Gynecomastia and Bodybuilding

Gynecomastia, also known as gyno and bitch tits, is female breast development in men. Gynecomastia is a common side effect of anabolic steroid use. Men naturally produces a small amount of estrogen, a female hormone. When anabolic steroids are used estrogen levels can rise and or dominate.

Some anabolic steroids are peripherally converted to estrogen. When these steroids are used both anabolic hormone and estrogen levels rise. High estrogen levels will sooner or later cause gynecomastia in most individuals.

Abruptly stopping steroid use greatly increases the odds of developing gynecomastia. Anabolic steroid use causes the testicles to atrophy, shrink in size, and become dormant. Normal testicular function usually resumes after steroid use is stopped, but it may take several months for the testicles return to pre-steroid use size and function. When steroid use is abruptly stopped a condition is created where very low levels of anabolic hormones are present. The testicles have not yet resumed normal testosterone production and exogenous anabolic hormones are no longer being taken. As a result, estrogen can now dominate. Gynecomastia is almost certain to occur.

Gynecomastia can usually be avoided by taking anti-estrogens like Nolvadex or using steroids that can not be peripherally converted to estrogen.

I have been around anabolic steroids for 8 years now, and I learn something new everyday. One of the best things that I have learned is that anti-estrogens such as Nolvadex and Proviron really do work, and are certainly worth taking. In my experience, Nolvadex is better than Proviron, but only cause it's stronger, so when you are already taking other pills, it can be a pain in the ass keeping up with all the Proviron. I have seen numerous differences when Anti-estrogens are taken with your regular cycle. Now I'm talking about over a dozen people over a period of a few years, not just one guy, one time.

What you have to realize is that when you take most anabolic steroids, they also have a Androgenic effect as well. To keep it simple, "your Testosterone level is gonna rise". In a way this is a good short term effect, because this is what will cause most of your strength gains, while the anabolic steroids will give you your size gains. But, your body will begin to produce Estrogen to balance the Testosterone levels. So, the more your Testosterone level increases through the amount of steroids you take, and the length of your cycle, the more your Estrogen level will increase as well. This irregular raise in Estrogen, can cause several side effects. The biggest is "gyno" better known as "bitch tits".

Basically, the male body begins to develope female breasts due to the level of estrogen in your body. This is not life threatening, but is very obvious and not too good for your self-esteem, not to mention that your talking thousands of dollars to have them removed, "which most insurance companys won't cover". I have several friends who went through it, and they were the ones who never listened. Of course everyone has a different tolerance to different steroids, but there is a good chance that most people will eventually go through it if they don't take an anti-estrogen.

Even if you have been taking steroids for years, and have never experienced "gyno", it doesn't mean that you won't get it from your next cycle. I have found that the higher the dosages, and the longer the cycles of anabolic steroids, the better your chances for getting "bitch-tits". So, if you have the money, instead of getting a second or a third anabolic steroid to stack during your cycle, take that money and invest in an anti-estrogen. I cannot guarantee that they will prevent "gyno", but it certainly cannot hurt. I have also noticed that when an anti-estrogen is taken, the gains seem to be bigger during a cycle, because you don't have the estrogen limiting the effects of the testosterone.

I found it best to slowly lower the dosage of the anti-estrogen after your cycle is over, so that your body can slowly bring your levels to a balance instead of sky-rocketing your Estrogen level to meet the Testosterone level. Also, I found it best to give a 6-8 week break between cycles to give your body a rest and a chance to get back to normal. As long as you keep lifting, you shouldn't lose too much of your gains, but don't get pissed if you can't bench what you did in the peak of your cycle. So, if you are gonna juice then consider taking an anti-estrogen, but the best way to prevent "gyno" is not to take steroids at all! If your gonna play, just be prepared to pay! Best of Luck, and be smart, no gain is worth a big loss!!!"

High Good, Low Bad Cholesterol Levels Are Healthy for Brain, Too

High levels of "good" cholesterol and low levels of "bad" cholesterol are correlated with lower levels of the amyloid plaque deposition in the brain that is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, in a pattern that mirrors the relationship between good and bad cholesterol in cardiovascular disease, UC Davis researchers have found.

