Good health and steroids

However, if you think that steroids are of no use and bring side effects with them then you really need to read some medical books and journals. These books and journals confirm the fact that steroids are beneficial and not harmful. Even medical practitioners and scientists have affirmed the fact that steroids are not harmful in the first place and bring side effects only when they are abused. Well, there is a side effect with every abuse and we never said that steroid is an exception.

You can maintain good health with steroids if you are making a qualified usage. This means that you need to be aware of how steroids work, what benefits they bring, and what is the recommended dosage before you start experimenting with them.

A prospective steroid user is always advised and recommended to make a comprehensive research before buying steroids. Whether you are buying steroids online or from the traditional market, it does not matter if you have the right, qualified, and complete knowledge to understand the pros and cons. If you do not own the required knowledge already, it is highly recommended that you study a few facts before allowing steroids to enter your life as a lack of qualified knowledge may lead to steroid abuse and that is not what you want, right?

In short, good health and anabolic steroids can together if you take the onus of attaining knowledge about steroids. After all, it is your own health and there cannot be any compromises.

Summary: If you aim to make it big in the world of bodybuilding, health, fitness, or sports then steroids may become a part of your life, today or tomorrow. This may be not because they are luring but because they are so much beneficial that staying away from them is not a wise decision by any standards.

Injectable Steroids

For the performance enhancing athlete, there are several performance enhancing drugs from which to choose. There are anabolic steroids, peptide hormones, SERM's, AI's thyroid medications and a host of other items the individual may find useful. Within each category, there are also several choices; for example, there are numerous anabolic androgenic steroids, and of each steroid, there are often numerous variations. Take the most popular anabolic steroid testosterone; it is often provided in six different forms with more than a dozen being available. While we can break down each anabolic steroid specifically, regarding a particular form, one common distinction that provides a lot of understanding is by breaking them down into oral and injectable steroids, and it is injectable steroids we want to focus on here today.

Injectable steroids are typically defined by the active steroidal hormone by which they are comprised as well as the ester that is attached. While a steroidal hormone may come in many forms, it is primarily the ester that is attached that distinguishes one particular form. For example, the popular anabolic steroids Testosterone, Trenbolone and Nandrolone can be found in several forms; each form carries the same exact steroid but an ester that is unique to its design.

The ester attached to the hormone does not change the hormones specific mode of action but does affect its activity. The smaller the ester the shorter its half-life, the larger the ester the longer its half-life; as such, shorter esters become effective sooner than larger but their total active duration is also less than larger esters. Further, smaller esters take up less mass in the total compound providing more active steroidal hormone per milligram. To provide an understanding of how esters affect various injectable steroids we've given you some examples in the charts below. The first chart shows how the ester effects the potency of four popular injectable steroids; while the second chart shows the most popular injectable steroids, the ester(s) attached, the total active half-life, any popular trade name associated and the recommended administration of the hormone for performance purposes. As you may have already guessed smaller ester injectable steroids must be administered more frequently than large esters, but at the same time, there are specific cases where large ester injectable steroids need to be injected on a very frequent basis in-order to maximize peak blood levels. While this is true, for our purposes here we will keep things very simple and assume all things are equal.

A common question regarding injectable steroids revolves around how they stack up next to oral steroids. In many cases, oral steroids are often quite welcomed by performance enhancers if for no other reason than their ease of use. Further, most oral steroids are very fast acting and can produce noticeable gains and progress much faster than most injectable steroids. However, while extremely useful, most men will find oral steroids to be better served when viewed as supplements to supplemental anabolic steroid use with injectable steroids being their foundation.

Most oral steroids are highly toxic to the liver due to their C17-Alpha Alkylated (C17-aa) nature with a few exceptions such as oral Primobolan. While most oral steroids are C17-aa, most are very toxic to the liver, whereas most injectable steroids are very liver friendly; again, with exceptions. For example, although most injectable steroids are very liver friendly Winstrol Depot, the injectable form of Stanozolol is a C17-aa steroid just as its oral version. Then there are injectable steroids like Trenbolone, while although not of the C17-aa group can produce liver toxicity when used for extended periods of time.

