BOYS RISK ALL
BODY IMAGE A PANDORA’S BOX FOR YOUNG MEN
TEENAGE boys as young as 14 are turning to body building supplements and steroids in a desperate bid to “bulk up”.
A focus on sport — particularly in private boys’ schools — and social media pressure is fuelling the trend, which has health experts worried about long-term effects.
Almost half of boys aged between 14 and 16 at one private school admitted to using supplements — including protein powder — to increase the size of their muscles, while more than 60 per cent revealed they intended to.
Almost one in 10 admitted to using creatine, which increases muscle mass, while 4 per cent of those boys revealed they had used anabolic steroids.
Victoria University’s Associate Professor in Health and Physical Education, Zali Yager, led the study and said experts were seeing a “gateway effect”, with boys moving from supplements to steroids.
Steroid use is particularly dangerous but Dr Yager said there were also concerns around supplements, as they were largely unregulated and most users bought them in from overseas where there was even less oversight.
“Supplements can contain high levels of caffeine or replicate to become testosterone in the body. Supplement manufacturers are very good at chemically creating something that is almost, but not quite, a banned substance so it is then ahead of any regulation,” she said. The study was prompted by conversations with school teachers who were alarmed by the sounds of supplement drink shakers replacing eating at lunchtime.
Scott Griffiths, who leads a National Health and Medical Research Council-funded research program on body image and eating disorders at the University of Melbourne, said supplement use in teen boys was now “normal and ubiquitous”. He said muscle dysmorphia — or “bigorexia” — was on the rise with an increased focus on masculinity, fuelled by an obsession with self image.
“We are getting to the point where boys in Australia have at least tried a supplement to burn fat or build muscle — it is more common than not and regulation of supplements in Australia is woeful,” Mr Griffiths said.
Paul Dillon, who tours schools talking to students about drugs and alcohol, said there had been an huge shift in the changing physiques of action figures.
“Christopher Reeves in 1979 was considered muscular — now look at Henry Cavil. And Luke Skywalker has gone from looking like Luke Skywalker to looking like the Terminator,” he said.
One steroid user, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the drug was easy to obtain and there were online variants that can be purchased for “research purposes”.