Medications, known as SARMs, are supposed to improve your performance and make you look stronger, but a new study found that many of these products are not to be trusted.
Recently, a new drug has been circulating on the internet, known as a? Legal? Alternative. to steroids. Selective Androgenic Receptor Modulators (SARMs) are medications that claim to improve your athletic performance and make you look more muscular, mimicking the effect of testosterone without the negative effects of using steroids, such as liver damage and shrinkage. of testicles.
But, according to a new study published in JAMA, many products that you find on the internet that contain SARMs contain substances that have not been approved, hormones and steroids. Also, many of the labels these supplements carry are completely misleading.
For the study, the researchers analyzed 44 drugs labeled and promoted as SARMs, using procedures approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency to detect prohibited substances in athletes. They found that 39 percent of the supplements tested contained banned substances, such as growth hormone or steroids, while 25 percent contained similar substances that were not listed on the label. In 59 percent of the products, the amount of the compounds, indicated on the label, was significantly different from what was found in the analyzes.
? The compounds found in our analyzes have not been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, the pharmaceutical companies that developed these compounds, or continue to do so, cannot sell these products and doctors cannot prescribe them to their patients,? explained doctor Shalender Bhasin, lead author of the study, professor at Harvard University School of Medicine and director of the men’s health research program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. ? Because they are not FDA approved, there is very little information on the safety and efficacy of these compounds. Some of them have never been studied in humans.
In October, the FDA warned, through a statement, about the use of products containing SARMs.
? Life-threatening reactions, including liver toxicity, have occurred in people who used products containing MRSAs ,? indicates the statement. ? MRSAs also have the potential to increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, and the long-term effects on the body are unknown.?
You can even SARMs that produce similar side effects to those caused by steroids , says Dr. Bhasin. In addition to the aforementioned problems, steroid side effects include infertility and mental problems like depression, aggressiveness, and suicidal thoughts.
Not only high-performance bodybuilders and athletes are looking for these supplements, says Dotor Bhasin, but younger people who want to change their looks. Although the figures for SARMs are not yet concrete, 1 in 15 men worldwide has tried steroids at some point in their lives, according to the analysis of 271 studies, published in Annals of Epidemiology. The number of athletes and bodybuilders is three times higher.
Therefore, naturally, an alternative version of a drug that stimulates muscles is attractive to some men. This, in turn, is contributing to the increase in body image disorders, such as muscle dysmorphia, in young men who are not athletes, explains Dr. Bhasin.
While the study authors admit that their findings should not represent all products that contain SARMs, they emphasize that more regulation is needed.
“Consumers may think that because some of these compounds are sold as ‘nutritional supplements,’ they should be safe,” says Bhasin. “This is not the case. These compounds do not meet the definition of nutritional supplements, and their safety has not been demonstrated.”