Steroid-free?

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Cindy393
Cindy393 Posts: 268 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Some family members got into a discussion yesterday about eating chicken and beef with vs. without steroids and antibiotics. It makes total sense to me that we would gain weight from foods injected with steroids. Has anyone started eating this way? I'm in Ohio and not even sure where to find these kinds of foods. I would love to hear from anyone who knows anything about this.

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  • FunkyTobias
    FunkyTobias Posts: 1,776 Member
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    . It makes total sense to me that we would gain weight from foods injected with steroids


    Why do you think this? The hormones given to animals cannot survive digestion. They are merely broken down just like any other protein.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,709 Member
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    Some family members got into a discussion yesterday about eating chicken and beef with vs. without steroids and antibiotics. It makes total sense to me that we would gain weight from foods injected with steroids. Has anyone started eating this way? I'm in Ohio and not even sure where to find these kinds of foods. I would love to hear from anyone who knows anything about this.
    You gain weight from over eating. "Chemically enhanced" usually means growth hormones and aren't used with fowls. In cattle and sheep yes, but one can be selective.
    But being overweight or obese has to to do positive energy balance and that's from over consumption.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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  • ellie78
    ellie78 Posts: 375
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    ..
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    If you wanted an honest answer you would read scientific publications and learn that, as was stated above, these are broken down in digestion and do not affect you. That said, I'm pretty sure this thread is going to go to the tinfoil hat crowd like any internet discussion on this subject. Have fun!
  • Cindy393
    Cindy393 Posts: 268 Member
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    So it's not necessarily true then that you'd gain weight from eating 'regular' store-bought meat? I only thought it was true because of the fact that people I know who were on steroids (like I was for controlling pain after back surgery) gained weight. Even my dog gained weight when she was given them for congestive heart failure. That's what made me think it would do this by eating them as well.
  • Cindy393
    Cindy393 Posts: 268 Member
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    If you wanted an honest answer you would read scientific publications and learn that, as was stated above, these are broken down in digestion and do not affect you. That said, I'm pretty sure this thread is going to go to the tinfoil hat crowd like any internet discussion on this subject. Have fun!

    This is definitely great information, and I appreciate all the honest answers!
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    So it's not necessarily true then that you'd gain weight from eating 'regular' store-bought meat? I only thought it was true because of the fact that people I know who were on steroids (like I was for controlling pain after back surgery) gained weight. Even my dog gained weight when she was given them for congestive heart failure. That's what made me think it would do this by eating them as well.

    No. They really are broken down in digestion. The problem is getting into these discussions on an internet message board always leads to pages and pages of "debate" with people that ignore the science in favor of citing websites that survive on fear and sensationalism. If store bought meat and milk really had usable steroids then I would be huge! For that matter, so would my skinny little girls and my 120 pound, weight lifting, wife.
  • Cindy393
    Cindy393 Posts: 268 Member
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    well all I can say is this topic is no longer up for debate, and you all gave me great answers. Case closed :)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,709 Member
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    So it's not necessarily true then that you'd gain weight from eating 'regular' store-bought meat? I only thought it was true because of the fact that people I know who were on steroids (like I was for controlling pain after back surgery) gained weight. Even my dog gained weight when she was given them for congestive heart failure. That's what made me think it would do this by eating them as well.
    Totally different steroids you're speaking of. Your were on corticosteroids, whereas say a bodybuilder (to gain lean mass) would be taking anabolic steroids.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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  • fluffykitsune
    fluffykitsune Posts: 236 Member
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    Even if steroids survived digestion, wouldn't the heat from cooking kill it anyways ?
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    Kinda off topic, but, this reminds me of my discussion about eating animals that were raised on GMO corn. I'm waiting to see evidence that a cow raised on GMO corn passes on ill effects to me when I eat it. Im not buying this "you are what you eat" BS as scientific evidence. (Or in this case "you are what the animal you ate, ate"... lol)
  • adaplas
    adaplas Posts: 17 Member
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    Steroids do survive digestion, that's why you can take oral contraceptives, Vitamin D, or prednisone by mouth. They are all steroid-based. Protein hormones (insulin, growth hormone), on the other hand, cannot survive digestion and that's why they're given as injections or oral/nasal sprays.

    The primary scare with injecting steroids in livestock is whether they are carcinogenic or not. There is still no definitive evidence in research one way or the other but some countries are already banning steroids in livestock (EU, Japan).

    As to weight gain, I believe that the injected amounts are too minute to affect your weight. Your ovaries/testicles produce significantly more than what you can get from meat or milk.
  • Cindy393
    Cindy393 Posts: 268 Member
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    Steroids do survive digestion, that's why you can take oral contraceptives, Vitamin D, or prednisone by mouth. They are all steroid-based. Protein hormones (insulin, growth hormone), on the other hand, cannot survive digestion and that's why they're given as injections or oral/nasal sprays.

    The primary scare with injecting steroids in livestock is whether they are carcinogenic or not. There is still no definitive evidence in research one way or the other but some countries are already banning steroids in livestock (EU, Japan).

    As to weight gain, I believe that the injected amounts are too minute to affect your weight. Your ovaries/testicles produce significantly more than what you can get from meat or milk.

    Very interesting info! Thanks!
  • FunkyTobias
    FunkyTobias Posts: 1,776 Member
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    Steroids do survive digestion, that's why you can take oral contraceptives, Vitamin D, or prednisone by mouth. They are all steroid-based.


    Prednisone is a corticosteroid, vitamin D is a secosteroid.

    Anabolic steroids, (ie sex hormones) must undergo 17-alpha-alkylation to make them orally bioavailable. Only a miniscule amount will survive first-pass metabolism.

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