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27.09.2009

Main side-effect of oxymetholone is reduction in HDL

Bodybuilders who use the anabolic steroid oxymetholone have enzymes in their blood that indicate that their liver is not functioning optimally, as well as significantly lower amounts of 'good' HDL cholesterol. Researchers at the Iranian Azad University have published their findings in the scientific journal Procedia.

Oxymetholone, along with methadienone, is an oral anabolic steroid that's known in the chemical sports world as a substance that helps you build up relative large amounts of muscle mass. But it also has a lot of side-effects. In fact most oral steroids are risky because the chemical adjustments needed to make an anabolic steroid suitable for oral use also mean the steroid is poisonous for the liver. Oxymetholone, however, has an added unusual property, which is that it not only fits on the androgen receptor but also on the oestrogen receptor. What's more: enzymes are so good at clearing oxymetholone out of the bloodstream that an athlete needs large doses of oxymetholone to grow. Two hundred milligrams a day is not unusual.

The researchers had ten male bodybuilders get hold of oxymetholone on the local black market and then got them to take the stuff for six weeks. The researchers reveal nothing about the dose used. Before and after the course, the researchers measured the concentration of various fatty substances in the bodybuilders' blood. These were substances which cardiologists know are related to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The results are shown below.

In a control group of ten natural bodybuilders there was almost no change in any of the measurements. Among the chemical athletes there was a rise in the concentration of triglycerides [bad], LDL-cholesterol [also bad] and the amount of healthy HDL cholesterol decreased dramatically [really bad news].

An out-of-whack cholesterol balance in steroids users is usually the result of an overworked liver. The liver has to neutralise the synthetic hormones; and to do this it makes extra enzymes which happen to be ones that also disturb the cholesterol balance. That's why the researchers also determined the effect of the oxymetholone-only-course on a number of liver enzymes, in a different article, also published in Procedia. [Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 2009 1(1):2814-6.] The results are shown below.

The researchers also examined the red blood cells [RBC], the white blood cells [WBC] and the amount of haemoglobin in the bodybuilders' blood. Here there was no difference. But it was a different story when it came to the enzymes SGOT and SGPT, liver damage markers. These had risen.

Iranian scientists are researching oxymetholone thoroughly these days. A few weeks ago we wrote about Iranian animal studies on the protective effect of oxymetholone against radioactivity.

Source:
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 2009 1(1):2843-6.