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News: December 7, 2009
Surprised? Black market steroids usually mislabeled
December 7, 2009The risks of anabolic steroids - used by some athletes to build muscle mass - are by now well-documented. But it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that steroids bought illegally through "underground labs" and over the internet generally aren't what their labels say they are, researchers reported yesterday at the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry's annual meeting in Los Angeles.
Steroid users often complain that the drugs they had bought - often at significant expense - don't work, or have serious side effects. "Actual data regarding the composition of steroids obtained on the black market are scarce," however, presenter Dr. D. Zach Smith, of Boston Medical Center, told Reuters Health by email.
"Many labs in the US refuse to analyze suspected steroids," he continued, "so users are not able to determine with any degree of certainty if the steroids they are using are labeled or dosed correctly."
Smith and his colleagues looked at 217 studies that had analyzed the chemical makeup of illegally obtained anabolic steroids.
The researchers found that almost a third - 30 percent -- of samples others had analyzed did not contain any of the drugs listed on their labels.
Even when the samples did include an anabolic steroid, nearly half - 44 percent -- contained the wrong dosages, either much lower or much higher. One sample had less than one percent of the dosage its label claimed, while another had more than five times as much.
Unexpectedly high doses could lead to more severe cases of all the potential harms associated with steroids, Smith said: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, shrinkage of the testicles, enlarged male breasts, and acne.
There is also "more evidence accumulating that the likelihood of having a bad reaction with severe psychiatric symptoms including mania, hostility, or aggression, is linked to higher dosages," he said.
One in five of the samples was contaminated with heavy metals such as tin, lead, and arsenic. Such metals can have toxic effects on the nervous and digestive systems, as well as the muscles.
Would steroid users "be willing to risk serious legal consequences and prosecution for a steroid either so underdosed as to be worthless, or contaminated with heavy metals?" asked Smith. "These questions deserve to be asked, and as clinicians we owe our patients an informed and fully accurate discussion."
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November 23, 2009 | Genetic Variant Slows AIDS ProgressionScientists report that a genetic variation appears to play a major role in slowing disease progression in HIV-infected patients. In fact, those with the variation appear to take years longer to develop AIDS and die of complications of the disease. "We're honing in on factors ...
November 22, 2009 | FDA To Reduce the Misuse of MedicationsThe FDA wants to reduce the misuse of medications, saying that at least 50,000 hospitalizations a year could be prevented if physicians, pharmacists, patients and parents would be more careful. And the cost of these preventable injuries is estimated at about $4 billion annually by the Institute of Medicine. FDA commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg stated, "when I first started looking at this, I was stunned at the scope of the problem." She is ...
November 21, 2009 | Diabetes Drug Byetta Linked to Kidney ProblemsThe FDA has received 78 reports of kidney problems related to Byetta, a drug by Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli-Lilly prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes. With the new findings, the drug's label will be updated to warn doctors and patients about this possible side effect. Byetta ...
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