So we’ve heard quite a lot about SARMS – Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators and their amazing abilities to enhance muscles and strength.
Years ago, they were originally developed to help in diseases where steroidal androgens were proposed for use in therapeutics.
The focus would be on their use for muscle-wasting conditions in cancer, and to further expand their research into breast cancer.
You can be assured that they are very popular on the market today; there is no doubt about that.
That being said, they have been considered by many to be potentially dangerous drugs for human consumption.
To date, they are illegal to use. Even though they are often manufactured as dietary supplements, they aren’t.
All the above factors still have not deterred them from rising in popularity steadily over the years.
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Why Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators?
Heaps of bodybuilders still choose SARMs because they are so powerful.
In fact, they are known to do wonders for the body, adding muscle, shredding fat, and making your body look chiseled.
Using SARMs is actually a bodybuilder’s dream because they pack on muscle, and shred excess body fat. This is achieved in a short amount of time; a matter of 2 to 3 months.
The FDA has issued a warning about the dangers of products containing SARMs that are being marketed as dietary supplements.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has prohibited SARMs.
The ingredients in SARMs can cause professional athletes who use SARMs to lose their status in international competitions.
SARMs are often marketed as dietary supplements—but don’t be fooled. They are actually unapproved drugs; not dietary supplements [1].
They can cause you to test positive for an illegal substance and do serious harm to your health when misused.
The Potential Danger In Using Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator
SARMs aren’t steroids, but they do act in a similar way.
They increase muscle mass and strength and are perceived as being a safer alternative to steroids.
You can buy SARMs easily online, which is a potential danger for guys n gals who want to get hyper-muscular bodies.
You might say that SARMS have been researched for over 20 years, so they must all be OK for people to use, right?
In fact, they have been researched, even, as treatments for medical conditions like osteoporosis and cancer [2], muscle wasting, and other things.
And yet, no SARMs are approved by the FDA for any of these medical conditions.
And in Canada, a health advice report was released in 2020 advising against the use of SARMs.
Not much is known about the toxicity and safety of the drugs.
One man of 32 only [3] suffered liver injury after he took SARMs for two weeks.
That left people and experts wondering if it was not the recreational steroid that people were taking in higher doses than they should [4]; that SARMs, like other drugs, can cause people to suffer from dose-dependency [5].
It seems as if people who take such high doses to achieve such fantastic results in the form of a muscled honed and toned body are liable to suffer higher health risks.
SARMs might end up being perfectly safe drugs to use in the future; when they are going to be used for medical conditions, and that will include helping people with cancer.
That will be wonderful. But until then, there are still health concerns about taking SARMs now.
And then there’s the problem too, of unscrupulous companies selling SARMs online.
Not all who sell online are unscrupulous, but when it does come to the unscrupulous ones, it makes you wonder about the purity of the SARMs offered.
Has anything been done about protecting people from taking SARMs?
1) The SARM Control Act of 2019 is one
Due to the serious safety concerns about using androgen receptors, there was an act, the SARMs Control Act of 2019 that was introduced to the United States Congress. This Act was meant to tighten the reins over the drugs.
This Control Act of 2019 compared SARMs with anabolic steroids on regulatory levels.
The regulations were necessary to contain this drug because it was considered to have health risks and the potential to be abused.
Now there is a storm brewing because guys naturally aspire to get hold of SARMs so they can be offered the body-beautiful look.
They will do anything to get the drug if it means turning their body into dream machines.
And to achieve that, they will go online to be able to get hold of SARMs.
2) The FDA is another
The FDA has warned people not to use SARMs in body-building products.
The FDA protects public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of drugs, biological products, and vaccines for human use.
Body-building products like SARMs have not been approved by the FDA.
That’s because of the safety concerns which include the risk of liver damage, stroke, and cancer, to name some.
Donald D. Ashley, J.D., of the FDA, says, “We will continue to take action against companies marketing these products to protect the public health.”
Health care professionals know that they should report people who suffer from adverse effects from using the body-building products to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program.
Think about it – there are reasons why two major pharmaceutical companies abandoned their development of a certain drug that was found to be in SARMs [6].
Final words
Cancer occurs in your body when the growth of cells becomes unregulated.
If you take drugs that accelerate cell growth, you are basically increasing your cancer risk.
Humans have been using compounds that increase cell growth for many years.
The love for bodybuilding and achieving lean muscle mass is never going to go away.
If you are a professional bodybuilder you will know that achieving that stunning body with ripped muscles and a flat stomach has not been an easy journey.
That is why bodybuilders have used steroids over the years to help them achieve that look.
And they have realized they come with side effects. To overcome those issues, SARMS received plenty of popularity and recognition because they offered similar results.
But today, people are being cautioned that they need to use these drugs carefully and understand the risks.
You can help to reduce the safety risks when using SARMs by following a couple of guidelines –
- Start off with small doses, increasing the dosage gradually
- Do your research before starting a cycle
- Be cautiously observant of potential side effects
- Take a break from SARMs to ensure your body has time to recover.
With these tips, you minimize the potential dangers of taking SARMs, if you are insistent on taking them. The choice is yours.
SARMs – when they do obtain FDA approval are going to be the most innovative aid in the field of bodybuilding, sports, and hopefully medicine [7].
The huge benefits derived from SARMS, which are almost the same as those of anabolic steroids, with fewer side effects, are going to be able to open a whole new, dynamic era in the sports and coaching world!
But until then, it is advised to stay away.
References
- [1] https://www.healthline.com/health-news/debate-heats-up-over-sarms-fitness-supplements
- [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6326857/
- [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7304490/.
- [4] https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/104/4/1069/5096841
- [5] https://theconversation.com/men-are-buying-potentially-risky-steroid-substitutes-online-to-get-the-ideal-body-144249
- [6] https://dailyiowan.com/2022/03/22/cardarine-gw-501516-sarms-cardarine-results-dosage-side-effects-before-and-after/
- [7] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27138015/