Sports nutrition vs steroids

For a professional athlete or a beginner frequenting the gym, it is funny and somewhat offensive to observe the reaction of people when he says that he is taking sports supplements. Indeed, even in our age of high technologies and easy accessibility of information, people are prejudiced towards products of this kind, considering them to be chemistry that has a detrimental effect on health. The myth about the dangers of sports nutrition was born out of a complete misunderstanding of the difference between legal and beneficial sports supplements and anabolic steroids prohibited for athletes.

In order to stop looking askance at people taking sports nutrition, or to remove all fears about using sports nutrition yourself, you need to understand what steroids are, and what is their fundamental difference from modern sports nutrition.

What are steroids?

Anabolic androgenic steroids in modern times are considered to be agents that act as sex hormones, mainly testosterone and its derivatives. Even testosterone itself, artificially introduced into the human body, is an anabolic steroid. These substances received the name “anabolic androgenic steroids” because of their properties: androgenic properties are manifested in the ability to develop more secondary male characteristics, the anabolic effect is naturally associated with rapid muscle growth.

Given that steroids are directly related to sex hormones, their story begins when scientists first identified what exactly affects masculinity or femininity. This happened in the middle of the 19th century, when the German zoologist Berthold became interested in this issue. Conducting experiments on young cockerels, he found that when the testicles are removed from individuals, they lose many of the properties inherent in males of this species. This is where testosterone research began.

Later, in the 30s of the 20th century, testosterone was isolated. At the same time, a number of experiments were carried out, proving that testosterone affects not only sexual function, but also strength indicators, muscle volume and the amount of fat in the body. After that, some companies began to closely engage in the production of artificial sex hormones and their derivatives.

Naturally, steroids quickly became used in sports because of their effect on athletic performance. The road to such use was paved by Soviet athletes, who in the middle of the last century easily began to win sports awards. Rumor has it that that year, the Soviet team doctor let slip to the American physiologist John Ziegler that testosterone injections were included in the training program for athletes. True or not, however, after returning to America that year, the Americans began inventing a tool that would help them defeat the Soviets in sports. After a while, the notorious methandrostenolone, or simply methane, was invented. Over time, many more drugs were invented that belong to the group of anabolic steroids.

Due to the fact that anabolic steroids negatively affect the state of a healthy person, and also because in sports they are identified with deception and cheating, in 1967 the International Olympic Committee banned the use of these substances in competitions. True, tests to verify their use were developed only 10 years later. Soon, many sports organizations followed the example of the Olympic Committee and banned these substances in sports.

Now steroids have a rather negative reputation, there are rumors about their imminent harm to health and many side effects. However, do not forget about the positive properties of steroids, because they are often used in medicine by patients with AIDS, cancer, for recovery from burns and for much more.

What is sports nutrition?

Sports nutrition, in turn, has nothing to do with anabolic steroids. For the most part, sports nutrition is concentrated substances and complexes of them that are found in food in their natural form. Sports nutrition manufacturers release complexes in a more concentrated form, making them easy to consume and quickly absorbed.

In fact, rapid absorption and high concentration of nutrients in sports nutrition are the main reasons for their frequent intake by professional athletes. After all, it is much easier and cheaper to purchase several cans of protein, multivitamins and other substances necessary for the body than to try to organize your diet in such a way that the required amount of nutrients enters the body.

For this reason, sports nutrition is so popular among professional athletes, bodybuilders and lovers of a healthy lifestyle. Of course, sports aids should not be used as a substitute for a healthy diet, however, supplementation is often essential for professional athletes.

The mechanism of action of anabolic steroids

All anabolic steroids work on approximately the same basic principle: they act like the hormone testosterone, affecting all systems of the body. The anabolic and androgenic effects of steroids appear only after they enter the bloodstream. Therefore, injections are considered more effective than oral administration. After all, when anabolic steroids enter the digestive tract, they pass through the liver, which receives too much stress, and a large amount of the active substance itself is also lost. And with the help of an injection, they immediately enter the bloodstream. With blood, they are carried throughout the body and come into action with many systems. They affect muscles, the brain, hair follicles, adipose tissue, the endocrine system, and even the brain.

The selective effect of anabolic steroids is due to the fact that not all tissues contain certain receptors that are sensitive to testosterone and its derivatives. It is thanks to these receptors that steroids penetrate the cell membrane to the cell nucleus, where they stimulate the enhanced synthesis of new protein compounds. These compounds are then used inside the cell or into the bloodstream, improving immunity, the body’s transport system, and much more.

In addition, anabolic steroids significantly affect energy production. They stimulate the synthesis and accumulation of ATP and creatine phosphate, which are the body’s main energy suppliers. Moreover, the permeability of the cell membrane increases, and therefore more nutrients, oxygen and water begin to penetrate into the cell, which also affects the synthesis of new protein cells and ATP.

Mechanism of action of sports nutrition products

Sports nutrition products work in a completely different way than steroids. Anabolics primarily affect the hormonal background, which is why their positive effect is manifested, because of this, they also carry a considerable health hazard. Sports nutrition, on the other hand, acts like any food: it enters the body through the esophagus and from there into the blood, replenishing the body’s reserves of nutrients. This is not to say that drugs that increase testosterone levels do not belong to sports nutrition, however, they work in a completely different way. Whereas steroids themselves are anabolic hormones or their derivatives. Certain sports supplements affect the production of your own testosterone, and increase its amount to a completely safe level.

Side effects of anabolic steroids vs side effects of sports supplements

Due to the strong effect of anabolic steroids on hormones, their prolonged and improper use can cause a lot of side effects, some of them are irreversible. These include changes in emotional state, the emergence of severe aggressiveness, and frequent mood swings. Since steroids disrupt the hormonal background of a person, and their long-term use negatively affects the dopamine and serotonin release systems.

In addition, side effects of steroids include testicular atrophy associated with the cessation of the production of its own testosterone. in the body it is already enough. Gynecomastia, or the development of a woman’s breasts, may also appear, which manifests itself from the fact that excess testosterone in the body is converted into estrogen.

Women also suffer: a man’s figure develops, the menstrual cycle becomes disordered, facial hair may begin to grow, and many other problems associated with hormonal disruption may appear.

Also, the toxicity of many steroids leads to diseases of the liver, heart system and other vital systems.

In fact, the harm from steroids is greatly exaggerated thanks to the press, which at one time strenuously made monsters from anabolic steroids that could kill after one injection or pill. In fact, they are not that harmful, especially if used carefully. There is also a way to minimize the side effects of steroids: they should be used only in cycles, not exceeding the norm, and after the course, it is imperative to drink PCT – funds that help the body recover from a course of anabolic steroids. In addition, before use, think about it, you should take risks and knock down your hormones unnecessarily.

The description of the side effects of sports nutrition takes up much less space, and this is due to the fact that sports nutrition products are recognized as absolutely safe. There are only a few situations where they can negatively affect the body:

• Individual intolerance to a specific ingredient in a sports supplement;
• Exceeding the recommended amount of funds or other deviations from the recommendations specified by the manufacturer;
• Product of an unknown and unverified manufacturer;
• The combination of incompatible agents, the components of which may react, adversely affecting the body.

There is only one conclusion from the above: anabolic steroids and sports nutrition are completely different things. Sports nutritional supplements are legal and safe substances. Taking them does not cause huge changes in the body and cannot replace exercise and proper nutrition. And anabolic steroids are substances that are illegal to take over the counter in many countries. They are used to increase muscle volume, strength, and reduce post-workout recovery time. Carelessness and negligence in taking them can lead to disastrous and irreversible results.

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