Steroids are an important class of biologic compounds in the body.
The sex hormones are steroids and include testosterone, the primary anabolic steroid in humans. Anabolic steroids are tissue mass-increasing steroids, which means they help build muscle. The effect of anabolic steroids is to increase the body's ability to use protein to make muscle. The way your body uses protein can be affected by HIV infection. Anabolic steroids help send the amino acids back to the muscles.