sneak around the law. While the government might not be chasing big named athletes around with the wild geese, lawmakers are still reaping mileage out of the steroid issue. At the time of this writing, Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) have introduced legislation in the House designed to crack down on anabolic steroids masquerading as dietary supplements.
These "designer steroids" come in the wake of what was leaned from the BALCO case. The products are made by reverse engineering illegal steroids and slightly changing their chemical composition. Such reengineering avoids placement on the DEA's list of controlled substances, creating a nice fat loophole for athletes to pee into. Urine tests can only detect known substances. If you're taking something unknown, then you can't fail a drug test.
The House bill is the next step toward full passage of a law that will further empower the DEA with new tools to identify and quickly respond when new designer anabolic steroids are introduced and falsely marketed as dietary supplements. How much of a bearing will this have on us? Very little. The point is just to show that while the steroid issue may have lost its luster in the mainstream, there are lawmakers who still think the platform can buy them some votes.
Just remember, the public stigma against steroids may have relaxed a little and the government may have decided they've had enough congressional hearings on steroids, but that doesn't mean that getting popped for them isn't still a reality, nor that the effect that bust will have on you and your family will be anything less than profound, and it will get worse when your local paper runs the story.
Apparently, this is what's known as "evolution."