The desire to increase muscle mass quickly pushes many bodybuilders to radical measures. They begin to actively take food supplements: protein cocktails, protein-carbohydrate mixtures, protein isolates, artificial amino acids, etc. These drugs do not cause significant harm to the body.
The situation is quite different with anabolics, hormonal drugs, artificial proteins and vitamin substitutes. Because of their use, changes occur not only in the muscle mass, the whole body changes, metabolism is disrupted, mental deviations occur. Let's look at a list of unwanted sports nutrition products in more detail.
List of harmful sports additives
1. Steroids and prohormones
These additives are a group of substances that, after entering the body, are converted into hormones, most often in males( testosterone, cortisol, progesterone).They promote the development of masculine properties of the body( male secondary sexual characteristics): rapid muscle growth, rapid fat burning, increased efficiency.
But not everything is as rosy as it seems in the beginning. Excess of male hormones causes, among other things, damage to the central nervous system( memory impairment and general concentration).People become more aggressive and unrestrained in manifestations of anger.
Hormonal nutritional supplements also cause significant harm to the hormonal system of the human body. In the case of men, changes can occur, for example, in the area of the mammary glands, forming a feminine pectoral muscle. Artificial hormones on women, in contrast, act "like a man", for example, bristles on the face begin to break or the work of the organs of internal secretion changes.
At a young age, our body is quite enough hormones produced by its own body. So it's better to wait with steroids in this case. If you are engaged in adjusting the body already in adulthood( after hormonal pauses), then without such drugs you will not build up muscle mass.
2. Metals
Some metal elements in the periodic table have unique properties that induce the human body to rapidly build muscle mass. For example, chromium and vanadium were part of the food additives for heavyweights. They caused accelerated muscle growth, rapid fat burning, as well as high sensitivity to insulin.
Only after carefully conducted studies it was possible to establish that the influence of these metals exerts exclusively on the production of insulin. Overdose is fraught with the severity of the consequences. It was found that with a properly balanced diet, the human body receives vanadium in sufficient quantities, so that even professional athletes have enough of it.
3. Supplements blocking fats and binding carbohydrates
The task of such sports nutritional supplements is related to the ability to block the process of splitting fats and carbohydrates after ingestion of substances into the intestines, which causes their reduced digestibility.
In fact, this process is like a normal starvation, when the body gets rid of fats, substances that cause the formation of fat deposits, and carbohydrates, as elements for the construction of fats. Note that fasting has never made the body stronger, and the body is stronger and healthier. Particularly harmful is the effect of such drugs with intensive strength training, they can cause cardinal changes in metabolism.
4. Amino acids
In fact, glutamine, or as sometimes called this acid athletes - "glutamine", a very useful amino acid, necessary to maintain the balance of the energy processes occurring in the body. In the body, the substance is split in the intestines and stomach, so that the acid does not enter the bloodstream. Our body itself can produce this substance in the right amount. Therefore, the acquisition of glutamine-containing sports nutrition supplements is a very unprofitable investment.
Note that taking any other artificial amino acids is as meaningless waste as eating glutamine. Such sports nutrition does not harm the body, except that it hits your pocket. The content of these substances is high enough in conventional food products. And if it really pulls to fill the store of acids in the body, they can be obtained by using protein supplements of other types.
Note that manufacturers often mislead athletes. For example, homeopathic preparations( colostrum), protein bars and cocktails, myostatin and other preparations hardly contain half of the necessary protein compounds. To name such food additives really harmful we can not, but also high efficiency from their application while it was fixed was not.
The most important thing is that you are attentive to the choice of food supplements, if it is not enough for you to use normal strength exercises to maintain health and build a beautiful body. Remember that knowing about the main pests of health will help you make the right decision.