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Steroid Use in Professional Sports

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Steroid Use in Professional Sports
Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports Athletes for centuries have been using enhancement drugs to achieve greatness(Burdick,2003) A Sixty Minutes interview of Jose Conseco conducted by Mike Wallace clearly shows how widespread and popular these drugs are. Athletes who are on them deny there use fully and denounce the drugs(Newsday.com,2005) Performance enhancing drugs are necessary in order to make the playing field fair and even. In order to to understand why enhancement drugs are used, the public needs to know the different types, and what they do to the human body. There are three main types of enhancement drugs used by athletes. Anabolic, androgenic, and growth hormones are the categories in which they are grouped. Anabolic refers to muscle building. Androgenic refers to increased masculine characteristics.(2005,march NIDA Infofacts). Some widely used anabolic drugs are Testosterone, Dianobol, and Deca Durabolin. Widely used androgenic drugs are Equipoise, Masteron, and Trenbolone. Growth hormones are different in nature from anabolic-androgenic steroids. Human Growth hormone is an endocrine hormone that is produced by the anterior portion of the pituitary gland. Human growth hormone is made up of 191 amino acids. Virtually every system in the human body is in some way dependent on HGH for proper functioning.(2000-2001Real-Testosterone.net) Anabolic agents increase protein synthesis and increase red blood cell count thus making the muscle swell and increase in strength and size. Androgenic agents increase endurance and energy levels to produce better results on the field. Enhancement drugs are widely used among athletes at all levels of play. Amateur athletes use them to try to achieve the same prestige as the professionals they look up to. Competition starts at a very young age and lasts throughout life. Winning makes the athletes become recognized by the community, the state, and sometimes even the nation. There is very little

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