Prohormones - Facts
Artificial muscle supplements are the reason for many serious debates. Scientists and doctors disagree about the effects and efficacy of these supplements. Nevertheless, many bodybuilders still use both steroids and prohormones.
Prohormones are organic substances which get converted to active steroids in the human body, enabling the synthesis of new muscles. These supplements come up as steroids alternative, because they offer the same results as steroids and still they aren’t prohibited or illegal to be used. Both, steroids and prohormones have the same side effects.
Athletes who want to increase their muscles and/or decrease level of body fat frequently use prohormones. These supplements are said to enhance their strength, endurance, and help them achieve lean muscle mass. Usually, bodybuilders use these prohormones supplements in cycles, regulating their effect to the muscle building.
Prohormones are also used as an alternative to prescription drugs for people that need hormones for replacement therapies.
Prohormones in the Body
Prohormones can be seen as body blocks which can produce anabolic steroids. After several different metabolic processes in the liver and the use of different body enzymes, they get transformed into anabolic steroids. The main difference between steroids and prohormones is in this place of transformation. Prohormones get converted into anabolic steroids inside the body and because of that they can be legally used. Five common prohormones can be found in the market. These are:
4-androstenedioneis prohormone that converts to testosterone. About 5% of the taken amount of this prohormones supplement gets transformed into testosterone, but there is a high percent of the supplement that converts into estrogen. This transformation into estrogen is responsible for the side effects, such as acne, gynecomastia, male baldness and enlarged prostate.4-androstenediol also gets converted to testosterone, with a slightly higher rate (about 15%). It does not convert to estrogen directly and therefore has less pronounced estrogen side effects. It also has less androgen effects, since it doesn’t convert to dihydrotestosterone (DHT).19-norandrostenedione converts to nor-testosterone and it doesn’t have so many anabolic or androgenic side effects as testosterone.19-norandrostenediol also converts into nor-testosterone with a higher conversion rate than 19-norandrostenedione. 1-androstenediol gets converted to 1-Dihydrostestosterone in the body. Its conversion rate is very high and it does not get transformed into estrogen. Because it still has androgenic side effects, people using this prohormones can suffer from male baldness, testicular shrinkage, acne and prostate hypertrophy.
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