Steroids Originally developed to help cancer patients and victims of starvation, steroids are used to gain weight and increase muscle mass. They are derived from the male sex hormone testosterone. In recent decades steroids have been abused by many athletes hoping to improve their performance. They have serios psychological and physiological side effects. Including increased aggressive behavior and cancer of the liver. Elevated liver counts indicating liver stress (toxicity) have been reported in recent studies …showed first 75 words of 473 total…

…showed last 75 words of 473 total…uninterrupted use. It might be theorized that the problem of dependence on steroids by certain bodybuilders has less to do with the nature of the substance than with the psychological profile of the users. It is not unreasonable to expect muscle and tendon tears in athletes, regardless of steroid use. It may not be unreasonable to assume that, like many adverse steroid effects, connective tissue injuries are mostly associated with high-dose, prolonged usage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**