Kids are taking steroids. Swallowing them. Injecting them. Children as young as ten are using illegal bodybuilding drugs to improve their athletic performance, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

The study surveyed 965 Massachusetts students from four middle schools and found that 2.7 percent were taking steroids. The use of anabolic steroids, known to be a problem with college and high-school students, has now been documented as early as fifth grade.

Learning from the pros
Professional athletes in search of size, strength, and a competitive edge have used steroids for decades. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his Olympic gold medal after testing positive for steroids. Professional football star Lyle Alzado suffered an agonizing death as a result of years of steroid abuse.

Why do athletes risk chronic debilitating diseases and death by taking steroids? Because these drugs work. In very short order, they pack on pounds of muscle and increase strength dramatically. Weight training while using steroids maximizes your gains.

The need for the "juice"
In the mid-1980s, a top coach counselled high-school athletes who confessed they were using steroids. He recalls a heavily recruited high-school football player telling him why he needed steroids, "I can't get as big and strong as I need to be to play Division I college football without taking the 'juice'(steroids). The coaches just look the other way -- sometimes they even let the players know where they can score the drugs."

The counsellor also began to see teenage boys taking steroids just to look more physically attractive. They'd start taking the drugs a few months before summer so they could impress the girls on the beach. Most continued taking the drugs after the summer passed because they wanted to keep their new, muscular bodies.

Doctors in denial
Most doctors in this country have been lying to kids about steroids for a long time. The medical "party line" has been that they don't work as promised. University of Connecticut researcher Dr. Andrew Arnold says, "I hate it when we get together at conferences and doctors get up and say we should tell kids steroids don't work. They do work and that's why athletes take them. The medical profession has to stop lying to kids about steroids. How can we share healthy alternatives to steroids with kids if they don't trust us?"

Parents as pushers
One of this study's most disturbing findings is the researchers' strong suspicion that some parents and coaches are purchasing expensive black-market steroids for their young athletes. The study's director, University of Massachusetts researcher Avery Faigenbaum, says, "I don't know a lot of ten-year-olds who have a couple of hundred dollars." Buying dangerous illegal drugs for your kids so they can be better athletes? It's chilling. It's child abuse.

Surprise! Girls are using, too
The study says middle-school girls used steroids almost as much as boys. This was a surprising finding. All previous surveys had shown boys far outnumbering girls in steroid use. Faigenbaum suggests the increased use of steroids among girls may be a result of a greater emphasis on girls' competitive sports.

Doing it naturally
Becoming a better athlete has always meant hard work and dedication. Now child athletes know that bodybuilding drugs offer them a short cut to better performance. If your kids want to become stronger and more muscular, seek the advice of professional exercise physiologists and sports nutritionists. Help them get stronger...naturally.