The Effects Of Anabolic Supplements VS Natural Food On Teenage Boys

Introduction

Teenage boys nowadays have become more conscious of their physical appearance. The will to become physically fit enables to enroll in different programs or even engage themselves in the use of synthetic substances like anabolic supplements while others may use natural food and both methods may tend to have effects on teenage boys while they’re still growing up and developing. In the human body, muscles make up about a maximum of 45 percent of the average persons weight. They are made up of 80 percent water and the rest is mostly protein. Each muscle is made up of cylindrical fibres which are about 50 - 100 micrometers in diameters. Training muscles increases the size and their strength through a process called hypertrophy.

Background Of Study

This research has been carried out to describe the non-medical use of supplements by adolescents and to suggest appropriate education or intervention strategies as well as the need for further research.

It is not simply ideas of late who are consumed by unachievable body image. Teenage boys, with the desire to appear physically fit engage themselves in training to build muscle and obtain aesthetic physiques. Although training without proper nutrition can not help an individual to achieve his fitness goals. Due to that reason, some teenage boys may chose to commit themselves and eat healthy diets as natural food while others may decide to use anabolic supplements in order to easily reach their fitness goals.

Anabolic supplements may interact with other medications and they can even have serious unwanted side effects on their own. But, beyond that, there’s the medical truth stating that teenage bodies are still growing rapidly. Taking supplements that intend to tax their bodies further is initiation of disaster. This can lead to pulled ligaments, muscle strains, and worse. The benefit of gaining muscle size is not worth potential harms. On the other hand, natural food is always a better option with no harm to teenagers bodies.

In anabolic supplements, unsafe ingredients may be present as some of them are hidden and some may be dangerous for teens. Anabolic supplements may contain prohibited substances like filters that increase the products volume with or without the manufactures knowledge. According to Journal of mass spectromy some nutrition supplements were contaminated with prohibited substances, such as steroids, when tested in research studies.

Teenage boys who drink anabolic supplements in place of meals are in risk of nutrient deficiencies, more especially if they lack balanced diet. Although these supplements are generally richer in in protein and carbohydrates, they lack dietary fibre and certain vitamins and minerals. It is best for teenagers to meet their overall nutrition including protein through the consumption of natural foods instead of taking anabolic supplements.

According to; https://www.freeletics.com/en/blog/posts/dietary-supplements-zinc-iron-creatine/ Teenagers need micro and macronutrients such as proteins, vitamins and minerals for the body to function, and perform at it’s best and to build muscle mass as well. If we follow a healthy diet, we will get all the important materials that our body requires. In this case, taking anabolic supplements wouldn’t be necessary. In some cases there may be a huge need for certain macro or micronutrients which, despite a balanced and diverse diet, cannot be covered or can only be covered with great difficulty. In this case, the use of some nutritional supplements makes sense. If you’re an athlete, then you too could have an increased need for certain macro and micronutrients According to Buckley et al, Yesalis et al, and Frankie et al. the major source of anabolic supplements for non-medical use is the black market.

Scientists are still learning about how anabolic supplements affect the brain, and in turn, behaviour. Research has shown that anabolic supplements may trigger aggressive behaviour in some people. This means that a teenage boy who takes anabolic supplements may act mean to people they’re normally nice to, like friends and family, and they may even start fights. Researchers think that some of the changes in behaviour may be caused by hormonal changes that are caused by an imbalance in the different hormones in their bodies, but there is still a lot that is not known.

Key informants believe adolescent boys are more susceptible to the health risks of stunted growth and adverse psychological effects including dependence. Data also suggests that anabolic supplements use encourages adolescents to try other drugs for enhancing performance and encountering the side effects of supplements use.

The body’s testosterone production is controlled by a group of nerve cells at the base of the brain, called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus also does a lot of other things. It helps control appetite, blood pressure, moods, and reproductive ability.

