Sculpted arms without breaking a sweat? Two minutes a day to chiseled abs? Teens preoccupied with defined muscles or attempting to gain weight were more likely to take potentially harmful supplements at least weekly, report researchers in a new study in Pediatrics.

Girls trying to look like women in the media and boys who perused fashion, health, and men's magazines were also more likely to take such products regularly, including weight loss drinks, protein powders and shakes, creatine, amino acids, growth hormone, and steroids.

Among the other findings of this study of over 10,000 teens:

• About a third of both boys and girls reported often thinking about or desiring toned muscles.
• About 12 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls had used potentially unhealthful products in the past year, and about 5 percent of boys and 2 percent of girls used them at least weekly. The most popular supplements reported were protein powders and shakes.
• Slightly less than half of boys and a little over a third of girls described themselves as being happy with their bodies.

"Unless you know something is safe, it's best to avoid it," says Alison Field, an epidemiologist at Children's Hospital Boston and primary author of the study. Field says that although protein powders and shakes are probably safe and the side effects of steroids are well documented, the health consequences of many of these supplements are unknown.

In 1999, researchers sent questionnaires to 12-to-18-year-old participants in the ongoing Growing Up Today Study, which follows some of the children of nurses enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study. Teens answered questions about their height, weight, exercise habits, body image, media exposure, and use of body-enhancing supplements.

Field encourages parents of both boys and girls to be "more informed consumers" about the media's portrayal of "unattainable looks."

"We tend to think of weight concerns being a female issue," says Field. "It's striking how many boys were thinking about toned or defined muscles."

Teens Turn to Potentially Dangerous Supplements to Build Bigger Muscles

By Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News

on Monday, August 01, 2005

Aug. 1, 2005 -- Peer pressure and media images of buff bodies may be driving a growing number of teenagers to turn to potentially dangerous supplements to bulk up their bodies and improve their body image.

A new survey shows nearly a third of teenage boys and girls say they frequently think about wanting more toned and defined muscles. Teens who feel that way are up to twice as likely to try supplements to achieve those goals.

It's the largest survey to look at the use of hormones, supplements, body image, and media influences among teenagers. The results show that teens' dissatisfaction with their bodies goes far beyond wanting to be thin and may lead them to use potentially dangerous steroids, hormones, or other supplements.

Researchers say the study suggests that just as teenage girls may resort to unhealthful means to lose weight, teenage boys may also resort to unhealthy strategies to achieve their desired physique.

"More and more media images show people with sculpted physiques. It used to just be scantily-clad women, but now, you see more and more of images of men with physiques that are impossible for most people to attain," says researcher Alison Field, ScD, an epidemiologist in adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, in a news release.

"Girls' concerns about their bodies are well known, but I don't think it's on parents' radar screens that their sons might have body concerns -- 'I'm not big enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not buff enough.'"

In the study, researchers surveyed about 10,500 teen athletes and nonathletes about their use of any substance to improve their appearance, muscle mass, or strength.

The results showed that 12% of boys and 8% of girls reported using such products. Nearly 5% of boys and 2% of girls used them at least weekly.

The most commonly used products were protein powders and shakes. Other products, used mostly by boys, included creatine, amino acids, the amino-acid metabolite HMB, the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), growth hormone, and anabolic steroids.

"The Internet is full of sites where these substances can be purchased, and many are advertised in popular health and fitness magazines with covers like "Great abs in 5 minutes a day,'" says Field.

"Protein powders are probably relatively safe, but steroids have well-known side effects, and some of the other products may not be so benign."

Use of muscle-enhancing products was 60% and 200% more common among boys and girls, respectively, who said they frequently thought about wanting more toned or defined muscles than others. Boys and girls who said they were trying to gain weight were three to four times as likely to use these products as their peers.

Researchers say the findings, published in this month's issue of Pediatrics, also show that the media as well as peer pressure have a major influence on teen supplement use and body image concerns.

For example:

• Girls who said they wanted to look like women in the movies, magazines, or on TV were more than twice as likely as their peers to use supplements at least weekly to increase muscle mass or definition.
• Boys who read men's, fashion, or health/fitness magazines were more than twice as likely to use supplements at least weekly to increase muscle mass or definition.
• Weight lifting and playing football were linked to increased use of supplements, particularly creatine, amino acids, DHEA, growth hormone, and steroids. Researchers say it's unclear whether this association was driven by media images of sports figures, peer pressure, or coach recommendation.

SOURCES: Field, A. Pediatrics, August 2005; vol 116: pp e214-e220. News release, Brigham and Women's Hospital.