Amid endless TikTok scrolls, teenage boys like 16-year-old Zaid Laila from Dallas are racing for viral body transformations. Bypassing years of gym grind, Laila’s posts showcase a sculpted physique that drew massive attention.
“Why wait 10 years when I could do it in less than a year,” he told CBS News. The truth? “A lot of steroids and a lot of working out,” including trenbolone, a cattle booster never approved for humans and illegal without U.S. prescription.
UCSF’s Dr Jason Nagata warns of its devastation to hearts, livers and kidneys. “Trenbolone, because it’s so powerful, has even more significant side effects,” he said. “There is no safe [human] indication for this animal drug.”
Steroids have shifted from sports cheats to social media aesthetics. “There are many people now who aren’t actually participating in any type of sports who are using these drugs only for the purpose of looking better,” Nagata noted.
TikTok videos peddling them hit 587 million young U.S. views from 2020-2023, fuelling extreme muscle pressures. “With more social media, there have been really extreme pressures for boys to build muscle,” he added.
Visuals hooked Laila. “Seeing people do it is what makes you want to do it,” he said. Access is effortless. “It’s not hard at all. Anyone can get their hands on it if they try.”
Don Hooton Jr knows the heartbreak. His brother Taylor died by suicide in 2003 after steroid withdrawal from sports urging. Today, Hooton fights back. “We’re seeing kids today asking if trenbolone is safe. That’s a major problem.”
Apps are the new frontier. “[The] drug dealer has gone from a dark alley to the safe four walls of our home,” he said. “Everybody is filming themselves. They wanna be the next social media star, and they’re doing whatever it takes to change that physique, even if it’s using illegal drugs.”
Laila defies the risks. “If I have a heart attack at 30, I have a heart attack,” he said. “I’m still going to do [steroids]. I know what can come with it.” Watch for obsessive habits and withdrawal, urge experts, as families battle the feed’s toxic draw.