Kids on steroids willing to risk it all for success
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Users say they'd take drugs to excel even if it shortened their lives
By Jacqueline Stenson
Contributing editor
MSNBC
updated 7:26 a.m. CT, Tues., Feb. 5, 2008
Jacqueline StensonContributing editor
In a nation where the Super Bowl is the most-watched night on television and professional athletes in a range of sports rake in millions of dollars in salaries and endorsements, it's not hard to see why many kids grow up idolizing athletes. Some sports stars may deny they are role models for a younger generation, but a new study suggests quite the contrary.
Among students in grades 8 through 12 who admitted to using anabolic steroids in a confidential survey, 57 percent said professional athletes influenced their decision to use the drugs and 63 percent said pro athletes influenced their friends' decision to use them. Eighty percent of users - and 35 percent of non-users - said they believed steroids could help them achieve their athletic dreams.
What's more, the steroid users said they were willing to take extreme risks to reach sports stardom or other athletic goals. The survey found that 65 percent of steroid users versus 6 percent of non-users said they would be willing to use a pill or powder, including dietary supplements, if it guaranteed they would reach their athletic goals even if it may harm their health, and 57 percent of users versus 4 percent of non-users said they would take a pill or powder even if it may shorten their life.
"It's scary," says study author Jay Hoffman, chair of health and exercise science at the College of New Jersey in Ewing. "This study shows that adolescents are willing to take those risks."
The survey, conducted from 2005 to 2006, involved more than 3,200 students in 12 states, most of them from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Other states included Iowa, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, New York, Minnesota and California.
Overall, 1.6 percent of students (2.4 percent of boys and .8 percent of girls) - about 50 students in total - reported using anabolic steroids, according to results published in the January issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. That's lower than more nationally representative research, such as the government's National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which found in 2005 that 4 percent of kids in grades 9 through 12 reported steroid use.
In the new survey, steroid use increased with age, especially in boys, with almost 6 percent of 12th grade males reporting steroid use.
Some students reported using other dietary supplements to boost their game or physical appearance. Of all students surveyed, 17 percent said they had used supplements such as protein powders, creatine and amino acids to gain body mass. And 35 percent said they had used supplements such as fat burners, high-energy drinks, ephedra and caffeine pills in an attempt to lose weight. The more supplements kids took, the more likely they were to also use steroids.
The sports world has been rocked by steroid scandals in recent months. In December, for instance, the Mitchell Report implicated more than 80 professional baseball players in the use of steroids. And last fall, sprinter Marion Jones admitted to lying about steroid use and returned her five Olympic medals.
Not all kids see anything wrong with steroids in sports though. In the new survey, 57 percent of steroid users and 12 percent of non-users said they believe pro athletes have the right to use steroids. And 60 percent of users and 29 percent of non-users actually thought using anabolic steroids for athletic purposes is legal.
Role model?
Hoffman blames lack of education about the dangers of these drugs as well as the influence of elite athletes who use steroids.
"I believe there is an inherent responsibility of being a role model," Hoffman says. "Whether they want it or not, it comes with the territory."
FACT FILE
Is your child on steroids?Parents can be on the look-out for the following symptoms of steroid use:- Rapid, improbable gains in muscle and weight- Aggressive behavior known as 'roid rage'- Mood swings- Worsening acne, often on the chest and back- Breast enlargement in boys- Facial hair growth in girls- Deepened voice in girlsIf you suspect your child is using steroids, consult your family doctor.
Dr. Linn Goldberg, who's involved with national programs to counter steroids in youth sports, says the new study confirms what he has seen anecdotally.
"Sports role models are very powerful in a young kid's life," says Goldberg, who is head of the division of health promotion and sports medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. "The mindset is that if [a pro athlete] had to use that, then maybe I should use that."
Through his program called Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS), he is trying to educate kids that there are alternatives to steroids, such as sports-specific training regimens and diets that help athletes gain muscle naturally.
Red flags
Don Hooton wishes he had known about the warning signs of steroid abuse. His son, Taylor, 17, killed himself in 2003, six weeks after discontinuing steroid use.
"All the signs were there that Taylor was using steroids," says Hooton, who lives in Plano, Texas. Taylor, a high school baseball player, worked out three times a day, gained 30 pounds of muscle in 90 days, developed acne on his back and started having 'roid rages. "He would just fly off the handle for seemingly no reason," says Hooton.
The Hootons knew something was wrong, but they didn't know what. And they actually praised him for his muscle development because they thought it was the pure result of all his hard work at the gym. They didn't realize it's impossible to naturally gain so much muscle so quickly.
Now through the Taylor Hooton Foundation, the family is working to raise awareness of the dangers of steroids in youth. Because teens are still developing and already have raging hormones, experts worry that steroids - which, among other possible effects, may shrink testicles, raise cholesterol, promote liver tumors, spur breast growth in males, and shrink breasts and deepen voice in females - may be particularly dangerous for them.
