Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs)
Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) are a class of therapeutic compounds that have similar anabolic properties to anabolic steroids, but with reduced androgenic (producing male characteristics) properties…. In medical settings, this could be very useful for stimulating specific tissue growth like muscle and bone, while avoiding unwanted side effects in other tissues like the liver or skin. SARMs are being evaluated as a clinical treatment for muscle-wasting caused by several diseases, such as osteoporosis, cancer, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, end-stage liver disease, end-stage renal disease, and HIV.
Source: USADA – USA Anti-Doping Association
Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs)
Firstly, it’s important to define what PED’s are to distinguish what we mean by this over arching term, and how PED’s as a collective differentiate from the most commonly known banned substance, steroids. PED’s are a collection of drugs, including steroids, designed to “alter the human body and biological functions, including the ability to considerably improve athletic performance in certain instances” USADA, 2023. PED’s therefore include Stimulants, Blood doping, Testosterone, and SARMs. Testosterone and SARMs are classed as Anabolic agents.
Anabolic: Meaning to build up. You might also hear of anabolic synthesis, which is essentially the process of the anabolic reaction, as well as endergonic, which is requiring energy. So, in short, for an anabolic synthesis to occur, we need energy (e.g. ATP) for the process to work.
The term anabolic is key here as normally with drugs in sport, its swiftly followed by steroids. But SARMs aren’t considered steroids despite being considered anabolic, hence needing the definition above.
Androgen Receptor Modulators
Moving on, we have established that Testosterone and SARMs are anabolic agents, but why are SARMs becoming more popular among athletes? To do this, we need to dissect the name. Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators. What is an Androgen and what is an Androgen receptor? And why would you want it modulated? Androgens are one of the steroid hormones that the body naturally produces. Very briefly, there are 5 main classes of steroid hormones:
- Progestogen – eg Progesterone
- Etrogens – eg Estradiol
- Glucocorticoids – eg Cortisol
- Mineraclcorticoids – eg Aldosterone
- Androgens – eg Testosterone
To bind an androgen hormone (one of the steroid hormones above, for example testosterone) to the nucleus of a cell, an androgen receptor is required. And to create the anabolic reaction that promotes muscle protein synthesis (creation of more muscle, remember anabolic meaning to make more of), binding the testosterone androgen to a cell nucleus is what is required to create the anabolic reaction.
Therefore, androgen receptors are pivotal in helping athletes deliver testosterone to the nucleus of a cell to promote protein building which can build muscle.
Testosterone (an Androgen steroid hormone)
Next we need to establish how SARMs differ from anabolic steroids? The function of naturally occurring testosterone in the body is that it regulates libido, bone mass, fat distribution, production of red blood cells and sperm, and of course, muscles mass. While the body naturally produces enough testosterone, athletes quickly latched onto this drug to use as an illegal supplement to flood the body with testosterone. Therefore, anabolic steroids is the synthetic version of testosterone.
One of the main problems, if not the main problem, with anabolic steroids is that while they interact with the androgen receptors, they also have many side effects, for example affecting the prostate glands, cardiovascular and liver problems, baldness, acne, and many others. These are commonly known as androgenic side-effects as the more testosterone (DHT Testosterone) that attaches to androgen receptors, the more anabolic reactions we have at the cell level.
To put it simply, if your body produces X amount of testosterone to build a normal healthy human body, and this is then supplemented by multiplying that number by 2, the body amplifies all of the effect of testosterone, not just the muscle building effect.
Scientists understood this problem and set out on finding a way to isolate the different effects of testosterone by developing substances that would be selective on which androgen receptor it interacted with. This meant that they could create the individual anabolic effects of testosterone without causing the androgenic side-effects that they saw in the likes of anabolic steroids. And how SARMs was born.
There’s a moral line in detailing the use of PEDs and what they do. While one of the fundamental principles of TO The Bar is to be informative and factual, we’re also conscious that we don’t want to be a resource manual of what SARM’s people should take. Therefore, we have chosen not to list out the types of SARMs and what they are currently being researched for. But from the explanation above detailing the difference between Anabolic Steroids and SARMs, it’s pretty clear that under the many drugs being researched into, athletes will focus in on the muscle growth/fat burning variants. The researched being carried out into these drugs are for cancer patients to stop muscle wastage for example or weight loss. If you believe the advertising on the internet, SARMs may not appear to carry the same health warnings that Anabolic Steroids do but this is far from true. Under clinical trials, dosage is strictly monitored and tests carried out to ensure the safety of the patient. Reports of side effects due to abuse of the drug, eg over dosing for muscle gain are:
- Liver damage causing jaundice
- Hair loss
- Gynecomastia
- Testosterone production suppressant
- Acne
- Menstrual cycle disruption
- Mood swings
Sound familiar? They should do as these are all similar when comparing them to side effects of anabolic steroids and really does beg the question, is your health really worth rolling the dice for a moment of success?
