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I
don't write much about steroids these days. I retired my
"Strasseroids" column because I believe that
between myself, Bill Roberts and Cy Wilson, just about
everything that needs to be said about steroids has been
said. I see no reason to repeat what you can look up in
the T-mag archives. So I'm "out" so to
speak, unless something really interesting comes across
my desk…
Still,
I harken back to the good old days in the mid-1980's
when steroids weren't Schedule C-III and a bottle of
Steris Testosterone cypionate could be had for $30. It
was so easy and we didn't even know how good we had it.
It was easy to get, it was cheap, and it was pure…
until George Bush the First succumbed to a few quack
psychiatrists who had the general public believing that
anyone taking steroids was going to turn into a frothing
maniac who yelled at stop signs and beat up little old
ladies.
The
passage of the Anabolic Steroid Control Act in 1991 made
obtaining gear difficult and the stigma associated with
producing it as a legit drug unbearable for most
American drug companies. So there was a shift in where
steroids came from and we began to see a huge influx of
really cool, exotic steroids from Europe and to a lesser
extent, Egypt, India, Russia, and Pakistan. But these
steroids, as cool and exotic as they are, were crazy
expensive and usually came in low doses and in single
use, inconvenient-as-heck, fragile, glass amps. So in
the mid-1990's we began to see an influx of steroids for
veterinary use from places like Australia and New
Zealand. But alas, these too were expensive and somewhat
difficult to obtain.
Then
my former mentor, Dan Duchaine, made a little known
secret very public: You could easily obtain steroids at
bargain basement prices if you'd be willing to use
veterinary grade stuff made in Mexico. The rest, as they
say, is history, as the Mexican veterinary steroid
market has exploded in recent years with companies like
Ttokkyo, Brovel, Quality Vet, Tornell, Inpel, and the
list goes on and on.
Cheap
steroids that are easily available made many people new
to the game quite happy. Never mind that many of these
"pharmaceutical companies" made products of
dubious quality — the shit's cheap, damn it!
Well,
in the last two years, I've slowly been watching changes
in the steroid landscape. And I have some interesting
and good news for those of you juice-inclined types:
There's going to be an influx of new, cheap gear very
soon. Most of you are familiar with the original steroid
bootlegger, International Pharmaceuticals, as well as
other come latelies such as Generic Agriculture &
Chemical, MexiVet, and Valopharm. These bootleggers have
been producing relatively good stuff (at least as good
as the Mexican stuff anyhow) for the last couple of
years and I'd imagine they've made a pretty good dollar
doing so. Anywhere there's money to be made, there's
competition — unless your name is Bill Gates and your
company is Microsoft.
We're
about to experience an influx of new, professionally run
"bootleggers" the likes of which have never
been seen before. The first one is called GenMed and
bills itself as a "privately owned pharmaceutical
company" (a not-so-clever euphemism). GenMed is
launching an ambitious product line. They plan on making
the following:
Testosterone
Enanthate 250 mg/ml
Testosterone
Cypionate 250 mg/ml
Testosterone
Propionate 100 mg/ml
Trenbolone
Acetate 75mg/ml
Boldenone
Undecylenate 200 mg/ml
Nandrolone
Decanoate 200 mg/ml
Testosterone
Enanthate 200mg/ml with
Testosterone Propionate 50mg/ml
Testosterone
Cypionate 200mg/ml with
Testosterone Propionate 50mg/ml
4
Testosterone Blend 250 mg/ml (Generic Sustanon)
Methenolone
Enanthate 100 mg/ml
Nandrolone
Phenylpropionate 100 mg/ml
Anastrazole
1 mg tabs
Tamoxifen
Citrate 10 mg tabs
Clomiphene
Citrate 50 mg tabs
Methandrostenolone
5 mg tabs
Stanzolol
10 mg tabs
To
say I'm impressed with this undertaking, which would
require some serious venture capital to bring to
fruition, is an understatement. These guys are quite
ambitious and I wish them much luck.
Next
on the list is Red Star Chemical Limited, a Chinese
bootlegger that supposedly plans to do what
International Pharmaceuticals has done, namely make the
stuff in China or somewhere similar and mule it into the
States. Since cost of materials and labor is
ridiculously cheap in China, look for Red Star products
to be every bit the bargain that International
Pharmaceuticals has been known to be. My sources tell me
Red Star is going to launch a 75 mg/ml trenbolone
acetate product as well as a 50 mg/ml methenolone
acetate product in the next couple of weeks or months.
I'm told other products are in the works.
Finally,
for those who prefer a domestic brew instead imported
fluff, a little bootlegger called Agri-Pharm is
investigating cost of materials and ability to
manufacture here in the United States (or so the rumor
goes). Look for Agri-Pharm stuff in the next four to six
months.