Beyond liver issues, injectable steroids have one very significant advantage over orals in that the gains made through injectable steroids are far easier to maintain, and often far more sustainable. This is not to say you can't keep your gains from oral steroids, but it has been proven time and time again, if you supplement with only oral steroids you shouldn't expect to keep much. Again, oral steroids should be viewed as additions to a cycle, not part of the foundation. To get the most of your anabolic steroid use, you will need to stick tried and true injectable steroids such as the various forms of Testosterone, Nandrolone, Trenbolone and Boldenone making these steroids your foundation.

What should one expect from injectable steroids; simply put everything one might desire from anabolic steroids. As there are numerous injectable steroids from which to choose every trait and benefit one could ever want is available. For many performance enhancers, injectable steroids are all they need; for all the desired benefits can be obtained while keeping the liver safe and healthy. If you want to grow, if you want to pile on massive piles of muscle and strength injectable steroids are the way to go. If you're looking to truly lean out and display a physique akin to a granite statue, again, injectable steroids are the way to go. Absolutely, oral steroids have their place, but they are not essential, as for the performance enhancer injectable steroids are the end all be all.

Black tea's theaflavins protect from cadmium-induced testicular toxicity

Cadmium ranks, along with other heavy metals, as one of the most devastating toxins capable of wreaking havoc on the human body. Unlike lead, arsenic and mercury, exposure to this environmental toxin comes almost exclusively through dietary sources and tobacco smoke, largely due to its presence as a major contaminate in phosphate fertilizers.

Increasingly recognized as a chronic and harmful poison in nearly every system of the body, cadmium is considered a human carcinogen, with the worst effects on humans found in the lungs, prostate and kidneys - and, notably, with well documented effects on testicular fortitude. In rat studies, cadmium has been found to cause tumors in the testes, though researchers believe it is linked with toxic lesions and impaired function, rather than outright cancer.

Basically, this is the result of oxidative stress, which contributes to lower sperm counts, decreased sperm quality and impaired sexual function. A relatively low dose of cadmium has been shown to lower testosterone levels in humans as well as animals, and it can also cause sterility and impotency. Cadmium is a powerful disrupting agent with particular emphasis on the male reproductive system and thyroid gland function in both sexes. However, it has also been shown to impair the fertility of female rats in studies as well.

Its ability to block antioxidants and interfere with hormonal processes makes cadmium both a disruptor and a damaging agent through oxidative stress.

Now, researchers at the Fujian Medical University in China have found that theaflavins - the antioxidant polyphenols found in black tea - can protect against these toxic effects from cadmium in a dose-dependent manner, where the higher the level given to rats, the greater the effects against the heavy metal.

Varying doses of the black tea compound were given to the rats orally. Fifty mg/kg, 100 mg/kg or 200 mg/kg of theaflavins per body weight were administered daily to counteract the disruptive effects of cadmium. Researchers showed that the theaflavins alleviated the heavy metal toxicity, restored hormone levels and reversed DNA damage while reducing oxidative stress. Additionally, it provided a protective action that preempted cadmium build-up and prevented its damaging effects.

Furthermore, the research indicates that theaflavins from black tea may help decrease concentrations of cadmium in the liver and blood while helping to excrete it and eliminate its storage in the body.

The many benefits of black tea, and the antioxidant power of theaflavins

This may open up new pathways for human treatment in promoting healthy testosterone levels and higher sperm counts - all through the natural treatment offered by black tea, which can be consumed as a beverage or in concentrated supplement form. Its powerful antioxidant properties could help balance hormones naturally and improve sexual function.

The polyphenols of black tea, along with other antioxidants, also have a demonstrable role in fighting inflammation, preventing cancer, staving off allergies and promoting longer lifespans (at least in fruit flies), according to studies.

Mediterranean diet linked to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes

A Mediterranean diet mainly consists of high consumption of vegetables, fruits, beans, olive oil, whole grains and fish.

