WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- Steroids are now being used in the United States as much for slimming and losing weight as in professional sports.
That is finding in the latest U.S. congressional hearing on steroid abuse, the Christian Science Monitor reported Thursday. It supports growing concerns that young women increasingly are abusing steroids.
Many steroid users -- both men and women -- take the drug not to run faster, jump higher or throw harder, but simply to look better, the report said.
The problem is compounded by the fact that there is disagreement in surveys about the number of steroid abusers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 5 percent of high school girls have abused steroids. Another survey of 13 high schools in Oregon found that, among boys, 4.5 percent of non-athletes took steroids, compared to 6.5 percent of athletes. Among girls, some 2.1 percent of non-athletes took steroids, compared with 1 percent of athletes.