I'm
sure that as time goes on, we'll see more and more
domestic and international bootleggers marketing gear
under their own branded label. Sure, booters have
existed forever, but usually they'd clone or counterfeit
an existing, legit product. Not anymore. Since these
types of operations are usually small (relatively
speaking), mobile, and often existing in countries with
non-existent enforcement laws, look for the bootlegged
steroid to be the "next big thing."
Recently,
there seems to be a fair amount of brouhaha growing over
a compound called ractopamine (pronounced rack-taupe-a-mean)
for use in fat loss and short term lean body-mass gains.
Ractopamine has even been compared to clenbuterol (a
drug I truly don't like) in terms of effects and
efficacy. Well, I'm here to tell you that as much as
clenbuterol sucks, ractopamine sucks even more. As
usual, we need to examine the data and practice due
diligence to see why.
Ractopamine
is a veterinary growth promotant made by a division of
Eli Lilly and a company called Elan. The use of growth
promotants is widespread in farm animals as bigger
animals translate into more money for farmers. In
general, these growth promotants mimic regulators
normally present in an animal. Ractopamine is a beta-adrenergic
agonist (much like clenbuterol is) and like clen, helps
to partition the nutrient supply to increase muscle
growth and decrease fat deposition. So far, so good.
The
drug is also an effective and popular veterinary
supplement in the hog farming business. However,
according to research done at Purdue University, it
begins to lose its effectiveness seven to ten days after
the initial feeding. Hogs apparently become desensitized
to ractopamine when the supplement is fed as a daily
ration, resulting in fleeting growth benefits. The same
can probably be expected in humans.
If
this were the only "problem" with ractopamine,
I wouldn't be mentioning it here. Ractopamine, in
addition to losing effectiveness in under two weeks,
seems to cause a serious decrease in the number of beta-adrenoceptors
as well as their ability to couple with beta agonists.*
This could be catastrophically bad for humans.
Obviously, it's not such a big deal for hogs as they're
slaughtered and eaten. But a decrease in receptor
affinity and sheer number of receptors in man would
surely lead to fat gain post-ractopamine use.
And
since there's no need to see how long it takes hogs to
upregulate their beta-adrenoceptors (they become bacon),
there's no data to show when (or even if) such
occurs. Also of interest, ractopamine has no significant
fat loss or muscle-enhancing effects in rats as
evidenced by experiments conducted at the Biosciences
Research Laboratory in Fargo, North Dakota.
I
can't see any real use for ractopamine in humans based
on the limited data available. Ditto if you're a hog.
Either way, if you're smart, you'll skip this stuff.
Some
time ago you'll remember that I warned all of you
T-folks about the dangers of usnic acid. Of course, some
of the "hardcore" crowd vilified me, but in
the end it turns out I was correct as supplements
containing usnic acid (or its sodium salt) have been
implicated in fulminant hepatic failure (liver problems)
in close to a dozen otherwise healthy people between the
ages of 18 and 32.
Although
a few shady Internet companies still offer usnic acid
for sale, this stuff has (thank Heaven) gone the way of
the Edsel. As such, sleazy companies are looking for the
"next usnic acid" type chemical they can pimp
as a supplement irrespective of the potentially
dangerous side effects. The "next one" is
probably going to be something called rotenone,
so once again, let's look at the data.
Rotenone
is a natural substance derived from several tropical and
sub-tropical plants such as the Jewel Vine or Flame tree
(Derris spp.), Lacepod (Lonchocarpus spp.), or Hoary Pea
(Tephrosia spp.). Natives in Central and South America
have used the juices of these plants for centuries to
help them collect fish for food and it's used in
fisheries to kill a variety of pests. Rotenone
"works" by making aerobic metabolism very
inefficient (or impossible), causing a shift to an
anaerobic metabolism.
In
addition to its use as an insect control chemical in
fisheries, rotenone is used as a garden insecticide to
control chewing insects, as a dust on cattle, and is
used as a dog and sheep dip to kill parasites. Rotenone
is an unstable compound that breaks down when exposed to
light, heat, oxygen and alkaline water. The breakdown
process is very rapid. Scientists have been able to
identify about twenty degradation products, most of
which spontaneously break down to lesser non-toxic
substances. Ultimately, rotenone breaks down into carbon
dioxide and water. Estimates of oral toxicity to humans
are 300 to 500 mg rotenone per kg of body weight.
There
have been numerous studies using rotenone and mammals.
To summarize them, rotenone was fed daily to rats, mice
and dogs in studies that ranged from six months to two
years. In two studies, high levels were fed daily
through three generations with no evidence of
significant adverse effects. No tumor induction was
observed, even when 75 ppm was fed daily to rats or when
1,200 ppm was fed to mice.