"Our study shows that both higher levels of HDL "good" and lower levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol in the bloodstream are associated with lower levels of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain," said Bruce Reed, lead study author and associate director of the UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center. The relationship between elevated cholesterol and increased risk of Alzheimer's disease has been known for some time, but the current study is the first to specifically link cholesterol to amyloid deposits in living human study participants, Reed said. "Unhealthy patterns of cholesterol could be directly causing the higher levels of amyloid known to contribute to Alzheimer's, in the same way that such patterns promote heart disease," he said

In the United States, cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per deciliter (dL) of blood. For HDL cholesterol, a level of 60 mg/dl or higher is best. For LDL cholesterol, a level of 70 mg/dL or lower is recommended for people at very high risk of heart disease.

Charles DeCarli, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center and an author of the study, said it is a wake-up call that, just as people can influence their late-life brain health by limiting vascular brain injury through controlling their blood pressure, the same is true of getting a handle on their serum cholesterol levels.
"If you have an LDL above 100 or an HDL that is less than 40, even if you're taking a statin drug, you want to make sure that you are getting those numbers into alignment," DeCarli said. "You have to get the HDL up and the LDL down."

The study was conducted in 74 diverse male and female individuals 70 years and older who were recruited from California stroke clinics, support groups, senior facilities and the Alzheimer's Disease Center. They included three individuals with mild dementia, 33 who were cognitively normal and 38 who had mild cognitive impairment.
The participants' amyloid levels were obtained using a tracer that binds with amyloid plaques and imaging their brains using PET scans. Higher fasting levels of LDL and lower levels of HDL both were associated with greater brain amyloid -- a first-time finding linking cholesterol fractions in the blood and amyloid deposition in the brain. The researchers did not study the mechanism for how cholesterol promotes amyloid deposits.

Recent guidelines instituted by the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have suggested abandoning guidelines for LDL targets. Reed said that recommendation may be an instance in which the adage that "what's good for the heart is good for the brain" does not apply.
"This study provides a reason to certainly continue cholesterol treatment in people who are developing memory loss regardless of concerns regarding their cardiovascular health," said Reed, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Neurology.

"It also suggests a method of lowering amyloid levels in people who are middle aged, when such build-up is just starting," he said. "If modifying cholesterol levels in the brain early in life turns out to reduce amyloid deposits late in life, we could potentially make a significant difference in reducing the prevalence of Alzheimer's, a goal of an enormous amount of research and drug development effort."

How to lower your risk of Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for between 50 and 80 % of all cases. Researchers are closer than ever to finding a cure, but sometimes prevention is the best medicine.

There are some easy things you can do to prevent developing Alzheimer’s:

• Add cinnamon to your diet – consuming a teaspoon of this spice has been shown to block the production of proteins in the brain that contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s.

• Drink apple juice – it boosts the production of a chemical compound in the brain associated with learning, memory, mood and muscle movement.

• Drink coffee – it acts as an anti-inflammatory that can block cholesterol buildup in the brain. One large study showed that men and women who drank three to five cups of coffee a day reduced their chances of dementia by 65 percent.

• Socialize more – studies show that a busy social life can improve your cognitive abilities.

• Protect your vision – your eyes are a good indicator of how your brain is functioning. Preserving your vision can actually cut your dementia risk by 63 percent.

• Meditate – this will lower your blood pressure and reduce stress, and it increases blood flow to the brain, which is why researchers believe it helps us retain mental acuity as we age.

• Eat a Mediterranean diet – a diet rich in leafy greens, fish, fruit, nuts and a little red wine can cut your dementia risk in half because it’s chock full of brain-protecting antioxidants.

Taking steps to prevent dementia now will help cut your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as you age.

Living at Home With Dementia

Most people with dementia who live at home have multiple unmet health and welfare needs, any number of which could jeopardize their ability to remain home for as long as they desire.

The researchers say routine assessments of patient and caregiver care needs coupled with simple fixes in the areas of safety -- grab bars in the bathroom, carpets safely tacked down to prevent falls, guns locked away -- and basic medical and supportive services could go a long way toward keeping those with dementia from ending up in a nursing or assisted-living facility. "Currently, we can't cure their dementia, but we know there are things that, if done systematically, can keep people with dementia at home longer," says study leader Betty S. Black, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "But our study shows that without some intervention, the risks for many can be quite serious."

