It’s hard to get to the truth of the matter when you’re talking about anabolic steroids these days.
On one side of the fence, you have athletes, bodybuilders, and even some medical professionals that say you can take advantage of these performance-enhancing drugs to transform your health and wellness for the better – so long as you are careful and do so only under the watchful eye of medical experts.
On the other side, you have research organizations, scientific bodies, and medical professionals that say these chemical cocktails are nothing like the Fountain of Youth they promise to be but are instead a ticking time bomb that will rob people of their short and long-term health with crippling side effects never worth the trade-off.
Most people would agree that the reality of these performance-enhancing drugs probably sit somewhere in between these two opposite opinions, but it’s impossible to ignore the very real health risks you might encounter should you decide to leverage these drugs (even under the watchful eye of your doctor).
More than 545 men were part of a clinical study published by the Journal of Internal Medicine conducted over a 12 year block of time. At the end of this study, the medical journal felt comfortable stating that men that use androgenic anabolic steroids are going to face a significant increase of risk factors related to mortality, will be admitted to hospitals more often, and will have to contend with a much higher prevalence of specific medical disorders compared to the general male population.
This is not the first time that a medical journal has decided to try and tackle anabolic steroids, but it may be the longest and most comprehensive deep dive into the overall health impacts of the decision to use androgenic anabolic steroids.
The 545 men who tested positive for androgenic anabolic steroids were invited to participate in this study through the Dutch fitness centers where they worked out, and the entire program was established in partnership and collaboration between the Anti-Doping tab Denmark organization with no penalties or repercussions for those that chose to opt into this study.
Individuals were matched out according to a variety of different demographic features (including age, gender, and how long they had been using steroids) and a statistical analysis was performed from the data collected over this 12 year block of time.
Over the course of this clinical trial seven deaths were reported with a dramatic increase in overall hospitalization for each individual demographic group compared to the control. A 59% increase in hospital admissions was recognized through this clinical study, with many individuals seeking medical assistance for issues that were later tracked back to anabolic steroid usage.
Gynecomastia, testicular dysfunction, necessary testosterone supplementation, acne, and infertility were just some of the issues that this clinical trial found to be significantly higher in those that were a part of this test compared to the control group.
Obviously, more research is necessary to fully understand the risk factors anyone individual might face when deciding to take advantage of androgenic anabolic steroids. But this report along is enough to make people think a little longer before they decide to go down this road.