Study Boldenone May Cause Kidney Damage

[CFC]

I'm going to preface this by saying that the miraculous has happened: researchers have actually gained ethical approval to conduct a study on bodybuilders doing some fairly typical multi-compound cycles at normal doses. Fucking amazing!

On the other hand, I'm going to say that I've not read the full study, which I don't have access to yet. And they don't appear to have controlled for diet (see protein intake), which is annoying. However, protein intake alone hasn't generally been recorded to cause the changes noticed here.

What the researchers appear to have discovered is that boldenone is unusually hard on the kidneys. Increased renal cortical echogenicity is a nonspecific but significant finding that suggests the presence of various underlying renal abnormalities, while the thickness of renal parenchyma is a measure which predicts renal function pretty well (thicker = poorer function).

We tend to think of orals and compounds like tren as being at fault here, but the group using dianabol were actually relatively unaffected, so this study is certainly food for thought...

Evaluation of anabolic steroid induced renal damage with sonography in bodybuilders.

November 20, 2017

Kantarci UH, Punduk Z, Senarslan O, Dirik A.


BACKGROUND:

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of anabolic steroids on kidneys in bodybuilders.

METHODS:

Twenty two bodybuilders were included in the study. Participants were divided into three groups according to the scheme of steroid usage: Group 1 (n=8, intramuscular 500 mg testosterone enanthate, intramuscular 400 mg nandrolone decanoate and oral 40 mg methandrostenolone for 12 weeks), Group 2 (n=7, intramuscular 500 mg testosterone enanthate, intramuscular 300 mg nandrolone decanoate and intramuscular 300 mg boldenone undecylenate for 16 weeks) and Group 3 (n=7, no steroid intake). Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), urine microalbumin and electrolyte levels were measured. Renal volume, cortical thickness and echogenicity were obtained in ultrasonographic scans.

RESULTS:

Renal volume, cortical thickness, echogenicity and protein intake value were significantly higher in group 2 than group 1 and 3. Plasma levels of BUN and Cr in group 2 were significantly higher than other groups (p ? 0.001). Urine microalbumin and electrolyte levels were normal in all groups.

CONCLUSIONS:

The results of this study indicate that high protein intake, steroid usage, particularly the schemes, including boldenone undecylenate increases cortical echogenicity, thickness of renal parenchyma and renal volume in bodybuilders.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29148625

 

[Serotonin101]

Well good thing I won't be using eq anymore. I wonder if DHB does the same thing?

 

[Swim15]

Interesting at face value...yay for the times I've run EQ at 2-3g+ lol.

Any speculation on real world consequences though? EQ is used frequently for long periods since it's often an offseason drug as well as sometimes a prep drug and frequently at high doses given its "mild" nature but the incidence of kidney problems in the real world *seems* to be pretty low

 

[Serotonin101]

Interesting at face value...yay for the times I've run EQ at 2-3g+ lol.

Any speculation on real world consequences though? EQ is used frequently for long periods since it's often an offseason drug as well as sometimes a prep drug and frequently at high doses given its "mild" nature but the incidence of kidney problems in the real world *seems* to be pretty low

What caught my eye was the dose of eq used in the study. Much lower than what is traditionally used.

 

[Swim15]

That's why I'm wondering why we don't see more problems with all the guys running grams for extended periods of time

 

[CFC]

The study is looking at 15 steroids users, so not exactly a princely sum to draw conclusions from. Still, we have to make do with what we have.

As for kidney problems, sadly we have no real metric for knowing. How many bodybuilders go out and get an echo of their kidneys after a cycle? And how many who suffer from kidney-related illnesses later in life, perhaps decades after AAS use, get their symptoms conclusively linked to their previous behaviour, if that behaviour is even mentioned to a GP/specialist? Sadly a paucity of accurate data isn't proof of the absence of effect.

Nevertheless, at this stage info like this is something to consider rather than a conclusive red flag.

 

[Swim15]

Yeah good point on the evidence as a whole as well as problems later on in life.

I'm not in the MDMA forum as much anymore because I can't stand a lot of the recommendations I see there but the "later in life" point was one I think people grossly fail to consider. The human body is pretty incredible and can compensate for a lot of things, especially when you are young. While the damage may not been seen or felt immediately, MDMA or other rec drugs have a much greater potential in my mind for compensations (because most of it takes place in the brain) that could lead to exceptionally bad consequences decades later but gear is no exception.