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The way people chase the dream
of their perfect body is changing. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
The pressure men are now facing
is similar to what women have had | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
to deal with the decades. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
Diets, workouts, days spent
in the gym, and for many, | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
young men especially,
anabolic steroids are | 0:00:20 | 0:00:21 | |
being increasingly used
to help achieve that dream. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
In this film, I'm going to find out
from one user why he takes them, | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
and put him through a series
of tests to see what damage, if any, | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
they've done to his body. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
I'll hear from the experts,
look at the law surrounding | 0:00:35 | 0:00:37 | |
steroid use in the UK,
and speak to a dealer | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
about why he does it. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:50 | |
Gareth Jenkins, who is 29 and lives
just outside of Cardiff, | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
is one of the estimated hundreds
of thousands of people | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
who regularly take anabolic
steroids to build muscle. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:02 | |
Been using steroids
for about four, five years. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:04 | |
When you train naturally,
which I have done for a number | 0:01:04 | 0:01:07 | |
of years before using steroids,
you tire quicker, you ache more, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
and obviously when you use
the performance enhancing drug, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
which is the steroid,
you don't have the muscle soreness | 0:01:12 | 0:01:14 | |
anywhere near as much. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:16 | |
I feel more awake, I feel better
in myself, I feel more manly, | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
I've got a higher sex drive. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:21 | |
There are some serious potential
risks you're running, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:29 | |
from a medical perspective,
about using steroids, | 0:01:29 | 0:01:30 | |
things like increased
risk of heart attacks, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
increased risk of strokes,
mood swings, infertility. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:42 | |
Do those things not worry you? | 0:01:42 | 0:01:46 | |
The way that I look at it is, yes,
they do bother me, obviously, | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
but like everything... | 0:01:49 | 0:01:50 | |
So you're aware of the risks? | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
I'm fully aware, yeah,
I've done my research to see | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
what harm they would have on me,
or potential harm they would have | 0:01:54 | 0:02:01 | |
But the fact of the matter is,
in terms of the risks, | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
everything that we do in life now
carries a risk of heart attack, | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
cancer, whatever it is,
so whatever it is, I'm going to get | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
those risks anyway, so I choose not
to do certain things, and I choose | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
this as my lifestyle instead. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:15 | |
So as I don't go out drinking
and smoking, I take steroids. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
Steroids can cause health problems
because they create an imbalance | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
of hormones in the body which can
damage many organs, | 0:02:20 | 0:02:22 | |
but especially the heart. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:23 | |
Gareth says he tries
to minimise any risks | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
by taking his steroids in cycles,
like 16 weeks on and | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
then eight weeks off. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:29 | |
There's two types of steroids,
one that comes in liquid form, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
which is an intramuscular injection,
that's this type. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:33 | |
So you inject it into yourself? | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
I would inject this directly
into a muscle two times a week. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
Then the other type
is a tablet form. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
When I'm using this type of steroid,
I would use five a day for seven | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
days, so basically five
a day every day. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
So over the course of a period
of around six months, | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
when you're on steroids for that
long, roughly how much do | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
you think you spend on them? | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
A rough guesstimate,
probably with the cycle itself | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
and the post-course treatment,
round about £500. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:55 | |
That's a lot of money. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
It is, it's probably a lot less
in six months than somebody | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
who spends on drinking
on the weekend. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:01 | |
Worth it, do you think? | 0:03:01 | 0:03:02 | |
For me, personally, yeah. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:03 | |
When it comes to the law
on anabolic steroids, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
it is legal to use them and legal
to possess them right across the UK. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
What is illegal, though,
is supplying them, | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
unless you're a doctor,
and that means selling them or just | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
passing them on for free. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:16 | |
If caught, you could face up
to 14 years in prison. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
Because Gareth's only
using steroids, not supplying them, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
he's not in any trouble
with the law. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:27 | |
It could be a different story
with his health, though, | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
so later this week he's agreed to go
to London for a series of tests that | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
will find out what damage, if any,
he's done to his heart. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:39 | |
We need to be quite quiet,
because I need to keep... | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
Yeah, yeah, yeah. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:43 | |
..keep your throat still. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:44 | |
I basically started working out
because I was bullied | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
when I was younger for being small
and basically just the feral | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
child at the school. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
So I just ended up locking
myself away in a gym, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
training and getting bigger
and getting stronger, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
