In many different types of sports, steroids have been used by elite athletes such as Tyson Gay ( Olympic Runner)  and Manny Ramirez (  baseball player)to enhance their physical performance. Steroids are used in many ways but mostly to increase muscle mass and strength. The hormone in males is testosterone which is an anabolic steroid. Testosterone has two different effects on your body, it has an “Anabolic” effect that contributes to muscle building and an  “Androgenic” effect that is responsible for body hair, and a deeper voice. Athletes usually take testosterone to boost their performance in hopes of high achievement in their chosen field of sports. Frequently, the steroids that athletes use are modifications of testosterone for bodybuilding.

It has been documented that in some cases, there are athletes fond of the aggressive rush of taking it. In the sports industry performance enhancing drugs are illegal and there are serious consequences for getting caught using them. The U.S has brought in many strict laws in the past 20 years and now illegal steroid drugs are mostly unavailable except through the black market.Steroids were known first to be invented in the 1930’s when scientists discovered that anabolic steroids could help the growth of skeletal muscles in lab animals.

This helped in years to follow for manufacturing synthetic testosterone.  A German Chemist named Adolf Butenandt who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 researched a way to pinpoint and purify a hormone called “Androstenone” by extracting it from male urine. He had determined the composition of the female sex hormone “estrogen” and then he extracted and obtained testosterone and progesterone. A Croatian born chemist named Leopold Ruzicka shared the Nobel Prize with Butenandt with his research and made a synthesized testosterone safe for people to use. This was a huge discovery and led to lots of improvements in the next seven years. Through techniques and isolation synthesizing became more advanced and the very first injections of propionate testosterone were given in 1937 to people in the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet Union were dominating in athletics Dr. John Ziegler, an Olympic U.S physician found a way to create methandrostenolone also called “Dianabol.” Ciba Pharmaceutical was the first to market Dianabol and later on in 1958 Dianabol was approved for use by the FDA. When the Americans found out about the use of steroids, the performance-enhancing sport’s drug grew rapidly.

From the 1960’s to 1980’s steroids were being perfected and used among Olympic athletes, especially weightlifters so in 1972 a drug testing program was initiated by all athletes. There are pros and cons of using steroids in sports or for other health issues. Athletes like to use them as boosts to destroy their competition in physical competitions as steroids can help with fat loss, add muscle mass, increase strength ability and enhance visual appearance. Steroids have been used in reducing swelling of organs such as the kidney and muscle diseases such as Muscular Dystrophy.

Steroids can improve bone density and can possibly be used for conditions such as osteoporosis and tissue repair, Other side effects that can be seen as a pro is it can cause deepening of your voice and possible hair growth in men.The list of cons of taking steroids seems to outweigh the positive and it’s known that steroid use has many short terms and long-term risks. They vary from body effects to psychological effects. Steroid use can cause hormonal changes, organ damage, headaches, hair loss, infertility, heart enlargement which can cause blood clots and strokes, Acne, shrunken testicles, joint pain, vein and tendon damage and enlargement of breasts in males if the testosterone you take turns into estrogen. Psychological effects include severe bouts of aggression, paranoia, depression, insomnia and even hallucinations, Steroids are illegal so you do not know what you are putting in your body. Overall the negative effects outweigh the good and the outcomes can be life-threatening. Thank you for listening to my presentation!