Popular Body Building Pills Linked to Testicular Cancer, Study

A new research has revealed that men who use body building pills and supplements are at a higher risk of developing testicular cancer.

According to the study, it was observed that men who started using multiple pills before 25 of age and then continued to use them for years - were found to be especially vulnerable to testicular cancer.

Russ Hauser, professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a main collaborator of the research said, "We found that supplement use was related to a higher risk of developing testicular cancer. These results are important because there are few identified modifiable risk factors for testicular cancer and it remains a very mysterious cancer."

"If you used at earlier age, you had a higher risk. If you used them longer, you had a higher risk. If you used multiple types, you had a higher risk,"

For the study, the team carried out in-depth interviews of 900 men, 356 among them had been diagnosed with testicular cancer.

The researchers not only gathered data on the kind of supplements and frequency with which they were used by these men, but also considered a number of other factors. These include details on family history of testicular cancer, drinking, smoking and if the person had suffered any previous injury to the testes.

Based on the data obtained, the researchers determined that men who used supplements were at a 65 per cent higher risk to the cancer than those that didn't. The risk was found to be as much as 177 percent with younger men who started using multiple supplements for three or more years.

The study concluded, "Considering the magnitude of the association and the observed dose-response trends, muscle-building supplements use may be an important and modifiable exposure that could have important scientific and clinical importance for preventing testicular germ cell cancer development if this association is confirmed by future studies."