May 09 2010
US Doping Laboratory Coping Up With New Types of Steroids
The use of anabolic steroids has become a common addition to the supplements for professional athletes, bodybuilders and even for ordinary health enthusiast. You can find these supplements in gyms, health stores and pharmaceutical companies. People taking it may have different objectives like enhancing performance in sports or by simply toning down muscles to have a better physique. But the use of anabolic steroids may pose danger if not taken the right way.
According to Dr. Don Catlin, founder of UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, athletes who want to be more competitive usually turn to steroids. In the report of the DailyBruin, this also includes people who are bulking up just to meet the demands of a physically intensive job. It could range from club bouncers to firefighters to police officers to help them perform better in their jobs.
But the use of steroids does not only confined to improving performance. This drug has also many medical uses particularly in the treatment of degenerative diseases like cancer. Assistant professor of physiological science Christian Roberts said steroids have an important use in the field of medicine. It can be used to treat men with low levels of testosterone or older individuals suffering from a degenerative muscle disease.
According to Roberts steroids are helpful in treating many diseases if taken at lower dosages as compared to dosages taken by athletes and bodybuilders. When taken in small dosages, steroids help improve the health of men who suffers from low testosterone levels. Taking at higher dosages may also speed up the treatment but it will usually provide unfavorable side effects.
The use of steroids of many athletes has made sporting officials and organizations ban this substance. In the early 1980’s, the US has no anti-doping and steroid testing laboratory and Dr. Catlin sees the need to establish one. When the Olympic Games came to Los Angeles, the doctor founded the UCLA’s Olympic Analytical Laboratory. “The world of sportsmen were concerned because there was no testing center in the U.S. They assumed that all (U.S.) athletes were doped,” he said.
After years of testing for many sports organizations like the NCAA, the NFL, Minor League Baseball and the Olympics, the lab was able to establish its reputation as one of the best steroid testing laboratory in the world. However, Dr. Catlin admitted that they still have to keep up with the new strain of undetectable steroids being produced by some pharmaceutical companies.
This concern was also echoed by Anthony Butch the director of the lab and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine. The challenge is how to detect new compounds which were not seen before. There are times that manufacturers made a few changes in the basic chemical compound of steroids which makes it a new and undetectable substance.
Another concern of the steroid testing lab is the proliferation of dietary supplements which is still unregulated industry. Most of these are freely available in most health stores and can be purchased over the counter. However, some of them contain compounds which works like anabolic steroids. Athletes using these dietary supplements are facing the risks of failing a steroid test. “One of the things that becomes a problem is that (the supplement companies) are manufacturing different things in the machines, and substances get contaminated. This week’s batch can be safe, but next week’s batch may be contaminated with something,” Butch said.
Dr. Catlin said that the steroid testing lab continue to improve their processes to effectively catch those athletes who are using performance enhancers. With thousand of steroid testing conducted per year, Dr. Catlin believes that they were able to clean the sports of steroids.
