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Dianabol represents one of the most popular and one of the most important anabolic steroids of all time. Undoubtedly, this is the most popular oral steroid to ever hit the market and one of the most popular steroids in any form. Although almost always found as an oral tablet, Dianabol can be found as an injectable solution, but tablets represent the main route of administration. Why is this steroid so important? In many ways, it has given rise to the age of modern performance enhancement. It was not the first anabolic steroid used for that purpose, it would belong to testosterone, but Dianabol would open the door to a new wave of steroid use that grew beyond what was expected.

Dianabol represents one of the only anabolic steroids that was developed for the sole purpose of performance improvement. The compound did carry therapeutic uses listed at the same time, but performance was the real reason this steroid was given life. Through the ’40s and’ 50s the Soviet Union had begun to dominate the Olympics, and the use of testosterone by many of its athletes left the rest of the world lagging behind. During that time, the US Olympic team, Dr. John Ziegler, would learn about using steroids from the United States, and would quickly help ensure that their athletes would match. In 1958, with the help of Dr. Ziegler, Ciba Pharmaceuticals would launch the first lots of Methandrostenolone under the trade name Dianabol. The compound was designed in an effort to maintain the anabolic properties of testosterone with less androgenicity in a rapid, powerful action. Apparently during the night the steroid was a huge success, giving many US athletes a distinct advantage over their Soviet rivals.

After its inception, Dianabol quickly find its way into almost every competitive sports imaginable. In conjunction with exogenous testosterone, this birth a different age of performance the world had seen. The steroid also quickly become a staple in competitive bodybuilding, where it remained a favorite for this day. However, shortly after its release the US FDA would begin to put a lot of pressure on Ciba in an effort to push the company to list true medical benefits of steroid. The FDA would approve its use for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women as well as anemia pituitary deficiency, but the latter was withdrawn in the early 1980s. Again the FDA would press Ciba for more information, but in 1983 under pressure from Ciba assembly would discontinue the Dianabol tab. A few years later, the FDA would pull all Methandrostenolone brands off the shelf. Since then Dianabol has not been legally manufactured in the United States, but is still manufactured heavily all over the world.