Consumption of muscle building supplements among young male adolescents

doi:10.15406/jnhfe.2017.06.00222

Journal of

eISSN: 2373-4310

Nutritional Health & Food Engineering

Mini Review Volume 6 Issue 6

Consumption of muscle building supplements among young male adolescents

Ayesha Iftikhar

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College of Home Economics, Pakistan

Correspondence: Ayesha Iftikhar, College of Home Economics, Lahore, Pakistan

Received: July 24, 2016 | Published: July 11, 2017

Citation: Iftikhar A. Consumption of muscle building supplements among young male adolescents. J Nutr Health Food Eng. 2017;6(6):183-184. DOI: 10.15406/jnhfe.2017.06.00222

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Abstract

Artificial means of muscle building is a trend among young males. As the new generation is full of excitement, energy and vibrancy every male especially the young boys, wants to attain the muscular body and attractive looks. The trend of consuming muscle building supplements is more common in adolescent boys as they are growing and are in such a phase of life that they want to impress and attract everyone towards them. Adolescents are now aware of the most effective and commonly used bodybuilding supplements which are anabolic steroids, whey proteins, creatine and many others. There gym instructors or trainers advice those to take gym body building supplements and other supplements to enhance performance and to gain mass quickly. The article draws attention to the emerging trends of consuming the muscle building supplements among young male adolescents, the hazards and benefits of using it and also how much importance they give to their appearance. This research has been fueled both by concern about the effects of poor body image in children and adolescents themselves and by the assumption that body dissatisfaction during childhood and adolescence creates risk for the development of body image and eating disturbances as well as depression in adulthood.

Keywords: muscle building, supplements, muscle dysmorphia, body dysmorphic disorder, body dissatisfaction, adolescents

Introduction

Body building supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in body building and athletics. Body building supplements may be used to replace meals, enhance weight gain, promote weight loss or improve athletic performance.^1‒3 Muscle building is a latest growing trend among young male adolescents. Muscle building is no longer something that only athletes or film stars undertake.⁴

A lot of factors force the young adolescents for muscle building. Among them are also the sociocultural influences. Media, peer, and parent influences were independently related to the practice of muscle-building among young males.⁵ Maximizing muscle gains requires a proper diet, intense resistance exercise and adequate rest. Supplements can play an essential role in promoting muscle growth, since they often increase muscle protein synthesis, or the build-up of muscle proteins inside muscle cell. “People should understand that supplements aren't the magic bullet,” says Jeff Volek.^6‒10 For the time being this body will look beautiful but with the passage of time it will have long lasting side effects on the different organs of the body and on the physical appearance also as different studies have shown.

Muscle building supplements are used by many people especially the young males as having the perfect athletic body has become an arms race to see which individuals can be the leanest, fastest and strongest. Many supplements available claim to help you gain muscle in a very short amount of time. However care should be taken while consuming these supplements. Having knowledge about these products before buying helps a lot and protect from negative consequences. "Supplements are tricky, regulations on them are loose and they don't have to live up to the claims they make," said Jeremiah (a fitness expert).

They may have adverse side effects, may contain ingredients that are not well researched, or may work entirely on placebo effect; some are almost entirely rice powder," said Elling burge. Increased education for young athletes regarding supplement use, parents and coaches should to be targeted to help the athletes make the appropriate choices. The current study will help them to choose the right supplement for muscle building and aware them about the long lasting effects of them.

Trend of consuming muscle building supplement

Males start wanting “big muscles” from their teen years. Sociocultural influences on the use of muscle-building techniques, particularly food supplement.⁴

Media which influences the youngster’s decision to use nutritional supplements includes books, magazines, television, and internet.¹¹ The increase in demand for nutritional supplements were due to various reasons, including enhancing performance, improving health, preventing nutritional deficiencies and illness, increasing muscle mass, decreasing body fat, boosting immunity, increasing alertness and mental activity, improving recovery, and reducing stress.

The trend of consuming muscle building supplements is more common in adolescent boys as they are growing and are in such a phase of life that they want to impress and attract everyone towards them. So, they want such type of body which will change their lean body to a healthy physique like models, TV stars and film actors.^12‒14 They are more inspired by all the latest trends going around. Adolescents are now aware of the most effective and commonly used bodybuilding supplements which are anabolic steroids, whey proteins, creatine and many others. The adolescents going to gyms are more likely to take these supplements to build body along with exercise. There gym instructors or trainers advice those to take gym body building supplements and other supplements to enhance performance and to gain mass quickly. The nutritional needs for the body which are not meet by the diet to build the body are fulfilled by

Conclusion

Every male, especially the young boys wants to attain the muscular body and attractive looks. For this they use muscle-building supplements. Most of the people, particularly young adolescents use muscle building supplements as they think those supplements will improve their athletic skills and enhance their physical appearance. Many people experienced positive effects of supplements like, building bigger impressive muscles much quicker and have better appearance, but the negative effects of these kinds of supplement outweighed the positive results. Available information suggests that majority of the people experienced severe physical side effects like stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, muscle cramps, and mood swings after ingestion of muscle building supplements. Some people experienced high blood pressure and increased heart rate as many supplements contain caffeine in it.