Pubdate: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 Source: International Herald-Tribune Page: 8, Health Contact: http://www.iht.com/ Copyright: International Herald Tribune 1998 Author: Natalie Angier, New York Times Service DRUGS, SPORTS, IMAGE AND G.I. JOE NEW YORK---Which classic American doll has been a staple of childhood for decades, has won iconic status in the culture and possesses a waist so small and hemispheric projections so pronounced that no real adult could approach them without the help of potentially dangerous body enhancement therapies? Barbie? Well, yes. But Barbie has a male companion in the land of the outlandish physique, and it isn't Ken. Instead, we must look to a recent model of that old trooper, G.I. Joe, to see a match for Barbie's cartoon anatomy, and to find a doll that may be as insidious a role model for boys as Ms. Triple-D top Size-2 bottom is for girls. Some researchers worry that Joe and other action-hero figures may, in minor fashion, help fan the use of musclebuilding drugs among young athletes, even as doctors and sports officials struggle to emphasize that such drugs are not only risky, illegal and unsporting, but in many cases worthless in enhancing performance. Harrison Pope Jr., a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, has studied how the morphology of G.I. Joe has evolved since the doll was introduced in 1964. Just as Barbie has become gradually thinner and bustier, Dr. Pope said, so each new vintage of G.I. Joe has been more muscular and sharply defined, or "cut," than the model before. The most extraordinary G.I. Joe on the market, "G.I. Joe Extreme," wears a red bandanna and an expression of rage. His biceps bulge so much that they are larger around than his waist, and, if ratcheted up to human size, they would be larger than even the arms of the grotesquely muscular Olympians of today, Dr. Pope said. Hasbro Industries, maker of the G.I. Joe dolls, disagrees with Dr. Pope's contention that the body type of the standard Joe doll has changed much over the years. The company adds that it has stopped manufacturing the "Extreme" model, although a recent expedition showed that the doll was still available in toy stores. G.I. Joe is the only action figure that has been around long enough for Dr. Pope to be able to make comparisons between old and new models. But he said that a survey of other popular action figures---Power Rangers, Batman and Cyberforce Stryker---showed the same excessive muscularity. Dr. Pope said the dolls might be planting in boys' minds a template for a he man's body that cannot be attained without engaging in obsessive behaviors to build muscle and strip off fat, and then augmenting those efforts with drugs like human growth hormone and anabolic steroids, synthetic versions of the mate horrnone, testosterone. His study of the evolution of action dolls will be published early next year in The International Journal of Eating Disorders. "Prior to 1960, and the introduction of anabolic steroids, even the most dedicated bodybuilders couldn't get larger than a certain maximum size," Dr. Pope said. "Steroids made it possible for men to look as big as supermen, and now we see that standard reflected in our toys for the very young." Given the ubiquitous images of muscularity, as well as the mounting demands on young athletes to sprint faster, vault higher, lift heavier and otherwise impress cadres of easily disgruritled sports fans, experts say it is not surprising that the use of muscle-enhancing drugs has reached pandemic proportions, even among barely pubescent boys. About 18 percent of high-school athletes in the United States are thought to use anabolic steroids, about twice the figure of 10 years ago, according to some estimates. Although performance-enhancing drugs are generally banned by athletic organizations, it is considered laughably easy to cheat and escape detection in drug screens. In addition health food stores now offer a variety of "nutritional supplements" reputed to have anabolic properties. The supplements include creatine, DHEA, beta agonists and androstenedione, a precursor of testosterone made famous by the baseball slugger Mark McGwire. Such supplements are not strictly regulated, like drugs, their side effects are uncharted and their effectiveness is unproved. Doctors have long emphasized the dangers of muscle-building drugs. The use of anabolic steroids lowers the levels of protective high-density lipoproteins, suppresses sperm productlon and ra1ses the risk of heart attacks, strokes and liver disease. The chronic use of human growth hormone in ultra-high doses has its own hazards, among them an increased risk of arthritic-type disorders, diabetes and some cancers. MANY researchers say the paradoxical elernent in the seemingly unstoppable epidemic of using such drugs, is that most of them do not work nearly as well as billed. Human growth hormone may increase muscle mass, but bigger does not necessarily mean stronger, said Shalender Bhasin, chief of the division of endocrinology metabolism and molecular medicine at Charles Drew University in Los Angeles. The extra muscle bulk that comes from steroid use may drag an athlete down without compensating for the added weight through better performance. For any event that requires moving against friction or gravity, Dr. Bhasin said, including sprinting, pole-vaulting or swimming, and for endurance activities like marathon running, taking testosterone may be counterproductive. - --- Checked-by: Patrick Henry