Doping: Anabolic steroids are toxic to the kidneys

While the American tennis champion Andre Agassi admitted he had tested positive for hard drugs in 1997 and have been very addicted to methamphetamine (a synthetic drug that causes euphoria), a U.S. study indicates that anabolic steroids used by athletes to increase muscle mass are toxic to the kidneys.

Presented Wednesday at the Renal Week meeting of the American Society of Nephrology held this week in San Diego, this work even suggests that anabolic steroids could be more dangerous than obesity.

These products are known to have various deleterious effects, but so far, their possible effects on the kidneys have not been studied, indicate Dr. Leal Herlitz and his coleagues from the Columbia University Medical Center, New York.

The researches describe cases of kidney disease (glomerulonephritis) observed among 10 bodybuilders who abuse anabolic steroids.

These patients had elevated protein in urine and kidney failure. Five of them had signs of nephrotic syndrome (fall of protein levels in the blood and appearance of a diffuse swelling under the skin). The renal biopsy confirmed the existence of these problems in nine of these patients.

After two years, one had rapidly progressed to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) while seven others, who had been treated with medication, had reduced their weight and improved kidney function. One has however taken anabolic steroids, which led to the development of renal failure.

Compared to people with similar problems associated with obesity, renal disease in these patients was more severe, with more significant renal lesions, the researchers note. They assume that the gain extreme muscle mass demand for kidneys to increase their filtration rate and anabolic steroids have direct nephrotoxic effects.

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