and getting inked. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:56 | |
It all sort of fell into one big
procedure that I seem to be doing, | 0:03:56 | 0:04:00 | |
and a lifestyle that
I lead, pretty much. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:08 | |
In the middle here is not nice. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
The rest isn't too bad. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:15 | |
So, going down to London to have
all those tests done, | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
which I'm excited about,
to be honest with you, | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
yet slightly nervous
because obviously it could come back | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
and say there's something
significantly wrong and if I don't | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
change my lifestyle then... | 0:04:24 | 0:04:25 | |
Obviously I could
have health issues. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:30 | |
My prediction is that I think I'd be
pretty stupid or naive to think | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
that my heart wouldn't have changed. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:41 | |
You know, four, five years of use
of any performance-enhancing drug | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
that's anabolic is going to have
that effect, so I think if it hasn't | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
then what I've been taking is fake
and I've done it naturally. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:57 | |
So...! | 0:05:00 | 0:05:01 | |
And obviously if it is significant,
then there would be absolutely no | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
doubt in my mind that
I would change my | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
lifestyle overnight. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:07 | |
Whether people use or abuse anabolic
steroids is a matter of opinion. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:11 | |
For some in the medical world,
if steroids aren't prescribed | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
by a doctor, then it is simple -
taking them is abuse. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:17 | |
Many people who research dosages
and try to minimise the risks, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
though, would say they don't abuse
them, but instead use them. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
One thing that is widely agreed on,
though, is that the issue is now | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
affecting more people
than ever before. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:33 | |
We don't know the exact number
of anabolic steroid users | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
there are, but it certainly measures
in the hundreds of thousands. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
We're seeing now a different
population of users. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
While we still have people
who are using for the purpose | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
of body-building, we are seeing
a new population of predominantly | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
young males but also quite older
males as well who are using purely | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
for cosmetic purposes. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:56 | |
There's a number of pressures
on young men and most of these | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
pressures weren't around
a generation ago. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:06 | |
These are things like social media,
mainstream advertising. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:08 | |
If ever you see a male
with their shirt off, the chances | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
are they will have quite
a well-defined physique. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
Again, males may not be geared up
to dealing with this. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:16 | |
This is something that
women have had to deal | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
with for generations,
but this is quite | 0:06:19 | 0:06:20 | |
a new thing for men. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:25 | |
For Gareth, he's about to undergo
a series of tests that | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
will check what damage, if any,
he's done to his heart. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
The person in charge is cardiology
doctor Anil Malhotra. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:40 | |
We're going to do three tests today,
the first is to look | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
at the electrical activity
of the heart. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
The second is to look
at the heart muscle itself, | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
and the third to actually
exercise your heart and we'll | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
see how you perform. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:53 | |
Right, okey-dokey. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:54 | |
Is that all right? | 0:06:54 | 0:06:55 | |
Not a problem. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:56 | |
NHS guidelines say that
by taking anabolic steroids, | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
Gareth's risking side effects
like infidelity, mood swings, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
and even heart attacks and strokes. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:07 | |
This is the sound of
the blood flowing across | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
the valves of your heart. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:10 | |
We're just assessing how quickly
the blood flows through that valve, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
and we're able to see
whether there's any | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
narrowing of the valve
or any leakages as well. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
I suspect that they will show
some form of thickness | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
or abnormality to the heart. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
It's bound to have changed
in some way after four | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
or five years of taking
a performance-enhancing drug. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:33 | |
The British Cardiovascular ociety
says tens of thousands of people | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
could be putting themselves
at increased risk of the most | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
serious side-effects
by taking anabolic steroids. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:43 | |
I'm cycling towards a cheesecake. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
And I'll get there, I'll get there! | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
Billionaire's cheesecake
on the horizon! | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
Let's get there. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:55 | |
After pushing himself to the limit,
Gareth will be able to find out | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
how his heart performs
and what affect his | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
steroid use has had. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
With hundreds of thousands of people
now thought to be taking steroids | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
every year right across the UK,
clearly they are getting | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
them from somewhere. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:18 | |
But Government figures show that,
for the whole of 2015 and 2016 | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
right across England and Wales,
there were just 25 convictions | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
