Eat clen? The normalisation of harmful clenbuterol use within digital fitness cultures

2025/11/01 by Luke Cox, Timothy Piatkowski · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Medicine · Social Sciences · #Pharmacological Effects and Assays #Hormonal and reproductive studies #Sports, Gender, and Society

paper · doi:10.1016/j.peh.2025.100391

openalex created_date 2025/11/01 · openalex publication_date 2025/11/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

• Clenbuterol has been implicated in fatalities within the bodybuilding community. • The use of clenbuterol is increasingly normalised within bodybuilding subcultures. • Targeted harm reduction strategies are urgently needed to address these emerging trends and associated health risks. Clenbuterol is a β2-adrenergic agonist that is not approved for human use in the United States but is widely used by bodybuilders and athletes for its fat-reducing effects. Within image- and performance-enhancing drug (IPED) communities, it is commonly referred to as “Clen” and is typically incorporated into a bodybuilder’s drug “cycle” during the “cutting” phase of competition preparation. While well-established within bodybuilding subcultures, clenbuterol use is associated with significant health risks, including tremors, hyperthermia, tachycardia, cardiac palpitations, and, in severe cases, death. Increasingly, concerns have been raised about the diffusion of clenbuterol use into broader fitness communities. This study employs digital ethnography to examine the role of social media in this diffusion process. Drawing on the normalisation perspective (Parker et al., 1998), it highlights how social media platforms shape perceptions and practices related to clenbuterol. Specifically, social media facilitates access and availability, reframes perceptions of risk, enables cultural and social accommodation, and contributes to identity formation among this population. Through the overt promotion, advertising, and discussion of clenbuterol, social media plays a critical role in fostering its acceptability within wider fitness communities. In light of these developments, this paper argues for stronger governmental engagement to mitigate health risks and protect individuals participating in increasingly diverse and evolving IPED communities.

Citations

• The global epidemiology of anabolic-androgenic steroid use: a meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis
• Health consequences of androgenic anabolic steroid use
• One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis?
• Toward good practice in thematic analysis: Avoiding common problems and be(com)ing a knowing researcher
• The world's first anabolic‐androgenic steroid testing trial: A two‐phase pilot combining chemical analysis, results dissemination and community feedback
• Tracing the Impact of Media, Cultural Narratives, and Social Perceptions on Australia's Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Communities
• Anabolic steroid coaching certification in India: The role of capital in digital fitness spaces
• The material practices and social dimensions of community care among people who use, produce, and supply image and performance enhancing drugs
• The normalisation of drug supply: The socialsupplyof drugs as the “other side” of the history of normalisation
• Adverse Health Consequences of Performance-Enhancing Drugs: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement

Discussions

• Also another one in Luke & Evelyn's Special Issue on weight-loss meds by Luke Cox and myself - looking at Clenbuterol normalisation online: doi.org/10.1016/j.pe... @griffithcmh.bsky.social @uqchsr.bs [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]