New study on Muscle Dysmorphia.

"In his research, Baghurst made a distinction between bodybuilders that was not previously made. He divided bodybuilders into the sub-groups of “natural” and “non-natural.” Natural bodybuilding refers to competitions in which participants are drug-tested and must pass a polygraph regarding their lack of prohibited drug use. Non-natural bodybuilding refers to those competitions in which participants are not required to pass a polygraph, nor are they drug tested prior to competition.

Baghurst found that steroid use is not necessary to be heavily concerned with muscularity and leanness.

“Most people will assume bodybuilders using steroids are those with muscle dysmorphia,” he said. “By separating natural and non-natural bodybuilders, I found that either group is equally likely to have all of the traits of muscle dysmorphia with the exception of pharmacological use.”

Baghurst used the 27-question Muscle Dysmorphia Inventory to survey participants. The participants consisted of competitive natural and non-natural bodybuilders, non-competitive weight trainers who concentrate on improving physique and collegiate football players. The collegiate football players scored lowest on all subscales of muscle dysmorphia except for physique protection, where they scored highest. He found that collegiate football players do not appear to exhibit traits associated with muscle dysmorphia to the same degree as other weight-training groups.

Baghurst also found those males who were weight training to improve their physique, but were not bodybuilders also had some characteristics associated with muscle dysmorphia including dissatisfaction with their size and symmetry.

"This is an important finding, because it shows that someone doesn't have to be big and buff to have concerns about how muscular they are or how much body fat they have," Baghurst said."