Previous research has strongly suggested that there are numerous health benefits from following a Mediterranean diet. Late last year, a study suggesting that middle-aged women may have a longer lifespan and better health if they follow the diet, while another study suggests the diet may reduce genetic stroke risk.

According to the study investigators from Spain, research has shown that weight-loss interventions, such as a low-calorie diet, are effective for the prevention of diabetes.

But they note there is limited information as to whether changes in diet that do not lead to weight loss, or involve reduction in calories or increased exercise, have the same effect.

To find out, the researchers analyzed 3,541 men and women without diabetes aged 55-80-years-old who were at high risk for heart disease - a condition known to be a risk factor associated with type 2 diabetes.

All participants were randomly assigned to one of three diets. The first was a Mediterranean diet in which subjects were required to consume 50ml of extra-virgin olive oil each day. Some participants followed a Mediterranean diet alongside 30g of mixed nuts each day, while the remaining subjects followed a low-fat diet. During a 4-year follow-up period, the participants following the Mediterranean diet were given guidance by dietitians. They were instructed to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, beans, and fish, and to avoid red or processed meat, butter and candies.

The investigators note that none of the subjects were told to reduce their calorie intake or increase their physical activity.

At the end of the follow-up period, the researchers found that 273 participants had developed diabetes. Of these, 101 were from the low-fat diet group, while 80 were from the Mediterranean diet group with additional extra-virgin olive oil, and 92 were from the Mediterranean diet group with extra nuts.

Acai berry - Six ways this superfood can change your health

If you've never heard of the acaiberry, you're missing out on the enormous benefits this superfood offers.

Acai berry contains anthocyanins and antioxidants - elements that have been linked to a slowing of the body's aging process. Studies indicate that acai berry has 10 times more antioxidants than grapes and fully twice as many as blueberries, making it extremely beneficial for those of us trying to thwart the aging process.

How does a boost of energy sound?  Acai berry is known to increase energy levels, and that's a plus considering the willy-nilly, hectic pace of life these days. There are times when we can all use some help maintaining enough energy to fulfill our daily life obligations (both at work and play). That is especially true for those of us who work a non-traditional shift, like day-evening, or evening-night shifts (we're pretty much designed to be awake during the day and asleep at night). Studies indicate regular Acai berry supplementation can boost your body's energy levels; increased energy levels mean more work gets done, making you more productive and valuable.

Keep your ticker ticking better. Acai berry has been found to improve overall cardiovascular health by improving the flow of blood and other nutrients to the heart and other organs. Acai berry is rich in omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, which are known to lower levels of bad cholesterol in the body. It's well known that bad cholesterol can accumulate in the form of plaque along the walls of your arteries and if not properly treated (or prevented in the first place), can eventually block blood vessels, causing stroke, heart attack or even sudden death. Acai berry also contains anthocyanins, the same substance found in red wine (which has also been shown to improve cardiovascular flow and function).

Good for hearts - and minds. Data shows that acai berry is good for both body and mind, by balancing the body's nervous system. "Most neuro-psychiatric problems arise from the imbalance of the nervous system," "Depression is also prevented if the stability of the mind and body is maintained. When the physical body is stable and functioning properly, the mind is also in harmony to the body preventing mental health problems..."

Take the extra pounds off. When eaten in conjunction with a healthy diet, acai berry can contribute to weight loss by boosting both metabolism and your energy levels. Also, the antioxidants, vitamins and fatty acids are much safer than many of the so-called "diet pills" and other products. What's more, acai berry is not known for harmful side effects.

Keep the extra pounds off. Once you reach your diet goals, you want to keep the pounds off; acai berries can help because, again, they work to increase metabolism in a way that is healthy and not harmful. Increased metabolism means food is digested faster and, thus, less likely to create fat stores.

Though research is limited, "Acai berries are widely touted as a so-called superfood, with proponents claiming that they are helpful for a variety of health concerns, including arthritis, cancer, weight loss, high cholesterol, erectile dysfunction, detoxification and improving general health," says registered dietician Katherine Zeratsky.

The one bad thing about acai berries is that in order to eat them fresh, you have to live in a region where they grow. That's because they are perishable within 24 hours of being picked. Lucky for Americans they can be freeze-dried, powdered and put into supplements.

