The difference between peptide hormones and steroids in bodybuilding
The drugs used in bodybuilding are mainly divided into two categories: steroids and peptide hormones. Their common function for bodybuilding is to enhance the body’s anabolic function and accelerate recovery after physical training. However, for sports other than bodybuilding, the use of drugs, although also divided into these two categories, has different effects.
To illustrate the difference between white peptide hormones and steroids, let’s first explain what peptide hormones are. Peptide hormones are all composed of amino acids, such as the common growth hormone HGH, which is composed of 191 amino acids. Insulin is also a common peptide hormone widely used in diabetic patients. Insulin is composed of 51 amino acids according to a specific structure. It’s simple, different quantities of amino acids are combined together in different ways, and their functions are different, and the essence of the composed hormone is a protein peptide molecule. The reason why peptide hormones cannot be taken orally is that oral administration of this protein peptide molecule will treat it as a protein nutrient for digestion and absorption, without reflecting its function. The most common way of using peptide hormones is through subcutaneous injection. Subcutaneous injection may sound scary, but in simple terms, it involves injecting peptide hormones into the fat layer of the body, rather than into the muscles, allowing them to slowly spread into the body.
The most common peptide hormone in the field of sports and bodybuilding is growth hormone (HGH). Growth hormone is a hormone secreted by the hypothalamus of the human body that enables the body to grow. During adolescence and puberty, humans secrete a large amount of growth hormone for physical growth. However, after adulthood, the secretion of growth hormone decreases. Between the ages of 36 and 38, the pineal gland in the human hypothalamus degenerates and growth hormone secretion ceases. The function of using growth hormone in bodybuilding is not actually for muscle growth. More bodybuilders and drug users use growth hormone for the purpose of reducing fat. Yes, that’s right. Growth hormone has a good lipolytic effect. When it enters the human body and plays a role, it can oxidize and metabolize more fat in the body while protecting glycogen in the muscles. In simple terms, it converts energy from glycogen reserves to fat from the body, allowing more calories to come from fat. Another major use of growth hormone outside of bodybuilding is anti-aging. It has a very significant anti-aging function and can make the skin shiny and make people look young both physically and mentally. The anabolic function of growth hormone (commonly known as the function of growing muscles) is not very strong, and it is only reflected in large doses.
However, as we mentioned earlier, growth hormone has good effects, but we should not forget that hormones can have adverse effects on the human body, and growth hormone is no exception. For many young bodybuilders, the use of growth hormone can inhibit the secretion of their own growth hormone, while the large dose of growth hormone can promote the overall growth of the body, including the growth of soft tissues. Therefore, there is a legendary side effect of growth hormone – acromegaly. In addition, some people are sensitive to growth hormone, and when used in large doses, it can also cause the growth of internal organs, especially the intestines. The external manifestation is that the belly bulges outward and even pushes open the abdominal muscles. This reminds us of the retired great bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman. His body shape is very beautiful among the large-sized bodybuilders, and he has also contributed to bodybuilding. However, we have to admit that his waist and abdomen did bulge a lot after he became a professional bodybuilder. If you look at Ronnie’s early photos, you will find that he did not have such a problem.
Steroid hormones are actually a type of sex hormones, which are similar or identical to testosterone molecules in general. Steroids can act on the nuclei of muscle cells to allow them to fix more protein and increase in size, resulting in relatively rapid circumference growth (usually a 12-week steroid cycle can achieve growth equivalent to natural bodybuilding for 2 to 3 years). As mentioned earlier, peptide hormones also have some muscle-building effects, but their mechanisms are different. Peptide hormones promote cell replication and division, which means that a previous muscle cell can be stimulated by peptide hormones to divide into two muscle cells, resulting in an increase in quantity. Therefore, although peptide hormones may not achieve as significant a growth effect as steroids, they tend to maintain the muscle growth gained.
So we usually say that people with liver damage (high transaminase levels) should be very cautious about using steroids. What kind of people are not suitable for using peptide hormones? It’s very simple. People with a history of genetic tumors cannot use them. In other words, peptide hormones can accelerate the division and replication of good cells, such as muscle cells and liver cells (yes, peptide hormones such as growth hormone are beneficial to many internal organs for this reason), but peptide hormones can also accelerate the differentiation of bad cells in the body, such as cancerous cells. In fact, although current science cannot cure cancer, one thing is very clear. When a person is detected with early benign cancer, in fact, this cancer has been slowly occurring in the body for 6 to 8 years. Early cancer is too rare to be detected by medical equipment, but the degree of detection is actually relatively large cancer.
We can scientifically understand drugs and understand drugs from various perspectives, and even use drugs very appropriately. Science has not fully explained our bodies yet, so drugs have different risks for different people and are not without costs. To summarize: drugs are not safe, and they should be used under the guidance of professionals!
