Photo by Nigel Msipa on Unsplash
Photo by Nigel Msipa on Unsplash

Young men who use muscle-building substances more likely to use steroids later

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

Survey: A study based solely on people’s responses to a series of questions.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

Young men who use muscle-building supplements could be more likely to use anabolic-androgenic steroids up to five years later, according to international researchers. The team analysed data from a survey of over 4000 US adolescents which was conducted over 14 years. The survey asked questions around gender identity and racial identity, as well as substance use to build muscle (including protein shakes or powders, creatine, amino acids, HMB and DHEA). They found that muscle-building substance users had substantially higher odds of using anabolic-androgenic steroids within one to five years. While their study can't show cause-and-effect, the team say their findings indicate that muscle-building substances could be a gateway for escalating risk-taking behaviours to increase muscle mass in young men, and with increasing pressure on young men to bulk up, doctors, coaches, and parents need to be aware of these risks.

Journal/conference: JAMA Network Open

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: Boston Children’s Hospital, USA

Funder: Dr Beccia is supported by grant 1F32MD017452-01 from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Dr Austin is supported by training grant T76-MC-00001 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services. The cohorts for this study are based with the Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham andWomen’s Hospital, as home of the Growing Up Today Study and supported by National Institutes of Health grants HD045763, HD057368, DK46834, and HL03533.

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