Anabolic Research Update!

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ANABOLIC RESEARCH UPDATE

By William Llewellyn

Dianabol: Not The Cause of Teenager's Death

Anabolic steroids were very big news in the U.K. last year, when a healthy young man named Matt Dear died while taking them. The cause of death was encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. The fact that it came on suddenly, and shortly after he began a cycle of Dianabol, led to a great deal of speculation in the media. The first report blaming steroids came from a British tabloid (the Daily Mirror), but soon after were being repeated in more credible media, such as the BBC and The Sunday Times. The message was very clear. Once again, we had reason to believe anabolic steroids were potentially deadly drugs. Taking them was tantamount to playing Russian roulette with your body.

Matthew's parents were soon publically blaming anabolic steroids in their son's death. Charges were filed against the men (Garry Penny, 21 and Alexander Moss-Austin, 18) who sold the drugs to Matthew, and the whole story was getting a great deal of international attention. For those who understood that there was a known link between encephalitis and steroid use, the whole ordeal began looking like a full-blown media circus— the U.K. equivalent of the Lyle Alzado coverage. The death, of course, was still a tragedy. But how could it possibly be linked to anabolic steroids?

The answer came this month— it wasn't. According to the latest news, British prosecutors did not provide the court enough evidence that steroids were the cause. The two men charged with supplying the drugs received only supervised release and community service. Unfortunately, the recent finding received much less media attention that the initial reports.

Androgens and Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disturbance. Estimates are that 2.3 million Americans suffer from the disorder, which is characterized by episodes of irregular heartbeat lasting for minutes or weeks (in some patients it occurs constantly). Often atrial fibrillation goes unnoticed, but it may also lead to heart palpitations, fainting, and chest pain. It also may increase the risk of congestive heart failure. Most notably, however, patients with atrial fibrillation are at up to seven times greater risk of stroke. The incidence of atrial fibrillation increases with age, from .1 percent before age 55, to 9 percent at age 80. Men are also at 1.5-fold higher risk of the disorder than women. Given this fact, it has long been thought that testosterone may play a role.

A letter published in the International Journal of Cardiology reviews the existing evidence, and makes a case for both the protective and antagonistic role of androgens.1 The researchers noted that low androgen levels have been associated with atrial fibrillation in at least one population-based study, and there are a variety of other points suggesting an association (such as removal of gonads in rats initiating AF, and substitution of testosterone to the same ameliorating it).

On the other side of the coin, the researchers point to two case studies of atrial fibrillation occurring in seemingly healthy young steroid abusers. They believe left ventricular hypertrophy (known to be associated with steroid abuse) is a possible common link. So androgen may protect against AF, provided the goal is not abuse. It is important to emphasize that this is an opinion paper, not a clinical study. While we cannot draw conclusions, it does seem promising that we may have another potential (and very important) health benefit to the use of testosterone drugs.

Not So Hushmail?

While this doesn't quite fit the bill as a research update, I thought it was important to mention. It seems something is going on (again) with the ever-so-popular e-mail service Hushmail. Hushmail is a free e-mail service that encrypts messages for its subscribers, so only the sender and receiver are given an unencrypted copy. Hushmail advertises their service by stating, "Not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it leaves your computer." Sounds pretty private. No wonder the service has long been an attraction to people who engage in illegal activities, in particular with online anabolic steroid dealers and buyers.

The protection Hushmail uses is a form of something called PGP, which stands for "Pretty Good Protection." It is private, but not "James Bond" secure. Law enforcement can read e-mails encrypted with PGP. This, however, takes time and is usually done after a court order. A few years ago, law enforcement sought such a court order to get access to certain accounts. Hushmail complied. This gem for law enforcement uncovered 12 CDs worth of data, many dozens of steroid dealers, and hundreds if not thousands of buying customers. Together they worked to bring about the largest steroid enforcement action to date— Operation Raw Deal, closing more than 50 labs. Likely law enforcement is still working the leads Raw Deal brought them. It must have been fortuitous to the agents to see so many dealers and buyers sharing the same e-mail service.

For a while after Raw Deal, it seems that most everyone in the steroid community was staying away from Hushmail. This didn't last long, however. People slowly started back on Hushmail again after the dust settled. Now, with many people back, it looks like something may be going on with Hushmail once more. A large collection of subscribers from the steroid community reportedly had their accounts closed without warning this past week. Hushmail has been citing "terms of service" violations. Since all e-mails are supposed to be encrypted from prying eyes, including those of Hushmail staff, it makes one wonder what they could be referring to. Clearly, if the terms of service violations are steroid-related, then the company must have been reading encrypted e-mails.

There is not really much to say about this right now. I've heard of no arrests or contacts from law enforcement. There are just a lot of upset former Hushmail users, confused as to why their accounts were closed. While I would never encourage anyone to break the law, I would advise those of you who have been doing business with Hushmail to consider another e-mail service in the future.

Got a question for William Llewellyn? You can ask him directly on the MD website and have William personally answer your question! Go to Muscular Development Magazine, MD Forums, MD Staff and Pros, Q and A for William Llewellyn.

William Llewellyn's books ANABOLICS, UNDERGROUND ANABOLICS, and SPORT SUPPLEMENT REFERENCE GUIDE are now available for 25 percent off by calling 888-918-7888 or visiting www.AnabolicsBook.com.

Reference:

1. Liu T, et al., Androgens and atrial fibrillation: Friends or foes? Int J Cardiol (2010).

[manakei]

Gli steroidi anabolizzanti non sono integratori notificati, notificabili o non notificati "nemmeno in India" come diceva il mio prof di statistica...
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