Are steroids harmful - Research Paper Example

Essay Burning Question: Are Steroids harmful and whether food manufacturers are trying to kill us? Side Effects of Steroids and Usage by Food Manufacturers The other day I was browsing over the internet about famous baseball players of all time and a Google search link caught my eye. It was about famous baseball players who used steroids (Menton n.p). It also reminded me of a boy in my neighborhood who was in his college football team. After being caught using steroids, his career nearly ended. Furthermore, he was too embarrassed to face everyone therefore he left the town and went away for several years. The experience was daunting for his family as well and I saw them facing this difficult situation rather closely. This personal observation made me curious about steroids and I wanted to know why its use is restricted in professional sports. I began reading steroids and found out that there was a whole era of steroids usage in American baseball (Kendrick n.p). Upon further drilling, I found that even our body produces steroids, however they are in moderate quantities and are relatively required by our body. Sometimes due to health conditions, steroids are recommended by health experts although over dosage has its side effects. At this point, I remembered that my grandmother had rheumatoid arthritis and doctors recommended oral steroids to her. Another interesting article caught my eye about injection of steroids in human food by cattle and vegetation farmers. Local farmers are generously using steroids in order to produce healthy livestock that can be sold to commercial food manufacturers who appear to be aware of the contents of meat and other natural produce that they are buying (Atwell n.p). Since I am highly conscious about my health and avoid taking foods that tend to have artificial flavors, preservatives and food colorings, this fact was quite disturbing. An extensive analysis of the issue by web and library-based research helped me understand the situation and increased my interest in use of steroids by food manufacturers and harmful effects of steroids on human body (“The use of steroid hormones” n.p). I thought why it should be inserted in our body when it is capable of producing the essential quantities itself. Most of the search was about athletes using steroids and there was relatively less data available on the subject matter which made me realize that may be the general public is unaware of what is in their food and how it is causing major harm to their health. During this search, I questioned myself if use of steroids by food manufacturers is intentional and whether they are aware of the fact that they are inducing obesity and other major health diseases and disorders in American nation, when obesity is one of the major health issues faced by United States. Works Cited Atwell, Janet. “Can steroids in our food actually make health issues worse?” Yahoo. n.p, 15 Feb. 2007. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Kendrick, Scott. “Baseball players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs.” About.com. n.p, n.d. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Menton, Jessica. “Top 10 most shocking athletes caught using performance enhancing drugs.” Yahoo Sports. NBC Sports Network, 25 Jul. 2011. Web. 18 Jul. 2013. “The use of steroid hormones for growth promotion in food-producing animals.” Food and Drugs Authority. US department of Health and Services, 2002. Web. 18 Jul. 2013. Student’s Name Class Essay 2 Burning Question: Are Steroids harmful and whether food manufacturers are trying to kill us? Writing a Profile It is an established practice that many athletes and general consumers use steroids to gain strength and enhance their body features. Being a restricted practice in professional sports the athletes face major setbacks in case of failure to pass drug and enhancement tests. Furthermore, the use of steroids leads to hormonal disorder causing irreversible damage to our internal body structure (Lenehan 129). One shocking aspect of this search was a series of articles about use of steroids by food manufacturers in animals and even in vegetation grown by their suppliers (Linnaeus n.p). The amount of unwanted elements in the food that we consume on daily basis is indeed alarming. Upon further research I found that steroids are considerably harmful to human health especially when they are fed to us by food manufacturers rather secretively, while consumers remain uninformed and are unable to take any precautions. To confirm the findings of few web-based articles, I went to my family physician for further guidance. The insight shared by him was rather eye opening and made me conscious about the food I am eating. Through some web-based sources, I came to know that steroids use for animals’ growth is permitted by US government namely Food and Drugs Authority (“Steroids Hormones Implants” n.p). However I needed to reconfirm it from authentic sources. The findings were provocative enough for more research from different sources involving academic ones as well. I found out that human body is capable of producing steroid hormones on its own. However, these hormones are produced by the human body according to human needs. Excessive insertion of these hormones may cause harm to normal internal environment of humans and animals which can have long lasting effects on health (Yavari 39). Lemonick (n.p) makes a claim that usual users of steroids are not just athletes but normal people willing to develop desired physical features. However, question arises if this easy access of steroids can be controlled by concerned authorities and also if the users are aware of the possible side effects. Also, if a particular segment is using over-the-counter steroids, without knowing that they are taking a heavy dose with their daily food which can cause serious hormonal misbalance. Before, trying to