Anabolic supplements can change the messages the hypothalamus sends to the body. This can disrupt normal hormone function. In boys, anabolic supplements can interfere with the normal production of testosterone. They can also act directly on the testes and cause them to shrink. This can result in a lower sperm count. They can also cause an irreversible loss of scalp hair.

When excess testosterone from anabolic supplements is converted to estrogens, male users may experience breast enlargement and testicular atrophy. They can also affect growth and maturation because the growth is artificially increased. Some of the side effects that occur on teenage boys due to the use of anabolic supplements are permanent. For example, the testes, when they shrink they never get back to their original size and when the breast enlarge they never return to their natural state.

Efforts to prevent anabolic supplement use include legal sanction), drug testing, and education. Across the nations, administrators are struggling with the issue of drug testing. A number of school districts and lawmakers view randomized drug testing as a way to thwart anabolic supplements use. In New Jersey, beginning with the 2006–07 school year, a state executive order mandates random drug testing of teenage boys participating in championship tournaments. More than 50 school districts nationally have received Department of Education grants to initiate random drug testing of students in extracurricular activities. However, many administrators are wary of initiating random drug trials because of issues related to invasion of privacy, unreasonable searches, and the financial and political costs of doing so.

Whether or not principals choose to employ drug testing as one deterrent, implementing comprehensive prevention and intervention programs is important. Such programs should target both adolescents using supplements to improve athletic performance and adolescents trying to improve their appearance.

Informational programs that focus solely on the adverse side effects of anabolic supplements or use scare tactics have not proven especially effective Instead, programs that raise awareness of the risks, decrease social anxiety, and increase self-esteem and positive self body image have yielded positive results.

Once such program funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid using anabolic substances, has been implemented in a number of schools and is reported to have reduced anabolic supplements use among more than 1,500 football players from 31 high schools in the Portland area.

The program educates student athletes about the harmful effects of anabolic supplements and provides nutrition and weight-training alternatives to anabolic supplements use. In addition to the 10 45-minute classroom sessions, there are three exercise sessions for the weight room that teach the teenage boys proper weight training techniques. These sessions are designed to help teenage athletes build the muscular strength needed to achieve their athletic goals without using anabolic supplements.

Choosing the most effective approach to prevention and intervention requires understanding the risks and needs of the student body. Administrators need to assess the profile of their student body’s specific needs, determine what environmental risks may be present in the school culture, and tailor the appropriate prevention and intervention program as necessary. Programs should:

• Educate teachers, coaches, parents, and students about the adverse effects of anabolic supplements use.
• Identify appropriate referral sources for families of supplements users.
• Implement appropriate school wide or student-specific programs to prevent adolescent boys from using anabolic supplements.
• Implement appropriate school wide programs to intervene if anabolic supplements, or even risky dietary supplements, are being used by students.
• Establish clear rules about what kind of advice coaches and trainers can give.
• Clearly and consistently send a message from coaches, parents, educators and physicians that they don’t want adolescents to use anabolic supplements over natural food.
• Help adolescents develop realistic expectations and goals for themselves and alternatives to anabolic supplements use, such as improved weight training methods, nutrition or training techniques.
• Advocate and encourage social support for not using anabolic supplements, including a de-emphasis of winning at all costs and the social media rewards attached to winning.
• Encourage positive role modelling by elite and professional athletes.
• Emphasize the moral and ethical aspects of anabolic supplements use.

Overall, a solution lies within a strategy to improve education for adults as well as adolescent boys and to conduct additional medical and scientific research.

Conclusion

This research has clearly proven that teenage boys engage in the use of Anabolic supplements because of lack of knowledge and with the aim to achieve their fitness goals quicker. It has shown all the effects of using Anabolic Supplements and as well as those of using Natural Food, and this data leads us to the conclusion that Anabolic Supplements have a lot of negative effects than positive effects in a teenagers body compared to Natural Food. Natural Food has no negative effects in a teenagers body but instead it is essential and it is necessary for proper growth and development without any complications. This means that the use of Anabolic supplements by teenage boys should be discouraged.