related to the legal supply
of steroids, and just seven of those | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
ended with a prison sentence. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
So, for this man, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
the law hasn't come close
to stopping him from dealing. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
We know you supply steroids,
we know you are a steroid dealer, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
obviously it is illegal,
you are breaking the law. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:42 | |
A lot of people would say
you are putting people's | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
lives, their health,
certainly, at risk. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
What do you say for that? | 0:08:46 | 0:08:47 | |
To start off with the health risks,
I think steroids are readily | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
available to anyone who wants
to access them at the moment. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
I like to see myself more as someone
who provides information, | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
to ensure people can do it safely. | 0:08:55 | 0:09:05 | |
People are going to use them
regardless of whether they buy them | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
from me or from an unknown source
online, but if they can | 0:09:13 | 0:09:16 | |
talk to me about it,
how to inject themselves safely | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
or look at doses, or if I can help
them, even if not to take steroids | 0:09:19 | 0:09:22 | |
if I don't think it's appropriate
for them, then I will. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
That's the reason
I'm involved in it. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
Who are the types of people getting
them from you, who's coming | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
to you for the steroids? | 0:09:30 | 0:09:31 | |
There's a very broad spectrum
of people who use steroids. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
Ranging from young guys
at 18 years old, 19, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
20, just starting out,
training, looking to bulk up | 0:09:35 | 0:09:38 | |
for maybe a summer holiday
or just to look good for... | 0:09:38 | 0:09:47 | |
For a summer holiday? | 0:09:47 | 0:09:48 | |
For a summer holiday, or they just
want to attract the girls, | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
they want to go out on a night out
and attract the girls. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
These are the guys that are less
aware, so these are the guys that | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
you have to be more informative
when you talk to them about it, | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
make them more aware
of the risks and the dangers. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
What about the health
of the people who you are | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
supplying these drugs to? | 0:10:05 | 0:10:06 | |
They can say things
like infertility, they can face mood | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
swings, they can face getting
strokes decades earlier | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
than the average, heart attacks. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:12 | |
It's illegal for a reason. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:13 | |
Yeah. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:14 | |
But I don't agree with it
being illegal, because I'll tell | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
you that doctors prescribe
testosterone to people, | 0:10:17 | 0:10:18 | |
so if there's a reason... | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
You're not a doctor. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:21 | |
No, no, I'm saying that doctors
prescribe it, so steroids, | 0:10:21 | 0:10:23 | |
or testosterone in this example,
if it was killing people | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
left, right and centre,
they wouldn't prescribe it. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
And I think the media
sensationalises it. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:29 | |
And I'm going to tell you now,
there's people that abuse steroids, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
and they do damage their health,
but that's their choice. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:38 | |
One man who is all too aware
of the risks of taking steroids he's | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
got on the black market is Gareth. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
And, after using them
for nearly five years, | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
he's about to find out the effect
they've had on his heart. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:48 | |
Do take a seat. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:49 | |
We can go over your results. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
I've got your ECG tracing,
your Echo report and other reports | 0:10:51 | 0:10:53 | |
from the exercise test as well. | 0:10:54 | 0:11:02 | |
What it shows is that your heart
is working well, and that's, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
and you've come through your
exercise test well as well. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
Yeah. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:10 | |
But we do think that
you are at the upper limit of normal | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
in terms of the wall thickness
of your heart, so that is most | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
likely due to your weightlifting
and your steroid use. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:26 | |
You are still young and you've not
been using steroids for that long, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
but if one does continue to do
so then you are putting yourself | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
at increased risk of heart attacks
and potentially strokes as well. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
Yeah. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:47 | |
Steroid usage does have a variety
of bad effects on the heart. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
I class myself as quite a sensible
person, taking my own health | 0:11:50 | 0:11:52 | |
into account that it would just be
sensible, being the keyword, to not | 0:11:52 | 0:11:56 | |
push that boundary to the point
where something isn't reversible. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
So not keep using steroids? | 0:11:58 | 0:11:59 | |
Not keep using steroids, yeah. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:00 | |
All for the better. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:01 | |
Cheaper, too. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:02 | |
HE LAUGHS. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
It looks like Gareth's steroid
days might be numbered, | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
but he's just one of hundreds
of thousands of users. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
Dealers are unlikely to get caught,
the number of convictions for supply | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
is low, and doctors want change,
worried about potential long-term | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
health problems for users. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:14 | |
So, is change on the way? | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
Well, we do know that the group that
advises the Government on drugs | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
misuse is in the middle of a big
review into steroids. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:29 | |
We don't know yet
what it's going to say. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:42 |