understand the harmful effects of these steroids on humans, it is important to distinguish between types of steroids. There are two types of steroid hormones named as corticosteroids and anabolic steroids (Langston 87). Unlike common conception, corticosteroids are used as medication having no impact on body or muscle mass despite having side effects such as ulcer, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis etc (“Anabolic steroid abuse” n.p). It is actually anabolic steroids that have made name of external steroids controversial. Anabolic steroids lead to increase in body mass and body performance which is precisely the reason why they are used by athletes. Un supervised intake in men can lead to low sperm count, infertility, development of cancer, hair loss, overgrowth of forehead and severe loss to male sex organ (Dixon 91). In women, it can cause severe damage to organs and fertility organs, disruption in menstruation and other related disorders (Lau 56). General side effects include cardiac arrest, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels along with psychological effects. Knowing the harmful side effects of these steroids and realizing that they are used by our food manufacturers in the food we eat on daily basis can bring anyone in the state of awe. An important finding during this research was learning regarding the importance of steroids for humans. They help humans during their growth process however an excessive intake through external sources can be injurious to human health. A simple example of excessive steroids’ usage can be increased estrogen level in commercial dairy products (Linnaeus n.p). These increased levels can increase the risks of breast cancer in women. In addition to that, farm animals are often injected with steroids that make them grow more. The same meat is used by commercial meat users which are usually the restaurant and food chain owners. Over consumption of such meat can lead to increased testosterone level in humans. The same hormone can hamper children’s health and also cause undesired psychological changes. Here, it is important to note that children and teenagers consume a lot of fast food and ready-to-eat junk which also makes them a segment susceptible to early obesity. Obesity is becoming an alarming issue for US government, increasing at an exponential rate, the policies governing food manufacturers as promulgated by Food and Drugs Authority are rather lenient. During the research, I tried to identify the possible reasons for food manufacturers to use steroids mainly in livestock farming. The fundamental reason that I came across was rapid growth of animals after use of steroids. Due to steroid injection, animals grow more and at a better speed due to which such farmers are able to provide more supply to the food industry hence enjoying higher profits. An astonishing fact about use of steroid hormones by food manufacturers is its admissibility by FDA (“Steroids Hormones Implants” n.p). FDA has defined guidelines for the restricted use of steroids however there are no guidelines defined as to how these food manufacturers will be examined for compliance with these guidelines considering that food industry is very vast. FDA website also claims that use of naturally occurring hormones is perfectly fine if performed in accordance with approved conditions of use. Also, the claims made by FDA report that added hormones will have no effect since they are negligible in quantity. Furthermore, most of these animals are raised in a closely confined place which is already injurious to animals’ health. Injection of steroids makes these animals resistant to diseases that may have in normal circumstances. However, disruption of normal etiology of these animals i.e. death of intestinal bacteria and maintenance of meat and external outlook, makes these animals live longer but their meat is not suitable for human consumption (Barling and Brooks n.p). The first disappointing fact is implantation of steroids considering the fact that animals should be fed on a natural diet. Even if a negligible amount of hormone is planted subcutaneously, the animals are going to have similar hormones in their natural state before slaughter. Hence, addition of such hormones may cross a threshold for humans and become injurious for their consumption. Although there have been several crack downs by FDA on food supplement producers however the safety of these supplement still cannot be ensured. Steroids often used for muscle growth, weight loss and sexual organs enhancement may have serious repercussion such as liver failure, excessive weight disruption, blood pressures and cardiac arrest (“Anabolic Steroids Abuse” n.p). It is difficult to establish if operations of FDA are extensive enough to ensure that hormones injected in animals are not as harmful as these food supplements. Where there are already concerns about use of steroids in cows, the situations aggravates when it comes to fishes grown in farms. The implantation of steroids is admissible due to thorough research present on the subject matter however there is limited literature available on its injection in farm raised fishes. Other than animals, vegetables and fruits are also loaded with undesired steroid hormones. Normal ingredients like soy and corn are the major elements used in food industry. Farming of vegetables and pulses is also susceptible to natural calamities due to weather. However, farmers use these chemicals and steroids that lead to speedy growth of vegetation. Although plant hormones are different than those present in human body and cattle meat but the chances of chemicals present in vegetation triggering production of harmful chemicals in humans cannot be ignored. In addition to chemicals sprayed on vegetables and pulses, there are several studies that have supported steroids activity due to harmful can packaging (Brotons et al 609). Imagine a perfectly fine organic