Previous research has shown that greater unmet needs among people with dementia are predictive of nursing home placement and death. Caregiver stress also foretells of nursing home admission for people with dementia. The new study also finds most caregivers have multiple unmet needs, including lack of access to resources and referrals to support services and education about how to best care for their loved one.

Black says that paying for needs assessments and putting into place preventive safety measures isn't always feasible, and programs like Medicare don't typically cover them. "If they did," she says, "it may be far more cost-effective than long-term nursing home care."

An estimated 5.4 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, and 70 percent are cared for in the community by family members and friends. Most have mild to moderate dementia.

For the study, Black and her colleagues performed in-home assessments and surveys of 254 people with dementia living at home in Baltimore and also interviewed 246 of their informal, non-professional caregivers. They found that 99 percent of people with dementia and 97 percent of their caregivers had one or more unmet needs. Ninety percent were safety-related. More than half of the patients had inadequate meaningful daily activities at a senior center or at home, and one-third still needed a dementia evaluation or diagnosis.
Unmet needs fell into many categories including safety, health, meaningful activities, legal issues and estate planning, assistance with activities of daily living and medication management, Black says.

More than 60 percent of people with dementia in the study needed medical care for conditions related or unrelated to their dementia, a problem considering that those with dementia are more likely to have other serious illnesses for which they may eventually be hospitalized, Black says.
"This high rate of unmet medical care need raises the possibility that earlier care could prevent hospitalizations, improve quality of life and lower the costs of care at the same time," she says. Interestingly, unmet needs were significantly greater in those with higher cognitive function, most likely because many of them did not realize they had dementia and were not yet being closely cared for or monitored, Black says.

The researchers also found that African-Americans, those with lower income, those who were more independent in their basic daily living activities such as being able to feed and clothe themselves and those with more symptoms of depression had higher levels of unmet needs. Caregivers with less education and more symptoms of depression also had significantly more unmet needs. This suggests that identifying and treating depression in people with dementia and their caregivers may enable them to address their other unmet needs.

Why Women Are More Likely to Have Alzheimer's Disease?

Changes in the brain that happen after menopause may make women vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease, recent research suggests.

The hypothesis may explain why women are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease after age 65 compared with men, the researchers say. (About 17 % of women in the U.S. over age 65 have Alzheimer's, compared with 9 % of men.)

Traditionally, researchers have believed that women's increased risk of Alzheimer's disease was due to the fact that women live longer, said Roberta Diaz Brinton, a professor of pharmacology, biomedical engineering and neurology at the University of Southern California's School of Pharmacy. However, women only live about four years longer than men, and Alzheimer's develops over decades, Brinton said.

Now, research from Brinton and colleagues suggests that, as women age, their brains experience a shift in the way they use energy. A woman's risk of Alzheimer's disease may, in part, be determined by how well it adapts to this energy shift, Brinton said.

"Just like the woman is going through a reproductive shift," Brinton said, "the brain is undergoing adaptations as well."

Brinton's studies on mice have shown that, during menopause, the cell's powerhouses, called mitochondria, become less efficient at producing energy. In addition, cells start to use fuel sources other than glucose, which is a sign that the energy system is not working well, Brinton said. The brain has the highest energy requirement of any organ in the body, using 20 % of the body's fuel, she said.

In a 2011 study, Brinton and colleagues removed the ovaries of mice and found that the subsequent loss of ovarian hormones such as estrogen harmed the mitochondria.

In both people and mice, declines in the brain's energy production have been shown to precede the development of Alzheimer's disease, Brinton said.

"Over time, the reduction in the ability to generate sufficient energy for the brain leads to, ultimately, an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease," Brinton said.

Brinton and colleagues are now conducting a clinical trial to see if a drug that promotes estrogen activity in the brain reduces cognitive difficulties in women going through menopause. The drug does not promote estrogen activity in other parts of the body, such as the breast, where the hormone has been shown to increase the risk of cancer.

The largest trial of estrogen therapy in postmenopausal women did not find that the therapy reduced the risk of Alzheimer's disease, Brinton said. But that may be because there's a window of time when the therapy is effective, Brinton said.

