supplements

Β-ecdisterone

By Dr. Nicola Sacchi - Author of the book: Drugs and doping in sport -

Testosterone is the quintessential anabolic steroid hormone. Thanks to its action every athlete increases strength and muscle mass, important factors to improve in many sports and of course for body builders who are looking for this. Testosterone is naturally produced in the human body in limited quantities and each athlete tries to promote its synthesis to improve its results.

In recent years, however, companies that produce supplements for athletes have developed the search for natural substances that could actually contribute to raising the levels of this hormone.

The last found phytotherapic introduced on the market of supplements is β-ecdisterone, a revolutionary substance that according to those who produce it would have miraculous effects on the human body by promoting muscle growth in an incredible way, but is it really so?

Β-ecdisterone is a hormone of invertebrates (insects and other small animals) that controls growth, development, moulting and cellular differentiation. It is also a phytosterol produced by various plants such as maca ( Lepidium meyenii ), suma ( Pfaffia paniculata ) and Vaga cyanotis ; the alleged invigorating properties attributed to these vegetables would also derive from the presence of this substance.

Β-ecdisterone is easily obtainable also by organic synthesis starting from cholesterol.

Although mammals do not produce this hormone, according to some studies, it appears that this substance also has activity on them. There is still not much clarity on these properties, but several studies have been done and the ecdisterone seems to have a positive effect on the construction of muscle mass (with an action comparable to that of anabolics), on protein synthesis, on the synthesis of glycogen, on the hepatic activity, on lipid metabolism, on osteogenesis, on bone calcification and on modulation of the immune system in different rodents. Currently there are still few studies available to express conclusive opinions, however mice and rats have obtained some benefits from the administration of this substance.

Currently, the supplement market produces numerous ecdisterone-based products with the aim of promoting muscle growth and improving physical performance. This substance is inserted in phytocomplexes to stimulate the production of testosterone (T-booster) and also in some mass gainers, as a pure substance or through titrated phyto-extracts (pfaffia, etc.). However, there are no studies on humans capable of demonstrating these properties, so one wonders why, if these companies are so convinced of the potential of this substance, they do not carry out human research to demonstrate the efficacy of their products, given that not always what works on a mouse in particular laboratory conditions, also acts on humans.

At the present state of knowledge about β-ecdisterone it is not possible to say that it works on man; therefore before buying a product that boasts miraculous properties as containing this substance, know that nothing that is guaranteed has been demonstrated for now.