food packed in cans for consumer use but producing estrogen due to plastic monomers used for packaging. Hence, there is a dire need of caution to be practiced on part of food farmers. Findings of the research conducted by Hoffman and Ratamess (189) indicated that the possible results and side effects of steroids might be exaggerated. However, the idea of having steroids hidden in our food and having them with our usual food which already has low nutritional value increases the risks of developing health disorders. A critical analysis of literature gathered from various sources helped me in understanding the fact that there are food manufacturers who are taking advantage of consumer’s ignorance. There is a considerable research that indicates side effects of steroids however use of steroids by the food manufacturers needs more study. The risk enhances with the use of food made out of livestock since hormones injected in animals are quite similar to those produced by human body. Therefore, it is important that an aggressive control policy is devised to regulate the use of steroids by these food manufacturers in our regular food in addition to easy availability of steroids to general public. Secondly, general consumers should be aware of the contents of food being sold to them. Mere ignorance is no excuse especially when it is directly affecting one’s health. Works Cited “Anabolic Steroid Abuse.” NHS Choices. Gov.uk, n.d. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Barling, Mannie and Ashley F. Brooks. “Does your fast food hamburger come from steroid-pumped caged cattle?” how to eliminate pain. n.p, 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Brotons, Jose Antonio, Maria Fatima, Mercedes Villalobos, Vicente Pedraza and Nicolas Olea. “Xenoestrogens released from Lacquer Coatings in Food Cans,” Environmental Health Perspective 103.6 (1995): 608-612. JSTOR. Web. 18 June. 2013. Dixon, Patrick. “Steroids-The truth about steroids.” Globalchange. n.p, 2013. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Hoffman, Jay and Nicholas A. Ratamess. “Medical issues associated with anabolic steroid use: Are they exaggerated.” Journal of Sports Science and Medicine 5: 182-192. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Langston, Nancy. Toxic Bodies. Yale University Press, 2010. JSTOR. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Lau, Doretta. Steroids: Incredibly Disgusting Drugs. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2008. Print. Lemonick, Michael D. “Steroids: Not just for athletes.” Time. CNN, 12, Oct. 2007. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Lenehan, Patrick. Anabolic steroids: and other performance enhancing drugs. London: Taylor & Francis, 2003. Print. Linnaeus, Tomas. “The effects of steroids in human food”. Livestrong. n.p. 2010. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. “Steroid Hormone Implants Use for Growth in Food-producing animals.” U.S. Food and Drugs Authority. U.S. Department of Health and Services, n.d. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Yavari, Abbas. “Abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids.” Journal of Stress Physiology & Biochemistry 5.3 (2009): 22-32. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Student’s Name Class Essay 3 Burning Question: Are Steroids harmful and whether food manufacturers are trying to kill us? Justifying an Evaluation Using steroids in food by manufacturers is a threat to human health, causing both minor side effects and major disorders in case of a high dose. These steroids are approved by Food and Drugs Authority however there is control over or regulations over the quantity of steroids used by manufacturers on animals. Therefore, excessive steroid implants and increased use of meat can lead to obesity and other related chronic cardiovascular and digestive disorder to humans. A corroborative evaluation of research on steroids helped in developing a judgment that steroids are part of human body’s requirements however its unsupervised and unknown intake can cause severe damage to human health. In order to support this judgment, research conducted by Tomas Linnaeus played an important role. According to Linnaeus (n.p), although FDA claims that use of steroids in food are not harmful however examination of poultry, meat, dairy and vegetable products shows a high percentage of testosterone, progesterone estrogen, corticosteroids and phytosterols. There are severe health risks that can be associated to these hormones and their high percentage in human body. An interesting fact mentioned in the article was high level of estrogen in dairy products. Although low level of additional steroids in a food portion should not affect human’s health however we take multiple meals during a day and dairy products are used in their preparation. Therefore, repetitive intake might reach a threshold and caused harm to our health. A shocking fact mentioned by this source is a direct relation between high level of estrogen and breast cancer. Since one of my aunts has gone through this health disorder, I am well aware of the physiological and psychological impacts of it. While going through this source, I read that meat products have relatively less amount of steroids in them. According to a peer-reviewed research, beef contains high testosterone content which is viable for adults however it exceeds the limit for children. We are surrounded by restaurants and burger stands in almost every corner of the city. Some of us find it easy to have a cheap, ready to eat meaty product without knowing what is inside our food and how it can cause harm to development of one’s children. The source also used another research to support this argument that excessive testosterone level can have severe psychological changes. Same goes for eggs which are recommended for people of all ages. Where we consider egg necessary for a healthy first meal of the day, we