"If you treat a woman at age 65, her brain is no longer estrogen-responsive," Brinton said. The time to provide an estrogen therapy for cognitive benefits could be during menopause, when women are still experiencing symptoms, Brinton said.

Brinton said changes in brain metabolism likely increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease in men as well. However, men tend to experience hormonal changes, a stage known as andropause, later in life than women, Brinton said.

Divorce & Other Life Stressors Linked with Dementia

Common life stressors — such as divorce, widowhood or losing a job — may increase the risk of dementia later in life, a new study of women in Sweden suggests.

In the study, experiencing such psychosocial stressors in midlife was linked with a 21 % increased risk of developing  Alzheimer's disease, and a 15 %  increased risk of developing any type of dementia, over nearly four decades. The findings held even after the researchers took into account factors that may affect dementia risk, such as smoking habits, alcohol consumption and a family history of mental illness.

People who were exposed to psychosocial stressors were also at increased risk of experiencing prolonged periods of distress (or feelings of irritability, tension, nervousness, fear, anxiety or sleep disturbances). However, such distress could not fully explain the link between psychosocial stressors and dementia, meaning that the association may, in part, be due to biological factors that change in response to experiencing stressors, the researchers said.

"More studies are needed to confirm these results and investigate whether more interventions, such as stress management and behavioral therapy, should be initiated in individuals who have experienced psychosocial stressors," the researchers, from the University of Gothenburg.

Researchers analyzed information from 800 Swedish women who periodically underwent testing between 1968 and 2005. At the study's start, participants were asked whether they had experienced any of 18 psychosocial stressors, including whether their spouse or close relative had a mental illness or abused alcohol, or whether they or their husband had lost a job. Medical records and other information from psychiatric examinations were used to determine whether participants developed dementia over a 38-year period.

About a quarter of participants said they had experienced one psychosocial stressor, 23 % experienced two stressors, 30 % experienced three stressors and 16 %  experienced four stressors. The most common stressor was mental illness in a first-degree relative.

During the study period, about 20 % (153 people) developed dementia, 104 of whom developed Alzheimer's disease.

Psychological stress has been linked with increased production of inflammatory factors in the brain, and with an increased frequency of cardiovascular disease, and these, in turn, may be risk factors for dementia, the researchers said.

Exercise Beneficial for Dementia

Exercise may benefit older people with dementia by improving their cognitive functioning and ability to carry out everyday activities.

Due to people living longer, rates of dementia are expected to rise sharply in the coming decades. Dementia affects the brain in different ways and is associated with effects on memory and personality. It is thought that exercise might be useful in treating dementia or slowing its progression, through improvements in the ability to carry out everyday tasks and positive effects on mental processes such as memory and attention, collectively described as cognitive functioning. Exercise may therefore indirectly benefit family caregivers and the healthcare system by reducing some of the burden of dementia.

The study updates a Cochrane review carried out in 2008, when only four trials on the effects of exercise in older people with dementia were available. In the updated review, data from eight trials involving 329 people showed that exercise could improve cognitive functioning. Data from six studies involving 289 people showed that exercise could improve the ability of older people with dementia to carry out daily activities, such as walking short distances or getting up from a chair.

"In our previous review, we were unable to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of exercise in older people with dementia, due to a shortage of appropriate trials," said researcher, Dorothy Forbes, an Associate Professor of Nursing who works at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. "Following this new review, we are now able to conclude that there is promising evidence for exercise programs improving cognition and the ability to carry out daily activities. However, we do still need to be cautious about how we interpret these findings."

The researchers remain cautious because there were substantial differences among the results of individual trials. In addition, they did not find enough evidence to determine whether exercise improved challenging behaviours or depression in older people with dementia. They were unable to come to any conclusions regarding quality of life, or benefits for family caregivers and health systems, because there was not enough evidence.

However, the researchers suggest that if more evidence becomes available in future, it may help to address the question of whether exercise can help people with dementia remain at home for longer. "Clearly, further research is needed to be able to develop best practice guidelines to enable healthcare providers to advise people with dementia living at home or in institutions," said Forbes. "We also need to understand what level and intensity of exercise is beneficial for someone with dementia."