In recent years, many people have turned to SARMs (Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators) as a safer alternative to steroids. But that’s not a good idea. Though SARMs are often marketed as “dietary supplements,” the FDA categorizes them as unregulated drugs. And they can be dangerous. Here’s what you need to know.
What Are SARMs?
SARMs are compounds that mimic the effects of testosterone and anabolic steroids. They were developed in the early 2000s in an attempt to find an alternative to anabolic steroids in medical applications, such as treating bone loss and muscle wasting caused by osteoporosis, cancer, heart failure, and other diseases.
Jeffrey Crawford is a researcher at the Duke University Cancer Institute, and he’s done some of the research on these drugs. SARMs, he explains, are created by altering anabolic steroids so that they bind only to certain tissues and not to others in the hopes of limiting their side effects.
Over the past decade, Crawford and others have studied these drugs in clinical trials, but none of these studies has resulted in a marketable drug. No such drug has been approved for any use at all, medical or otherwise.
