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T-Gel with or Without an Aromatase Inhibitor? If You Are Healthy & Lean and Want to Stay This Way, There is Only One Answer: T-Gel Without Aromatase Inhibitor!

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Don't let her talk you into participating in studies that risk your manliness ;-) Would you be willing to participate in a study, where you could end up without testosterone? No? Well me neither... strangely Joel S. Finkelstein et al. were able to find 198 healthy men between 20 and 50 years who were stupid enough to participate in an experiment, where they were randomized to placebo, or testosterone gel (1.25, 2.5, 5, or 10g per day) while being on gosererelin acetate , which did suppress their natural testosterone production. With additional 202 subjects receiving an identical "treatment", but in this case alongside a whoppy dose of the aromatase inhibitor anastrazol as a bonus, the study design leaves us with plenty of groups and tons of subjects. To "determine the relative degree of testosterone deficiency, estradiol defi­ciency, or both at which undesirable changes in body composition, strength, and sexual function begin to occur." (Finkelstein 2013) ...
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Anti-Androgenic Effect of ATD

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A few month ago a study by Svensson ( Svensson. 2010 ) caused quite a fuss in the supplement world. The scientist had injected huge amounts of ATD into his laboratory rats and found that "the aromatase inhibitor 1,4,6-androstatriene-3,17-dione (ATD; 60 mg/kg/day s.c.) decreased behavioral disinhibition in testosterone-treated rats (without affecting accessory sex organ weights)". In view of the huge dosage, I simply ignored the results of that study until I recently stumbled across a whole bunch of papers which support the notion that ATD is in fact anti-androgenic, in that it does reduce testosterone receptor binding in the brain ( Kaplan. 1989 ). The negative effect of ATD administration on mating behavior and success (2x ejaculation) in testosterone treaded rats is alarming (cf. figure 1): Figure 1: Effect of ATD supplementation on sexual performance of hypogonadal rats treated with testosterone + propylene glycol (T+PG), testosterone + ATD (T+ATD) or ATD alone. ...
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Estrogen and the Male Athlete: Why Not to Avoid it at All Costs

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If we believe in what supplement producers tell us, estrogen is to be avoided at all cost, to maximize strength and lean mass gains in male gymrats and competitive bodybuilders. Science on the other hand portrays a more diverse picture of the function/role of estrogen in muscle metabolism. In a recent review Enns & Tidus ( Enns. 2010 ) write: In skeletal muscle, studies with animals have demonstrated that sex and estrogen may potentially influence muscle contractile properties and attenuate indices of post-exercise muscle damage , including the release of creatine kinase into the bloodstream and activity of the intramuscular lysosomal acid hydrolase, beta-glucuronidase. ( Enns. 2010 ) They also highlight that estrogen has also been shown to play a significant role in stimulating muscle repair and regenerative processes , including the activation and proliferation of satellite cells . ( Enns. 2010 ) The proliferation of satellite cells is however what most bodybuilders ...
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Brassaiopsis glomerulata: Novel Natural Aromatse Inhibitor in Driven Sports Triazole

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Figure 1: Chemical structure of selected components of Brassaiopsis glumerulata ( Balunas. 2009 ) Now, that the craze about USPs Pink Magic is just abating, a new purported supplement blockbusters from Driven Sports , called Triazole , is already on it's way to the market shelves. It must have been a 2009 study by Bulanas et.al. ( Balunas. 2009 ) which inspired Matthew Cahill and his team to include pZole , a propietary extract of Brassaiopsis glumerulata , in the formula of what they advertise as "the Estrogenic Equalizer". In fact, the results of the aforementioned study are promising. Out of the 13 components the scientists isolated from this shrub of family Araliaceae , no. 9, 10 and 12 (cf. figure 2) appear to be promising candidates for over-the-counter aromatase inhibitor of the year. Figure 2: Aromatase activitity after preparation of hormone-independent human breast cancer cells that overexpress aromatase with selected component from  Brassaiopsis gl...
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Are Micronized DHEA and Similar "More Bioavailable" Preparations Worth It?

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The scientifically mostly unbacked attention the micronized preparations of DHEA and Pregnenole receive all over the web raised my interest in whether the claims of higher bioavailability are warrantable. It turned out to be difficult to find conclusive answers (apart from the webpages of the producers and retailers, of course ;-), but I came up with the results of a 1996 study on the delivery of micronized preparations of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to premenopausal women [ Casson. 1996 ]. The researchers conclude: Micronization increased the area-under-the-curve ratios for dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate/dehydroepiandrosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate/testosterone. Or in other words: A significantly lower amount of DHEA is converted to androgens , upon administration as a micronized preparation (cf. Fig.3 from Casson. 1996 , to the left) . The inclusion of a lipid matrix, like some companies have it, may further potentate this effect. However, scientifical validation ...
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