do not know that the same egg can actually lead to excessive sugar in our blood which can ultimately cause high blood pressure, depression, diabetes etc. although the source mentioned vegetable steroids to be relatively beneficial however I could not find any authentic source to corroborate this evidence. In addition to physiological changes, there are psychological effects as well such as high stress level, depression etc. Furthermore, impacts of steroids transferred to human body through vegetation are rather unknown. The research indicated that there are established evidences regarding presence of steroids in our food and their harmful effects on human body. Therefore, it is important that consumers should be made aware of what they are eating and how it is affecting their body. In addition to that, the article leaves room for further research if authorities like FDA and WHO are aware of hazardous elements in our everyday food and are there any actions being to mitigate their effects. This research leaves a big question regarding integrity of our food producers and also about public’s awareness concerning what is being fed to them. Work Cited Linnaeus, Tomas. “The effects of steroids in human food”. Livestrong. n.p. 2010. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Student’s Name Class Essay 4 Burning Question: Are Steroids harmful and whether food manufacturers are trying to kill us? I-Search Rough Draft: What Did I Learn The overall research regarding use of steroids in human food by commercial producers not only assured that my doubts were right but also gave rise to several new questions. Initially, I assumed that use of steroids in livestock and vegetation is permissible by Food and Drugs Authority due to its limited side effects (“Steroids Hormones Implants” n.pag.). However, careful research and critical analysis lead to an understanding that these steroids form part of almost every food that we eat eventually disturbing our internal system. Since these steroids bring commercial benefits to large scale producers, therefore there is always a doubt that this addition of steroids can be reaching their maximum level and government authorities are not taking sufficient measures to control them. During this learning experience, I came to know how increased level of hormones can be injurious to human health along with their specific impacts on different parts of human body. I also learnt that some of the major disorders that are very common in today’s youth such as obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disorders etc, are caused by the food that we intake from commercial sources on frequent basis. Where obesity and related health disorders have become a major concern for national authorities, they need to examine the role of commercial producers in increasing risks of obesity in our children and adolescents. Although before conducting this research, I was slightly careful about my diet and intake of fast food however now I strictly measure what I eat and what is my daily intake of fast food and meat from commercial producers. It is rather frustrating to see that most of the meat-based products available over the counter are from large-scale producers therefore it is very difficult to replace their products with those having limited side effects. As a matter of fact, consumers have no tools through which they can limit the undesired intake of steroids. Despite the fact that FDA has allowed these steroids in our food, I highly doubt the efficacy of their research and obviously intentions towards health of Americans. Where my early concerns were only related to meat-based products only, information gathered regarding dairy products and high level of steroids present in them was rather shocking (Linnaeus n.pag.). Dairy products form an important part of our diet especially children’s, therefore I would prefer to do more research on side effects of steroids present in dairy products, on children. In the light of this research, I surely intend to investigate more regarding sources that would allow general consumers to have access to food sources that are grown and bred in natural environment by regular farmers not using steroids. Although it is impossible to completely shun the use of food from external sources including food available from fast food chains, however maybe we can adopt a lifestyle that can limit the hazards attached to excess steroids. Now, that I am aware of specific steroids that form part of our food, I would prefer to have periodic medical examination that would help me stay aware of my health. In addition to that, I would consult my physician regarding techniques (i.e. exercise, lifestyle changes etc) that would help me combat the side effects of these steroids. During this research, I identified that steroids are present in our daily food specially meat from different sources and dairy products which was my original assumption as well. Although my primary concern was answered through this study however I am still dubious about excessive and intentional addition of these steroids and level of regulation performed by FDA to examine them (“Steroids Hormones Implants”). It is apparent that national authorities do have knowledge about it and they also seem to have policies and procedures in place to regulate use of steroids however there is limited information available regarding their effective implementation. The research provoked me to examine my food intake and also make changes in my lifestyle that would allow me to minimize the side effects of these undesired steroids if they cannot be eliminated completely. Works Cited Linnaeus, Tomas. “The effects of steroids in human food”. Livestrong. n.p. 2010. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. “Steroid Hormone Implants Use for Growth in Food-producing animals.” U.S. Food and Drugs Authority. U.S. Department of Health and Services, n.d. Web. 18 Jun. 2013. Read More