Androstenedione: Just Say No
Imagine rounding the bases after hitting your 70th home run and setting a new major league record. Slapping your teammates hands, you hear cheers progress throughout the sold out stadium. As you acknowledge the crowd further, you hear booing also coming from the standing crowd. Why are they booing? You just set a record! Then you see a small boy pointing at you and yelling. You watch closely and see the word, "Andro" form on his lips.
Androstenedione, known as "andro", is made of a naturally occurring hormone of the body, which is used naturally in tiny amounts to make the male hormone testosterone. It is found in humans, animals and the pollen of many plants. Andro is produced in the gonads and adrenal glands of all mammals. It is said to help speed up the recovery of injuries along with bodybuilding and weight training to increase muscle mass.
Fda
English: Logo of the U.S. Food and Drug Administra...
English: FDA poster warning against the use of the...The androgens are the male sex steroids. When andro is taken it can convert the female sex steroid, estrogen into testosterone. Testosterone increases body and facial hair, acne, deepens the voice, enhances prostate growth, and promotes muscular growth. Blood levels of testosterone start rising about 15 minutes and peak about an hour after oral consumption of androstenedione. When users take too much, androgen shuts off the body's own making of testosterone, which can damage normal testicular function (Quinn).
When athletes take androstenedione, it gives them an unfair advantage over other athletes. No one will ever know if Mark McGwire or any other athletes could have done their achievements without taking andro. "The International Olympics Committee, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and in the Men and Women's Tennis Tours banned androstenedione due to the fact that it is unsafe...