Video Transcript
Ecdysteroids are a naturally occurring anabolic agent used as a supplement found in the steroid hormones of plants and arthropods. For example, the primary plants are quinoa, spinach, and yams. The two most common, biologically active, and readily. There is a possible misconception surrounding Ecdysteroids, as online potential consumers of the supplement can buy them with ease and can find many accounts of positive usage of the supplement. These positive accounts raise health concerns because insufficient testing has been conducted with Ecdysteroids, meaning they are potentially dangerous and harmful to human health and development; however, many athletes and bodybuilders are using them to increase muscle mass and strength. The increase in usage is also harmful to younger adults, as with popular forms of social media like Instagram, influencers market the supplement as a form of income through sponsorships with sellers. Thus, exposing young adults more to Ecdysteroids and potentially swaying their decision to take them to look like the social media influencers. Concerns surrounding Ecdysteroids is inspiring research on its safety as a supplement. Researchers lead by Isenmann studied Ecdysteroids as a non-conventional anabolic agent. The researchers found that because of the health effects of Ecdysterone, it should be included in the prohibited substances and methods list in sports due to the increased strength and muscle mass gained in the participants throughout the study. However, the researchers found no adverse side effects of the supplementation, thus making it completely safe for consumption.
As of November 2020, there have been 526 natural ecdysteroids discovered (Tóth et al. 2021). However, Isenmann and his team choose to focus on one of the most popular Ecdysteroids, Ecdysterone because they were responding to experimental results of another study which found rodents undergoing Ecdysterone supplementation, had increased muscle growth over a few weeks (Dinan and Lafont 2006). The experiment was performed based on the knowledge that Ecdysterone improved physical performance in strength and muscle mass and was natural rather than anabolic steroids like Dianabol which are synthetically created by humans. The recent study performed on rodents prompted this study because the researchers found Ecdysterone to perform better than a banned anabolic steroid known as Metadienone, thus raising the question of whether Ecdysterone would have the same effect on humans as on rats. In addition, a large gap in the knowledge concerning Ecdysterone helped drive this experiment, as there are insufficient results regarding the health effects of Ecdysterone in humans. Therefore, there is inadequate data on whether or not it is safe for humans to supplement Ecdysterone to improve strength and muscle growth, which is a main public concern regarding the Ecdysteroid, especially since it is gaining attention from a young audience.
The study hypothesized in the article was that if a group of young men was given Ecdysterone as a supplement then their muscle growth and strength would increase. The study found the hypothesis to be true. The experiment put men into four different groups to measure the effects of Ecdysterone. Two had differing Ecdysterone amounts, one had a placebo, and one was the control group, which had men supplementing the same Ecdysterone amount as group one, but without the training. The experimenters designed the experiment to have different concentrations of Ecdysterone to ensure the amount of muscle growth and strength recorded was significant against the control and placebo group. In addition to dividing the young men into different groups, they also underwent the same 10-week resistance-training program to ensure the study was kept as consistent as possible and were of the same age and build to limit confounding variables. Finally, the participants underwent the same regular testing throughout the experiment to measure the health effects of Ecdysterone on the body, muscle mass changes, and strength. The researchers found the experiment to have no adverse health effects as the results concluded no damage to any bodily systems or organs. However, the study still led the researchers to suggest Ecdysterone be included in class S1 “Anabolic Agents” due to their performance enhancement of strength by finding improved strength on the one-repetition maximum for bench press and back squat and increase in muscle growth (Isenmann et al. 2019).
The information from this experiment concerning the health effects of Ecdysterone is meaningful to the public as Ecdysterone has the potential to affect the lives of not only athletes, but people across the globe. For example, many people most likely consume dietary supplements daily such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Zinc and if someone is an avid weightlifter or athlete then most likely creatine and protein. Ecdysterone being used as a supplement is important to understand as currently, the health effects of the anabolic agent are uncertain due to insufficient testing although studies like the one undertaken by Isenmann, display there are no negatives to Ecydsterone. Understanding how Ecdysterone affects people’s bodies matters because without knowing the risks associated with a supplement a large sum of people may unintentionally harm themselves thus implicating their health for the remainder of their lives. This can be seen with the adverse effects of anabolic steroids like heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, kidney damage, liver damage, etc. Therefore, it is urgent to continue testing Ecdysterone before more use of the supplement is widespread due to the potential adverse health effects, in addition, more regulation concerning the sale of the supplement is needed until further research is conducted. As currently widely accessible sites such as Amazon, sell both Ecdysterone and Turkesterone, making it available to any consumer in the market. The larger implication of the supplement is through its exposure by social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube, as influencers either promote or supplement Ecdysteroids to improve their physique, thus gaining more attention on social media. This causes younger audiences to follow in their actions by buying and supplementing the product to gain more muscle mass, which is concerning as insufficient studies have been undertaken to fully understand the health effects of the supplements. In fact, insufficient testing could mean adverse health effects such as those seen in anabolic steroids.
The methods used to create and undergo the experiment were well thought out and made sure to limit potential confounding variables when testing the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Although the authors completed the experiment and formulated their results well, they did not admit flaws or limitations in their study when it could have been improved. First, to improve the study the authors should use a larger population of test subjects rather than only 25.6-year-old men who are 181.9cm tall and weigh 80.0kg. Some may argue this was to keep the test consistent and limit confounding variables. However, this only indicates a very small population of men in the study raising potential for bias, and not addressing differences in gender, height, age, or weight which may skew the results. In addition, the study did not account for long-term usage of the supplement as the experiment was only 10-weeks long so potential adverse side effects could take much longer to arise in the subjects which was not considered. The experiment was also performed without random sampling, and the scientists did not mention using random assignment either in their experimental methods. Thus, having both serve as a confounding variable which influences the results of the experiment.
Although testing has already been conducted concerning Ecdysteroids more experimentation is necessary prior to the continuation of the sale and supplementation of the substances. Tests conducted have numerous problems and cannot be used to represent an entire population of people but rather used as an overview of a select population of test subjects. In addition, researchers and other organizations should undergo further testing to eliminate potential biases and confounding variables throughout the experiments already undertaken to ensure the experiment yields consistent results. Concrete data resulting from experiments with Ecdysteroids is essential in society moving forward as the presence of social media and other outlets continue to grow; because, they will have a negative effect on the current and future generations of young adults if health issues are not addressed. In fact, Ecdysteroids are proven to have major benefits such as increased muscle mass and strength for athletes and anyone who weightlifts to better themselves, however in this pursuit of self-betterment they run the risk of harming themselves due to the unknown risks of Ecdysteroids. Until more research is done potential users need to understand and accept that these Ecdysteroids such as Ecedysterone are potentially dangerous and negative health effects are entirely possible, therefore until more studies are complete more regulation and or ceasing of sale is necessary for Ecdysteroids.
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