The clinical term for the growth of breast tissue in men is known as Gynecomastia, from the Greek ‘gyne’ meaning woman and ‘mastos’ meaning breast. Ancient Greek aside, it is commonly known as man boobs. Though there are a number of reasons why man boobs can form, the primary two are hormonal imbalances and excess fatty tissue, most common in obese and overweight men.

Puberty is one of the natural times when man boobs can develop because of natural hormone disruptions. Although man boobs in adolescent males usually disappear after a while, it is not at all uncommon for them to sprout small breasts of have lumps under their nipple for a couple of years. This is more likely to happen in overweight boys but even active and slim boys can experience it. No health risks are associated with this adolescent man boob growth, other than the social and psychological pain and stigmatisation that often goes with man boobs. Boys that have man boobs will often isolate themselves from their peer group and avoid social situations that involve taking off their shirt like sports of beach activities.

Man boobs can also be the result of a side effect from prescription medications, or from drug and alcohol abuse (marijuana, methamphetamines and beer are big ones) as well as diseases that can have man boobs as symptoms like certain cancers and liver disease.

There is another whopping cause of man boobs (leading to man boob epidemics) that can be very difficult to treat and can even become permanent breasts if left untreated, needing a surgeon’s knife to fix the problem. Anabolic steroids are the big baddies when it comes to leaving behind a nice pair of man boobs on once bulging pecks – they are leading men into epidemic proportions of gynecomastia. Because steroids have such a profound effect on the hormones in your body, they have a far more drastic and fast development of man boobs than natural hormonal problems. Steroid induced man boobs are also far more persistent and hard to get rid of, and some that have been left untreated can require costly (risky, painful, etc) mamoplasty – not something any man wants to go through.

Male breast development is quite a common side effect of steroid use. Breast will develop because of the way that steroids disrupt the balance of estrogen and testosterone in the body. Steroids work by inhibiting the body’s natural testosterone, so when a cycle is finished and a steroid user doesn’t put testosterone back in the system then huge levels of estrogen will cause buddy breast and feminine hips (lovely love handle!) to develop. Not exactly the look steroids users would be going for, but a result of steroids nonetheless.

After taking steroids it can take a while for the body’s natural testosterone production to begin again and even when it does and hormones go back to normal the breast that have formed often remain. Man boobs from other causes are easy to deal with compared to man boobs that come from steroid use.

There is one very easy solution, and that is to stay right away from steroids, and if you think about the other associated risk like shrunken testicles, looking like a stocking stuffed with tennis balls and our lovely flabby boobs there are plenty of good reasons to do so. Those who are determined to use steroids can try and stop breast development by taking estrogen blockers. The effects of estrogen blockers are not fully known, so despite the fact they are taken by many bodybuilders, they may have hidden effects potentially more unsettling than man boobs.

There are plenty of ways to try and reduce man boobs, and if you have man boobs and have never used steroids then you are just months away from having a manly toned chest once more, because male breast are totally treatable given the right natural remedies and lifestyle and diet changes. If you have steroid induce gynecomastia it may take a bit more time, however you should try every natural remedy prior to surgery, as it can be a costly as risky procedure that may or may not cure the problem.

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