In
the tests with both males and females of each species,
there was no firm evidence that rotenone caused any
increase in the incidence of tumors. In some lots,
treated animals had significantly fewer tumors than
untreated groups. Results of studies using DNA repair,
cytogenic analysis of bone marrow cells, embryonic mouse
cells, eukaryotic microbial tests, and DNA synthesis
tests showed no evidence that rotenone causes mutations
or chromosome damage.
Well
then, what about humans? If a massive dose is
administered or received, humans will exhibit reduced
pulse, reduced heart contractions, and a drop in blood
pressure. The rate and depth of breathing increases but
peristalsis in the gut is reduced. Levels of sodium,
potassium, chlorides, and glucose in the urine increase.
All of these effects are temporary and they typically
cease as soon as the exposure ends.
Acute
poisoning (as might be caused by consuming extremely
high doses) causes nausea, vomiting, gastric pain,
muscle tremors, incoordination, convulsions and stupor.
Death could result. No human deaths due to rotenone
poisoning have been reported in published literature.
Using rotenone probably won't kill you but there's
always been something about using a pesticide as a fat
loss agent (e.g. DNP, usnic acid) that makes me nervous.
Once again, this one is best left alone and avoided.
As
of late, a number of current and former Major League
Baseball players have been coming forward to discuss the
use of anabolic steroids in that sport. Recently, Ken
Caminiti, the MVP in 1996, says he won the award while
on steroids and that at least half of major leaguers use
the drugs. Ironically (and in a ballsy-assed manner),
Caminiti is quoted as saying, "I've made a ton of
mistakes; I don't think using steroids is one of
them."
Although
the NFL and NBA both prohibit steroids and test for
them, the NHL and MLB have no policy regarding their
use. A ban in baseball would have to be collectively
bargained with the Player's Association. Slugger Jose
Conseco is in the process of penning a "tell
all" book about steroids and baseball where he
estimates that 85% of the players are users. Other
players like Texas pitcher Kenny Rogers and Arizona
pitcher Curt Schilling have also commented about steroid
use in baseball.
So
what? A lot of people are giving serious "attaboys"
to these guys for speaking up. "It's about
time" is what I'm hearing all over the place. While
anything that will bring steroid use into the limelight
in a constructive, scientific and intelligent manner is
a good thing, I highly doubt such will be the case here.
What we'll see is pandemic suspicion, finger pointing,
and perhaps the stripping away of recent records (or at
least a goofy asterisks next to them).
I'd
rather let sleeping dogs lie. Anyone "in the
know" has known for a long time that many baseball
players and in fact, athletes in just about every sport,
are using the sauce. This sudden and public revelation
about MLB is sure to only cause government do-gooders to
issue more boneheaded anti-steroid legislation as well
as funnel money away from worthy causes toward
"drug interdiction" of an anabolic nature.
I'd
like to know what you all think of this topic, so please
feel free to write into T-mag and let us all know
via fb@t-mag.com and
thanks in advance.
If
you've ever researched ketogenic diets, you've probably
heard the name Lyle McDonald. I've known Lyle for years
and for sure he's a quirky, eccentric, megalomaniac, and
occasionally a serious pain in the ass. All of that
notwithstanding, Lyle is still quite an expert when it
comes to CKD/TKD and ketogenesis.
Well,
Lyle has a new book out and I was fortunate enough to
review this book before it was published and sold. The
information contained in Bromocriptine — An Old
Drug with New Uses (Lyle's new fat loss codex) may
revolutionize the way we look at fat loss, dieting, and
supplementing for both.
Bromocriptine
has been around for over thirty years as a prescription
treatment for Parkinson's Disease and other associated
neurological deficits. It (and its newer analogs like
cabergoline) has a solid track record in humans. It's a
drug I'd have little reservations about using in low
dosages for fat loss over extended periods of time
because of its impressive safety profile. In fact, I'd
certainly pick bromocriptine over clenbuterol (which I
feel is useless), liothyronine, and the smorgasbord of
other "diet drugs" that have become too
commonplace in today's bodybuilding arsenal.
Lyle
takes fat loss in an entirely new direction with his
book. Traditional fat loss mantra maintains we need to
stimulate the beta 1-2-3 and/or alpha 1-2 receptors to
induce lipolysis. Either that or we have to tweak
thyroid hormone levels up high enough to crank up basal
metabolic rate and core body temperature. But Lyle looks
at fat loss through a different perspective, that of the
dopamine receptors (DA-1 and DA-2) and the current crop
of dopaminergic agonists.
His
book is logical, methodical, and in my opinion, right on
the money. If you're serious about losing fat (and more
importantly, keeping it off), this is a book worth
looking into. Currently, Lyle's book is only available
as an e-book but I hope that a paper edition will be
available sooner rather than later. Check it out.
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