Where does the acai berry rank on a list of superfoods? For Dr. Nicholas Perricone, noted dermatologist and nutritionist, the acai is number one.

"Harvested in the rainforests of Brazil, acai tastes like a vibrant blend of berries and chocolate. Hidden within its royal purple pigment is the magic that makes it nature's perfect energy fruit. Acai is packed full of antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids. Although acai may not be available in your local supermarket, you can find it in several health food and gourmet stores (often in juice form). A new product featuring the unsweetened pulp is now also available, and I highly recommend that you choose this form of acai," he says.

Cold Temperatures and Chili Peppers Help Burn Fat

What do low temperatures and chili peppers have in common? They both could help burn fat, a new study shows.

Exposure to cold and consumption of chemicals found in chili peppers both appear to increase the number and activity of so-called brown fat cells, which burn energy, rather than store it as typical "white" fat cells do, said Takeshi Yoneshiro, a researcher at Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan.

The study is the first to show that brown fat activity can be induced in people who appeared to have very few or no brown fat cells, said Dr. Clifford Rosen, a professor of medicine at Tufts University who wasn't involved in the study. Participants in the study who were exposed to cold also had less "bad" white fat at the end of the experiments.

Cold burns fat

Brown fat cells are currently a subject of intense research as a target for anti-obesity drugs, said Dr. Soren Snitker, a medical researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who wasn't involved in the study.

In the new study, researchers exposed eight people with little or no brown fat cells to moderately low temperatures of 63 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours daily, over the course of six weeks. Compared with the control subjects, who went about their normal lives, the cold-exposed people had about 5 percent less body fat at the end of the study, and also burned more energy when exposed to cold, according to the study. The researchers also looked at people who ate capsinoids, which are normally found in chili peppers, for six weeks, and found they also burned more energy than the control group when exposed to cold, but didn't lose any more white fat than the control group.

Yoneshiro said the experiment might not have continued for long enough to see white-fat-burning effects of the compounds. A previous study that lasted 12 weeks found the capsinoid ingestion led to significant body fat decreases in mildly obese people.

The new results help explain the results from a recent study co-authored by Snitker, which found that people who ate capsinoids had increased levels of fat breakdown, and smaller waists after a six-week period, compared with people who took placebos.

The brown and the beige

It was once thought that brown fat, also known as brown adipose tissue (BAT), was present only in babies. But three research groups independently discovered in 2009 that brown fat exists in adults, concentrated in the upper chest and neck of some adults, Rosen said. It appears reddish-brown because it contains many mitochondria, cellular factories that release energy, Rosen said. In 2012, scientists found yet another type of BAT called "beige fat," which is a subset of brown fat but is formed from white fat cells. Rosen said that the "brown fat" cells induced by cold and capsinoids are indeed likely beige fat, because they don't show up on scans used to detect concentrated regions of brown fat cells.

"The most interesting thing about this study from a treatment point of view is the capsinoids," said Jan Nedergaard, a physiologist at Stockholm University in Sweden who wasn't involved in the study. Reduction of fat from cold exposure was expected, he said, but "as everybody realizes, that's a difficult thing to put into practice."

Drug development?

The study is exciting because it suggests chemicals that induce brown fat could be used to fight obesity, although they'd probably work better at keeping healthy people from becoming fat, rather than making obese people skinny, Nedergaard said. "Everybody would like to take a fat person and make him slim, but that demands a high-burning capacity that BAT probably doesn't have."

Capsinoids appear to induce brown fat in the same way as cold, by "capturing" the same cellular system that the body's nervous system uses to increase heat production, Yoneshiro said. Drug developers want to use similar drugs to activate this system, but capsinoids themselves probably won't be used because they already exist in nature and thus cannot be patented, a major way that pharmaceutical companies make money, Nedergaard said.

Capsinoids come from "sweet" chili peppers that don't taste hot, but produce some of the same physiological effects — for example, producing sweat, Nedergaard said.

