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Lawrence Schwartz is the assistant manager at a store that sells nutritional supplements. His nametag declares that he is a health enthusiast. He's standing in front of shelves crowded with bottles with names such as Anabolic Window and Probolic SR. They're not anabolic steroids, even if they do sound remarkably similar. They're nutritional supplements that help build muscle. Schwartz isn't a hulking brute. He's on the leaner side, but he uses supplements because he doesn't have time to eat three meals a day.
AX: Lawrence Schwartz (:09): Especially for someone like me who's always on the run, going to work, going to school…these are really good to, like, get that extra protein and get those extra minerals to fuel your body and help maintain muscle mass.
Lots of other people like them too. Schwartz says sports supplements are very popular with customers..According to the New York Times, athletes spend at least 4 billion dollars a year on sports nutritional products. Schwartz says many of his customers can't get enough of them.
AX: Lawrence Schwartz (:20): One customer - the first month he'll come in - he'll get protein... Next month he might come back looking for something a little bit more strong…You know, he might be happy with that for a month, maybe two months, but at a certain time, you know, he's going to plateau on even that supplement, so he's going to come back and he's going to look at the pro-hormones, testosterone boosters, and, you know, the stuff we keep behind the counter.
It's the stuff behind the counter that Schwartz doesn't touch. That's because those products are harder and more experimental. He says they're the closest you'll get to anabolic steroids in his store. He says they can even have similar side effects to steroids. Hair loss, increased aggression, shrinking testicles, and even...
AX: Lawrence Schwartz (:05): Um… you know… what sports enthusiasts call…man boobs.
Tom Hildebrandt is the director of the eating and weight disorders program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He's also an expert in steroid use in sports. Hildebrandt says there's a lot of truth in what Schwartz has observed firsthand in his store. He says there isn't any data linking supplements to steroid use. But Hildebrandt says it's unlikely that scrawny teens who have never touched supplements are going to somehow be tempted by needle-injected steroids.
AX: Tom Hildebrandt (:09): Very few, I think, you know, 15-year-olds are going, "Uh…you know…I've never been to the gym before. I'm perfectly fine with my body. I can't wait to stick a needle in my butt.
Don Hooton knows the risk that teens take when they want to look better, bulk up or become a better athlete. Hooton's son Taylor was a baseball player who started taking steroids. At some point, Taylor became depressed and committed suicide in 2003. Hooton blames steroids, because athletes often experience crippling lows after coming off a cycle. Now he runs the Taylor Hooton Foundation, which educates people on the dangers of steroid abuse. Hooton says his son started the same way many teenagers do, with supplements. He says Taylor was looking for quick way to bulk up, and he had an easy path to it.
AX: Don Hooton (:16): Just even the fact that we use the word performance enhancement in front of the word drug, leads many, many people to believe that these things are just the next logical step up from Creatine or protein shakes.
And when they're ready to take that next step, there is a place they can go. But they won't find it where Schwartz works.
AX: Lawrence Schwartz (:06): I tell them that we don't sell those, and uh…their better bet would be to look on the internet.
There has been more of a crackdown on companies that sell steroids over the internet, Anonymous forums have popped up online listing companies that have been shut down in addition to ones that are still selling. Dr. Hildebrandt says the pressure will probably lessen after this year's Olympics are over. Jed Kim, Columbia Radio News.