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Clinical studies of adult men, both young and elderly, administering doses in the range commonly reported by AAS users (300mg-600mg/week testosterone enanthate) did not result in significant adverse effects during six months of AAS use.7,8 Yet, while the controlled conditions of those studies resemble AAS use “in the wild,” they do not account for many issues related to AAS use that may affect health, such as the use of adjunct drugs to increase AAS potency or prevent/treat side effects. Though there have been reports detailing the experiences of AAS users, ranging from data collected during the long, state-sponsored doping program for athletes in the German Democratic Republic to the unreleased data collected by Victor Conte during the “BALCO” doping scandal, long-term studies of unsupervised, nonmedical AAS users are rarely published.9
The International Journal of Sports Medicine has released a paper ahead of print, written by clinical researchers from two universities in Italy that followed 20 bodybuilders for two years who had not used AAS prior to the study.10 During this time, the subjects administered drugs they obtained, in the manner they chose, without guidance from the researchers other than an introductory primer on the known or potential risks associated with AAS use. The subjects were examined quite thoroughly prior to the onset of the study, then every six months for two years. In addition to answering questions about AAS use, the subjects also provided their diet and supplement history, training routine and background, were physically measured (including testicular volume) and blood work was drawn to assess the effect on the liver, lipids/cholesterol and other factors involved in cardiovascular health, heart function by echocardiography, endocrine hormones, glucose and insulin sensitivity, immune function, as well as prostate exams and semen analyses. This study incorporated as complete a workup as one can get without being abducted and probed by space aliens.
Seven subjects withdrew from the study due to emotional challenges or sexual dysfunction, leaving 13 who completed the two-year term. As would be expected, the subjects gained lean mass and lost fat mass, along with suppression of the pituitary hormones LH and FSH, resulting in smaller testicles (2 percent to 40 percent smaller); two of the subjects experienced azoospermia (no sperm) while two others had very low sperm counts.7,8,11 Most other hormones were unaffected by AAS use (including testosterone and estradiol, surprisingly), the exception being thyroid hormone. Both free T3 (the active form of thyroid hormone) and TSH (the regulatory hormone that controls thyroid hormone production) were lower, though remained in the normal range…yet the subjects still experienced apparent fat loss. Gynecomastia (bitch tits) occurred in five of the subjects. While total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol were unchanged, HDL (good) cholesterol was reduced though the effect is known to be transient (returning to normal after AAS are discontinued) from earlier studies.12,13 Interestingly, triglycerides (fats in the blood), which were already low in these subjects, decreased even further. Some clinicians believe triglycerides are more important in regard to cardiovascular risk than cholesterol.14 Another factor associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (lipoprotein a) trended downward, though the change did not reach statistical significance.
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Chemical Enhancement 
