Organizations that actively promote natural bodybuilding like INBA are doing everything they can to banish this impression, but it is often notoriously difficult to change perceptions, and it is slow even if you are successful in doing so.
The bottom line is, while substances that appear on the WADA banned list are there because they enable participants to improve their performance, you should not underestimate the harm and damage that many of these substances can do, particularly if you decide to use them for a period of time.
For example, going back to the favorite performance enhancing drugs of the 1970s, anabolic steroids have a long list of adverse side-effects attached to them. They increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, high (bad) cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and can cause irreparable liver damage.
This is all in addition to other physical problems such as the ability of anabolic steroids to bring on premature baldness in men and to make even women bald (as well as encouraging beard growth in women).
Then there are suspected psychological side-effects such as depression (sometimes leading to suicide), heightened aggression, and a raised risk of developing an addictive personality.
Even some of the natural hormones that are on the WADA banned substances list can have the side-effects, so while it might be assumed that consuming natural hormones will be safe, this is a very general and possibly misguided assumption to make.
For example, Corticotrophins are on the banned WADA list, just one natural hormone selected at random. According to Wikipedia, these are hormones these are produced by the anterior pituitary gland, often in response to stress.
However, they have also been shown to cause mild side-effects such as loss of appetite, worsened acne and diarrhea, as well as far more serious potential side-effects such as severe allergic reactions, muscle pain and weakness, swollen mouth, lips and tongue, and even seizures.
In short, while they may be natural, there are certain levels of human hormones that are ‘right’ for your body, and ‘dosing up’ with more significant amounts of a hormone could be potentially dangerous, no matter how natural it might be.
While there is no doubt that the main focus of the WADA list is on prohibiting drugs or substances that enhance performance, it is an inescapable fact that many of these substances can also cause a great deal of harm.
For this reason, it cannot be over emphasized how important it is that no matter how desperate you are to become successful bodybuilder, you do not succumb to the temptation to take performance enhancing substances under any circumstances.
Doing so might at best to be unpleasant but there is also a very significant risk that, especially over the long term, ingesting such substances could be very dangerous indeed.
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