For a teen trying to build muscle, it’s a dangerous short cut – a powerful sport supplement called pro-steroid.

“Yeah, you can get big, you can get strong real fast,” says Chris, 21, who has a friend who used to take the drug.

Garrett, 24, also knew two people who took the pro-steroids in high school.

“My friends were huge, I mean, my brother even said the guys were just completely ripped, you know, just totally cut,” he says.

Unlike their cousin, anabolic steroids, pro-steroids are legal, and may have the same dangerous effect.

“It’s the chemical that with a few little changes that your body’s metabolism makes, turns it into the active form of an anabolic steroid,” says Dr. Sally Harris, a pediatric and adolescent sports medicine specialist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

And, she says, pro-steroids can have the same potential side effects as anabolic steroids: liver damage, heart disease, shrinking testicles and hair loss in boys, body hair growth and enlarged clitoris in girls … and there’s more.

“They affect virtually every organ in the body, some of them are temporary effects, some of them are irreversible,” Dr. Harris explains.

In Congress, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is considering banning the pro-steroids. But for now, they’re widely available on the Internet and in many stores.

Geff Malone has used pro-steroids and sells them at his Max Muscle franchise stores. He opposes the proposed ban, but he also says he’d never sell the product to kids.

“Basically, it’s for someone that has lower testosterone levels to begin with, typically the age group you find most effective is somebody in their 30s, like myself,” Malone says. “Anybody under 20 should probably stay away from it – definitely anybody under 18.”

In high school, Garrett talked a lot with his friends on steroids. They told him about “Roid Rage,” the violent and angry mood swings caused by the drug.

“It didn’t sound like it was fun, you know, it sounded like they really paid a high price to look how they did,” Garrett says.

Related Information

“Buff” is hip in the girls locker room. This trend is driving girls into the weight room to pump iron and beef up. Some girls are weighing in on steroids to make the cut. Now subject to the pressures long felt by boys to bulk-up and bulk-up fast, the answer for many girls is anabolic steroids, a synthetic form of the male hormone testosterone.

Patrice Crenshaw, a 16-year-old wrestler, remembers the first time she was approached with steroids.

“They didn’t tell me any of the negative stuff, about the facial hair, about the hoarseness in the voice, about not being able to reproduce,” she says.

Patrice declined the offer, but an estimated 175,000 high school girls have taken anabolic steroids in their lifetime. High schoolers make up 75% of all steroid users.

What Parents Need To Know

Girls have more opportunities than ever before to become involved and compete athletically. From all-girls soccer leagues to female boxing, the sports arena is wide open. It is an opportunity girls have desired for years, but it’s not all fun and games.

The number of girls using steroids has grown by more than 300% since 1991. Goals like college scholarships, Olympic dreams and professional sports are powerful incentives for success, but college and professional sports organizations aren’t playing games when it comes to steroids.

An Olympic athlete who tests positive for anabolic steroids once is banned from competition for two years and banned for life if convicted again. Steroids are prohibited in college and high school sports as well. So while she’s trying to be the best, if she tests positive for steroids, she and her biceps will be on the sidelines.

While steroids may make give a teen excess energy at first, the potential for negative health consequences is overwhelming. The National Institute on Drug Abuse cites the following side effects from steroid use:

Short term:

Facial hair growth

Deepening of the voice

Acne

Menstrual irregularity

Aggressive behavior

Long term:

Osteoporosis

Premature aging

Diabetes

Sterility

Hardening of arteries

Although development of male characteristics is a key sign of steroid use by females, your teen doesn’t have to walk in the door with a mustache one day for you to be concerned. A spontaneous increase in muscle mass is enough reason for you to look for other warning signs.

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