Steroids

(Hardback)

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Description

A thorough, balanced examination of the controversies on the therapeutic and non-therapeutic use of steroids that covers both legal medical therapy and illegal performance enhancement. The discussions regarding the ethical, medical, and social controversies surrounding steroid use are as heated as the drugs themselves are powerful. Steroids comprehensively addresses the separate debates over steroid use in therapeutic medical treatments, sports performance enhancement, and cosmetic lifestyle choices. The contents provide balanced coverage of the complex positive and negative implications involved with using these "ingredients of youth" to evade the common ailments of old age and to overcome some of the limitations of natural biology. This book will be invaluable to students of not only health and exercise sciences, sports and sport-related fields, and medical science, but also those researching social and ethical questions involved with the use of steroids in related fields. For example, the book may be used by sociology students investigating social aspects of sports, health policy, and public role models; psychology students focusing on the role of self-image and mental health; and political science students researching public health policy.

Reviews

Part of Greenwood/ABC-CLIO's series, Health and Medical Issues Today series, Steroids provides a balanced examination of the controversy surrounding their use in sports, sexual health, and aging, through a scientific and ethical lens. . . . What makes this book stand out, however, is its clear explanation of the science behind steroids, including their biochemistry, side effects, differences, and therapeutic and performance-enhancing uses. * ARBA *
This modest handbook, part of the Health and Medical Issues Today series, offers an acceptable overview and introduction to steroid use, an effective explanation of the basic biochemistry of steroid hormones, and familiar historical background on therapeutic and performance-enhancing effects. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. . . . General readers and lower-division undergraduates. * Choice *

Author Bio

Aharon W. Zorea, PhD, is associate professor of history at the University of WisconsinRichland.