A Brief History of AAS

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Most of us, when we think about the history of Steroids, probably are taken back to the early 20th Century. That is the time that the Modern Era of Steroids began however, and their roots go much deeper than that. In an off shoot way, the Greek Olympians used Performance Enhancer for the Olympics. IN the Mid 1800, Arnold Adolph Berthold began the study of Endocrinology. In the 1930’s a way to pin-point and purify the hormone androstenone; by extracting it of urine, a way was found to make the hormone safe for human use. In 1939 a Noble Prize was awarded for the previous studies. In the 1940’s the Soviet Union began using AAS on athletes and they climbed to the top, that is until Dr. John Ziegler, the U.S. Olympic team physician found a way to develop methandrostenolone, and thus began the Age of Performance Enhancing Drugs.

Koroibos of Elis, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, claimed the title of first Olympic Champion in 776bc. The unlikely hero won a foot race about 200 yards long. 1 It is said that prior to his competition he would eat raw animal testicles for days on end. 2 Did the Greeks really know what they were doing? Without a doubt, they knew that it worked and enhanced their abilities. Kind of like the Newbie that uses D-Bol for the first time. He has no clue what it is or why it works, but without a doubt he knows that it works. Dr. Diamandis, Professor in Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Toronto says that there is only one food that truly is a Natural Testosterone Booster, Animal Testicles. 3

I n 1849, Arnold Adolph Berthold, the Father of Modern Endocrinology began removing the testicles from roosters to assess the results. The conclusion was that there indeed had been an adverse effect on the birds that had been castrated. 4 This was the beginning of the studies into Testosterone. These tests led to a better understanding of the importance of the testicles and the FACT that they are really what makes a man a man.

In 1931 Adolph Butenandt, expounded upon the work of Berthold, and found a way to pinpoint, extract and purify androstenone from urine. Most of us at this point would say no thank you. Keep in mind that HCG has been extracted from the urine of pregnant woman for almost three decades. 5 Shortly after Butenandt’s accomplishment another fellow German, Leopold Ruzicka, a chemist, developed a means to synthesize the hormone making it safe for human use. It was not long after this that the discovery began to escalate and in 1935 Ruzicka and Butenandt compounded the first batch of synthetic of testosterone 6 and in 1939 they even won a Noble Prize in Chemistry for their work with Testosterone.

Then the New Era of Performance Enhancement was Ushered In.

Research continued into the late 1930’s when the first injections of Testosterone Prop was administered to humans. BY the early 1940’s the use of AAS had become common place in the Soviet Union and their athletes were a force to be reckoned with. This domination would be short lived however, because of the presence of Dr. John Ziegler who helped close the gap. Dr. Ziegler was the U.S. Olympic team doctor and he found a way to develop methandrostenolone, also known as Dianabol or D-Bol. 7 Of course, around this same time came the naysayers. Many doctors around began implementing their own studies with results stating the steroids in fact did not cause any enhancements. All they were trying to do is curb the use of AAS in athletes because the trend was growing at such a rapid rate.

But nobody did it like Germany. In Germany more so than any other country, anabolic steroid research and development was at its peak. With the research that the Germans were conducting, they would become the most dominating force in sports around the world; to this day the German research of this era is perhaps the largest and most in-depth we have available.

Through the 1960’s and into the 1980’s the anabolic development was taking off; hand over fist you could see new anabolics hitting the shelves of your local Pharmacy. By this stage in the game, if you had a taste for anabolic steroids there was definitely something for you; there was something for everyone.

Today we see even newer products, I cannot say necessarily better but they have their place. From SARM’s for the guys that doesn’t want to pin. Peptides for the guys looking for some additional enhancement with out the price tag or the therapeutic results they can provide. As we move into the future, with the level of Biomedical research that is taking place, Gene Therapy may at some point become as common place as Steroids are today. At this point, the main reason that they are not and will not become available for most of us is the absorbent cost which can run as high as 1.5 million. 8

1. https://www.foodreference.com/html/wcoroebuselis.html
2. https://physicalculturestudy.com/2014/1 ... ent-times/
3. https://www.imaware.health/blog/evidenc ... 0testicles.
4. https://www.usrf.org/news/000908-origins.html
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6593423/
6. https://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0010/ea0010s2
7. https://www.bionity.com/en/encyclopedia ... olone.html
8. https://www.axios.com/2022/09/26/gene-t ... ices-cures