The foundation also is pushing for more drug testing for steroids in schools. New Jersey and Florida are already doing testing, and Texas and Illinois are making plans to test. "We need a random testing program not to put a kid in jail but to give them a chance to get caught," says Hooton. If kids face the threat of getting caught and being kicked off a team or losing a scholarship, they might think twice before using steroids or other performance-enhancers, he says.
Such testing isn't perfect though. It can't reliably detect human growth hormone, for instance, which is believed to be catching on with youth athletes as it seems to be with adults.
That's why Hooton and others hope the sports world cracks down harder on doping. "It's not just about [pro athletes]," Hooton says. "It's about our kids. It's about Taylor and hundreds of thousands of kids."
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Q&A: Impact of steroids on young athletes
Dr. Edward V. Craig explains dangers of performance-enhancing drugs
MSNBC
updated 7:36 a.m. CT, Tues., Feb. 5, 2008
As Congress prepares for a Feb. 13 public hearing focusing on steroid use by Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, a new survey describes how professional athletes influence young people who decide to use performance-enhancing drugs.
The confidential survey found that a majority of the students in grades 8 through 12 who admitted to using anabolic steroids say they would use a pill or powder to reach their athletic goals, even if it would harm their health or shorten their life.
Dr. Edward V. Craig, a sports medicine specialist and attending surgeon for the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, explained to msnbc.com the effects of anabolic steroids on young bodies and the difficulties of testing teens for performance-enhancing drugs.
Q: As high school sports become even more competitive, there's a worry that more young people will be taking steroids. Is it more dangerous for teenagers to use steroids than for an older athletes?
A: Steroid use in young people whose bodies are developing is very different from mature, professional athletes. Although use in both groups is a big problem, the issues are much more significant and potentially catastrophic for younger players.
Although steroid use is a big problem among professional athletes, the risks for younger players may be much greater, says Dr. Edward V. Craig, sports medicine specialist at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery.
Nearly 30 percent of steroid users experience adverse effects, only some of which are reversible when the drug is stopped. The side effects include acne, testicular atrophy, breast enlargement in males (gynecomastia) and hirsutism (excess facial hair). More serious reactions have been linked with steroids, such as suicidal behavior, heart attacks and liver damage.
There are some things that are unique to young athletes. Steroids load up a teenager with synthetic testosterone. This can lead to premature puberty. Among other problems, premature puberty in youngsters with growth plates that are open in bones causes the growth plates to close prematurely. The direct result is short stature.
Mood issues are much more acute in teens, so taking steroids may lead to more depression and aggressive behavior.
In addition, several studies have documented an association of steroid use with other high-risk behavior, such as driving drunk, having unsafe sex and using other illicit drugs. Teens, especially boys, are already a high-risk group so using steroids amplifies the problem.
Q: What do anabolic steroids do to the body in general?
A: Anabolic steroids act in the body similar to the way natural testosterone does. By increasing the number of muscle cells and causing them to hypertrophy, the muscles get bigger and stronger. The more steroids you take, the greater the effect.
Anabolic steroids also act to improve exercise tolerance, protect against muscle fiber damage and increase protein synthesis during recovery. Thus, an athlete who must compete on a regular basis, such as either starting or relief pitchers, may see this as a beneficial effect.
Less understood are the psychoactive effects, including a type of euphoria that may allow the athlete more frequent, intense and effective workouts.
The risks can increase when steroids are "stacked." Taken orally, by injection or even by a patch or gel on the skin, steroids are frequently used in combination to create a mega-dose regimen in four- to 12-week drug cycles.
Q: Are there other performance-enhancers being taken by teen athletes to make them more competitive?
A: Many start with protein powders such as creatine. It's a commonly used nutritional supplement, although there is no long-term data on how harmful it is to the kidneys. Teens may also use the hormone androstendione, which turns into testosterone in the body. These supplements may not be as dangerous as steroids, but it's a slippery slope for young people to start to take them to play better or look better. They often move onto steroids or other types of drugs such as stimulants or diuretics.
Q: Some states have limited steroid testing programs in high schools. Do you believe more testing will have an impact on steroid use among teenage athletes?
A: The problem with testing is that it's hard to know who to test. You have all these young people from recreational school athletes, to college athletes, down to Little League.
And when do you do the test? Just before events or between events? Some states have tried it prior to tournaments, but if athletes know when they're going to be tested, they can stop using the drugs. It's hugely expensive to have a state try to test every high school athlete. And some of the time, you may not be getting what they're taking because some growth hormones don't have a good test for them.
If it were random, unannounced testing, and if students who test positive were banned, maybe the fear factor would make some difference.
A better solution would be education about steroid risks and programs for supervised resistance training in kids, which has been shown to increase strength in young people up to 40 percent.
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