The truth about the 'miraculous' effects of muscle-building drugs

(Baonghean) - Recently, at fitness centers, some young people have been looking to buy and use drugs and functional foods advertised as "miracle drugs" that can burn fat and increase muscle quickly. According to medical experts, the abuse of these drugs and functional foods can lead to unpredictable consequences.

Following D.K - a young man who participates in bodybuilding, I went to the gym on Nguyen Van Cu Street (Vinh City). The gym area is about 100m2, with about 20 young people practicing. D.K "whispered", half of the people practicing here have been using drugs or functional foods to support muscle gain and fat loss. K. shared: If you only practice bodybuilding, you have to be diligent, patient, along with a scientific and strict diet and rest regimen to hope to achieve the desired body index. Meanwhile, most people practice with limited time and are easily discouraged by difficult exercises, so the fastest way to gain muscle is to take drugs or functional foods to support.

Many bodybuilders use muscle gain supplements.

Nowadays, it is quite easy to find and buy functional foods that promote fat burning and muscle gain. The most popular form of buying and selling is online. Just type the keyword "muscle gain support foods" on the Google search engine, in just 0.75 seconds, it will give more than 1,180,000 results, mainly website addresses, social networks advertising and selling all kinds of drugs, vitamins, functional foods... The advertised products help synthesize protein, provide essential nutrients to tissues, make muscles firm... at a not cheap price. In Vinh city, there are about 5 stores selling nutritional supplements, multivitamins and many online business addresses at home that are sought after by "bodybuilding" followers.

Talking with Mr. Nguyen Dang - a prestigious trainer in the Nghe An fitness community, and also the owner of a chain of fitness centers in Vinh City, he said:

"In essence, functional foods like Whey protein help supplement the necessary proteins that the body lacks due to a lot of activity and exercise, while the daily diet does not provide enough. Whey protein is derived from milk and can be found in various foods such as meat, fish, eggs, cheese, soybeans, etc.

Bodybuilders who want to have firm, beautiful muscles need to follow a very strict diet. Rarely can people eat according to the prescribed menu, so they turn to functional food supplements as the shortest way to achieve their goals.

However, in reality, sellers and buyers lack understanding of muscle-building supplements, leading to incorrect dosages, which can have many health consequences. Muscle-building supplements are mostly imported from abroad, and many are only produced for a specific market. Therefore, the daily food dosage instructions for Europeans are not suitable for the physique and resistance of Vietnamese people. If not carefully studied, it will lead to "overload".

Muscle building supplements are advertised on the internet.

On the other hand, muscle-building supplements are mostly advertised as “hand-carried goods”, buying and selling is mainly based on the trust and reputation of the seller, but the actual quality is difficult to control. Mr. Nguyen Dang shared: There are cases where people are too impatient to have a toned body and due to the mentality of “taking as much medicine as possible, taking medicine to compensate for exercise”, so they use more than the body can absorb.

Mr. Nguyen Dang affirmed: “There is no miracle that just eating or drinking protein supplements can help you gain muscle. A beautiful body can only be achieved by combining nutrition and exercise. You must exercise to regulate the amount of protein you take in, otherwise it will have the opposite effect.”

Along with dietary supplements, due to lack of knowledge and the desire to have a beautiful body in a short time, there have been a few cases of young people risking using steroids - these are drugs advertised to increase testosterone production, develop bones and muscles. However, most steroids are ranked at the top of the list of banned drugs (metabolism-increasing drugs, increasing muscle growth and strength) in sports training, and are absolutely banned in professional sports and high-performance sports, so buying and selling is not public.

Phuoc Anh