Background
We often hear people using the terms “supplements” and “steroids” synonymously. Popular supplements like whey protein are understood to be harmful, as people believe that they might contain steroids, often time they correlate that because there might be some elite ‘bodybuilder or fitness model, who is promoting the product. Of course, in today’s time, there is no denying that there are many elite/top-notch bodybuilders who use steroids to match up to the level of competition on stage (except drug tested).
Due to the above, a large section of society is still unaware of the use and the needs of dietary supplements and their differentiation from the anabolic steroids
What are supplements and steroids?
Anabolic steroids : Steriods here are being referred to as synthetic hormones/substances and their derivatives, injected by humans. These hormones are already produced by the body, however, increased exogenous consumption provides us with an “anabolic” environment, which means an environment of growth. Here, we are specifically targeting muscle mass and strength performance for the most part.
some examples of steroids include Stanozolol (Winstrol), Androstenedione,, Methandienone (Dianabol), Methyltestosterone (Android), Nandrolone (Durabolin), Oxandrolone (Oxandrin), Oxymetholone (Anadrol), Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (Turinabol).
Supplements: Dietary supplement has been discussed the details on supplements in our article “ Supplementation: basic you need to know,” ,. However, to put it in nutshell, dietary supplements are nutrients, compounds, or formulations that are drug-free or natural. They help us fulfill the nutrient requirements that we may not be able to fulfill from foods or staple diets. Dietary supplements are majorly divided into 3 parts : (i) nutrition supplements, (ii) ergogenic supplements, and (iii) health supplements. Examples of supplements include whey protein , creatine , omega-3 supplement (fish oil) , Vitamin D , etc.
Benefits of supplements?
Nutrient deficiency and a sedentary lifestyle have been the root causes of life-related disorders. While dieting and exercising continue to be the foundation for tackling the above problem, however, supplements offer us a concentrated form of nutrients that offer us huge advantages when it comes to fulfilling our daily needs and requirements.
Bottom line
The general fear of supplementation and the tendency to confuse supplements with steroids is majorly due to ignorance and of course, poor marketing and media hype has added fuel to the fire. steroids are substances/medicine that abnormally increases testosterone levels in the body whereas, dietary or nutritional supplements are concentrated forms of naturally occurring food nutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, omega 3 fatty acids, etc. Anabolic steroid use is prohibited by the IOC, WADA, and various other national and international sports organisation/associations.