Musical Training Has Positive, Long-Term Effects on Brain Function

Studies by researcher Nina Kraus have shown that lifelong musical training is associated with the ability to hear and understand sounds in a noisy environment, even as we age. But what about people who have had limited musical training — four or five years of piano or guitar lessons as a child, for example? A recent study by Kraus's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University suggests that even limited exposure to music may help inoculate us from some types of age-related declines in brain functioning. The study found that four to 14 years of musical training early in life is associated with faster neural timing in response to speech. Test subjects listened to a synthesized speech sound ("the syllable "da") by itself - without any other competing noise - and also amid other, background noises. She found that the group of test subjects who had had some musical training responded neurally to the syllable both in quiet and in noise more quickly than did the groups of test subjects without musical training. This result is relevant especially to older people, who often show difficulty processing fast-changing speech elements - consonant to vowel transitions, for example.

Other studies by Kraus have shown that musical training correlates to a better ability to pick out key sounds, such as spoken words, in noisy environments (see video), and a better ability to recognize the emotional content of sound.

Kraus is the Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology at Northwestern University. Much of her research is supported by the National Science Foundation.

Eating chocolate 'reduces body fat level'

Despite being high in calories, chocolate might actually encourage lower levels of body fat, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Granada, Spain measured the body fat of nearly 1,500 adolescents from around Europe between the ages of 12 and 17 years.

They found that regardless of their sex, age, diet and how much they exercised, subjects who ate lots of chocolate tended to be slimmer than those who did not. According to Magdalena Cuenca-Garcia, the study's lead author, this could be down to the fact that chocolate is rich in healthy flavonoids, especially catechins.

"These compounds have important antioxidant, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory and antihypertensive effects and can help prevent ischemic heart disease," she explained.

However, the researchers stressed that chocolate can still be unhealthy if not eaten in moderation.

"As they say, you can have too much of a good thing," they said.

Brain may play crucial role in development of type 2 diabetes

New research has found that the brain may play an essential role in glucose regulation and the development of type 2 diabetes.

In a study, researchers suggested that glucose regulation is controlled by coordinated interactions between both the brain and insulin-producing tissues in the pancreas – a theory that could eventually pave the way for new treatments for the disease.

Based on a review of both human and animal studies, the researchers speculated that while the pancreas reacts to increased levels of blood glucose by releasing more insulin, the brain is also heavily involved in helping the body maintain normal glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes occurs when both of these systems fail.

Currently, treatments for type 2 diabetes rely almost exclusively on methods that attempt to either increase insulin or regulate the body’s sensitivity to insulin. However, if the researchers are correct in their hypothesis that failures in the brain are crucial to the development of type 2 diabetes, it could lead to new, more effective methods by which to treat – or even reverse – the disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is estimated that 50 percent of the population will have developed diabetes by 2050.

Drink Water, Lose Weight

One of the most familiar pieces of weight-loss advice is also among the simplest: Drink lots of water. It makes you feel fuller, for one, so you don't eat as much junk later on (and maybe you won't drink sodas or other sugar-filled drinks).

Now, a new study adds some scientific heft to that advice. People who drank more water, researchers found, stayed slimmer than those who drank less. The study followed more than 120,000 people for about two decades, checking in on their lifestyle habits and weight every four years.

Overall, people in the study gained a small amount weight during each four-year span. But each cup of water a person drank per day meant they gained, on average, nearly three-tenths of a pound less during that time. The more water they drank, the less weight they put on – a noteworthy finding for a study that, for most participants, spanned a large chunk of middle age.

Fruit juice and sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, on the other hand, made participants gain more weight; each cup per day led to half a pound and four-fifths of a pound more weight gain in four years, respectively. Subbing water for a sugary drink, then, would likely have an even bigger impact, says An Pan, a public health researcher at the National University of Singapore who helped lead the study. Swapping a 12-ounce soda for a large glass of water every day would lead to a 1.25-pound smaller weight gain over four years.
If you tire of constantly sipping plain water, the researchers found that coffee had a similar slimming effect, too – though unlike water, it's easier to drink too much joe, which can have some downsides.