Posted 23 May 2020
New York Times By May 21, 2020
“I’ve started cutting,” my son, a college freshman, recently told me. He meant he was temporarily restricting calories to lose body fat as part of his new focus on bodybuilding. He planned to alternate cutting with “bulking,” or building up muscle mass, aided by over-the-counter supplements like protein powder and creatine.
Everything he was doing was legal, but was it safe? I also have a teenage daughter, and I was attuned to body-image-related issues affecting girls. But I realized the risks for teenage boys were equally worrisome and decided to check with several experts.
Supplement use is widespread
“Almost a third of boys are trying to gain weight or bulk up,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.
Many turn to protein supplements in an attempt to