Drugs used to boost body image
Drugs used to boost body image
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Thursday, 15, Jun 2006 12:01
Gym users are abusing drugs to boost their body image, doctors have claimed.
According an editorial in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, steroids, growth hormones, tamoxifens and other drugs are being used to improve physique.
"Gym goers are increasingly resorting to steroids and prescription drugs to counteract their altered body images," said Professor Bruce Davies of the University of Glamorgan.
"Sufferers of negative or heightened body image issues will go to extremes to meet their desired goals and doctors need to be more aware of the efforts 'bigorexics' will go to achieve their goals."
Last year, Dr Julien Baker, Dr Michael Graham and Professor Bruce Davies found significant increases in the use of drugs by gym goers.
They discovered that rather then being taken to improve performance in competitions, drugs were turned to for cosmetic purposes.
According to the editorial, many users are suffering from body-image problems more commonly associated with bulimia.
Prescription drugs were used by 95 per cent of users in the earlier survey and 89 per cent said that they obtained the drugs from aberrant sources.
While men are most commonly associated with taking steroids to boost performance, seven per cent of women have admitted to taking steroids.
This tallies with information from the US, where 30 per cent of gym goers in some areas have admitted to taking steroids.