In a study that could revive debate over the merit of Mark McGwire's single-season home run record, Harvard University researchers have found for the first time that androstenedione can raise blood testosterone levels in healthy young men.
Sponsored by Major League Baseball and its players' association, the study discovered that the legal, over-the-counter supplement used by McGwire during the 1998 season, when he hit 70 home runs, boosts testosterone levels by 34 percent on average.
|  | | Mark McGwire stopped taking andro last season. |
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, however, said that more needs to be known about andro before he would support adding the supplement to the list of banned substances.
"That androstenedione, when taken in higher than suggested doses, elevates testosterone levels appears to be a significant contribution to the science surrounding its use," Selig said in a statement. "While we are pleased to have played a part in the advancement of science, we are also concerned about the effects of androstenedione use. More research is needed."
Players' association chief Donald Fehr also called for more study on androstenedione, which is already banned by the NFL, NCAA and International Olympic Committee.
The study did not examine whether taking androstenedione increases strength or muscle mass, or whether there are any side effects. "They didn't answer the main question: Is it an anabolic agent?" said Karlis Ullis, a UCLA endocrinologist and published author on the subject of androstenedione. "Does it build muscle tissue?"
Nonetheless, the findings -- published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- are compelling because testosterone is an agent that often promotes muscle growth. Androstenedione, which is usually taken in pill form and has become popular among athletes since McGwire's disclosure, is a steroid hormone that is converted to either testosterone or estrogen in the body.
"A lot of people have been taking androstenedione under the assumption that it will raise their testosterone levels," said Joel Finkelstein, a Harvard doctor and senior author of the report. "This is the first study to show that sufficient doses do raise serum testosterone."
In a separate study, researchers at Iowa State last year gave 100 milligram tablets of androstenedione three times a day to men ages 19 to 29. They found no significant spike in testosterone levels, or muscle strength.
The Harvard researchers, instead, gave the 300 milligrams to subjects all in one dose each morning during the study. That larger dose proved to be significant, although the effects are felt for only a few hours. Testosterone levels returned to normal within the next day.
Manufacturers of andro recommend on their bottles that users take 100 to 300 milligrams a day, said Benjamin Leder, another author of the Harvard study. His seven-week study examined 42 healthy men aged 20 to 40.
Ullis predicts that the Harvard study will be used by the supplement companies as proof that andro-based products are powerful. But Leder hopes that won't happen, noting that his team also discovered that estrogen levels are raised 196 percent when taken in 300-milligram doses.
"For a man taking andro, these findings should be alarming because of the potential for growing larger breasts and other negative side effects," said Leder, whose group worked out of Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard.
When supplements of testosterone are taken in high doses, they are known to have an anabolic effect -- increasing muscle size and strength. Andro could have the same effect by increasing testosterone levels in the blood, the authors said.
Side effects of elevated testosterone levels include acne,
male pattern baldness and a decrease in the body's so-called
"good" cholesterol, which could lead to heart problems. In women,
they also can cause increased body hair, deepening of the voice and other male characteristics.
"If a patient of mine came to me and asked whether he should
take androstenedione ... I would caution against it simply because we don't know what the long-term effects are," Leder said.
Although baseball and its players' union declined to act on the report they commissioned, Leder praised them for even getting involved because of the potential of the Harvard study to taint McGwire's record, at least in the minds of some fans. The National Institutes of Health also helped pay for the study.
"I think baseball should be commended for funding a study that may spark research that could end up being embarrassing," Leder said. "I can see where some organizations would want to put their head in the sand."
Selig and Fehr both said they would support applications by Finkelstein and Leder for additional grant money.
Information from The Associated Press was also used in this story. | |
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