Ergogenic Aids: Anabolic Steroids

Athletes throughout the world are always seeking to build muscle, enhance energy, improve physical performance and have an overall edge on fellow athletes (Wolinsky, I et al, 2004, Slater,G et al, 2000). Ergogenic aids can include nutritional aids. It also include pharamcological aids, physiological aids and psychological aids (Ferrando et al, 1993). Ergogenic aids can be split into synthetic and natural aids. Synthetic is where the aid cannot be produced via the body, such as anabolic steroids, where as natural can be created in the body, such as creatine and blood. The three ergogenic aids being discussed are blood doping, anabolic steroids and creatine supplementation.

Creatine was discovered in 1835 with the first creatine supplementation
Anabolic steroids remain a widely abused drug. An estimated 1 to 3 million athletes in the United States alone have used anabolic steroids (Silver 2001 & John M 2004). Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are chemically modified analogs of testosterone. Male sexual characteristics and muscle anabolism is responsible by the endogenous hormone (John 2004). Steroids are a group of hormones which are produced by two sets of glands, the adrenal glands and the sex glands. Silver 2001 and John 2004 suggest that the physiologic action of anabolic steroids is thought to be similar tonative testosterone. The molecule diffuses across the cell membrane after binding to a receptor. This complex then binds to the nucleus of a cell, stimulating messenger RNA synthesis, which leads to an increase in structural and contractile
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