Sale of industrialized anabolic steroids grew 45% – 04/14/2023 – Health

Three of the main industrialized anabolic steroids in the Brazilian market grew by 45% in sales volume in the comparison between 2021 and 2019.

According to Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), in 2019, the total number of marketed packages of testosterone, testosterone cypionate and testosterone undecylate was 1,349,619, and increased to 1,957,658 packages in 2021.

The calculation was based on data from 2019 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on scheduling medical appointments and the closure of gyms. Sales in 2020 were 1,347,258 packages.

In the first half of 2022 alone, the most recent data, the sale was 1,424,186 packages, equivalent to 73% of the 2021 total for these three best-selling industrialized testosterone derivatives.

This month, the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) prohibited the medical prescription of hormonal therapies with androgenic and anabolic steroids (AAS) for aesthetic purposes, to gain muscle mass and improve sports performance.

Testosterone is one of the main hormones that act on the androgen receptors of cells. Its action, in addition to expressing male secondary sexual characteristics, such as hair distribution and deepening of the voice, and stimulating sperm production, has an anabolic effect. It means causing other cells to grow, including muscle.

Anabolic androgenic steroids have been produced since 1935 based on testosterone and its derivatives. In the medical field of endocrinology, they are indicated for the treatment of symptoms related to low testosterone production in men, a condition known as male hypogonadism, or in hormone therapy for male gender adjustment.

The use of anabolic steroids in sports to gain performance has been around since the 1950s. The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits more than 60 substances from the group in sports competitions – including testosterone and its derivatives, cypionate and undecylate. This regulation has reduced its use among professional sportsmen.

Endocrinologist Clayton Luiz Dornelles Macedo states that he was aware of the performance of professionals without specialization who promised mass gain and muscle definition, improvement of libido and signs of aging, ignoring the adverse effects of the drugs used. “These hormones have specific scientific indications, but some physicians promoted, especially after the pandemic, commodification of the inappropriate prescription of these drugs.”

Consumption in doses above those considered normal or physiological causes adverse effects. Some are milder: hair loss, acne, irritability, enlargement of mammary glands in men, shrinkage of testicles, deepening of the voice, breast atrophy and hair growth in women.

More serious effects include: infertility, erectile dysfunction, liver problems (including tumours), infections such as abscesses or hepatitis, and HIV infection (from sharing needles).

Cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, cholesterol changes, abnormal thickening of the heart muscle and risk of clots add to the list. The use of anabolic steroids is also related to psychiatric problems such as depression and chemical dependence.

Bruno Masini, 39, physical educator, experienced one of the worst effects of the continued use of anabolic steroids. He started using it in his teens, when he worked as a dancer, with the aim of gaining muscle mass.

“I used different types, initially in cycles, but from the age of 30 I started to compete as a bodybuilder and started using it continuously, just alternating doses.” He started physical education college and kept using it for competitions. “I had all the minor side effects, but I also had mood swings and two abscesses while using it, but that was no reason for me to stop.”

At age 37, during a strength training workout, he felt tightness in his chest that radiated to his chin. “I looked for Hospital São Paulo and was diagnosed with a heart attack, I was immediately submitted to a catheterization, a coronary artery and a branch of it were compromised”. Bruno had no family history of heart disease, nor were any other risk factors found in the investigation.

Since then, he maintains clinical treatment and discontinued the use of anabolic steroids. Today, he works at Unifesp’s Exercise Endocrinology Ambulatory, in São Paulo, where he helps with cases similar to his, in addition to being a bodybuilding referee.

This report was produced as part of the 7th Science and Health Journalism Program of Folha de S.Paulo, which had the support of the Serrapilheira Institute, Roche Laboratory and the Albert Einstein Beneficent Society