Does turkesterone work? Side effects?

[Mycophile]

I've honestly never really used PEDs, but I heard Dr.Andrew Huberman talking about "turkesterone" supposedly being able to raise one's testosterone levels as much as Decca and saying that it has no serious side effects. Is this true? Because I have a very hard time believing something that is available over the counter could be as strong as scheduled steroids or not have those same negative side effects. If this was the case, wouldn't everyone be on it?

Has anyone here tried it, and if so, what were the results? Does this stuff help at all with performance in things like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and martial arts? Does it raise your cholesterol or have any of the same negative side effects that certain steroids have? Can it make someone in their 40s feel and perform like they are in their 30s or even 20s? (HIGHLY doubtful on that last one, but had to ask lol...)

 

[garygroundwork]

no it's a load of shit.

spend your money on chicken breast, steak, fish, rice, oats and testosterone, deca and dbol.

train like a maniac and sleep.

thats all you need.

 

[snmfmy]

no it's a load of shit.

spend your money on chicken breast, steak, fish, rice, oats and testosterone, deca and dbol.

train like a maniac and sleep.

thats all you need.

Apparently ecdysterones like Turkesterone actually do act anabolically and while the paper that I cite here is behind a paywall. It's clear that it has an anabolic effect. The level to which it increases testosterone is moot now, isn't it?


"Significantly higher increases in muscle mass were observed in those participants that were dosed with ecdysterone. The same hypertrophic effects were also detected in vitro in C2C12 myotubes. "

Ecdysteroids as non-conventional anabolic agent: performance enhancement by ecdysterone supplementation in humans - Archives of Toxicology

Recent studies suggest that the anabolic effect of ecdysterone, a naturally occurring steroid hormone claimed to enhance physical performance, is mediated by estrogen receptor (ER) binding. In comparison with the prohibited anabolic agents (e.g., metandienone and others), ecdysterone revealed to...

link.springer.com

 

[snmfmy]

I've honestly never really used PEDs, but I heard Dr.Andrew Huberman talking about "turkesterone" supposedly being able to raise one's testosterone levels as much as Decca and saying that it has no serious side effects. Is this true? Because I have a very hard time believing something that is available over the counter could be as strong as scheduled steroids or not have those same negative side effects. If this was the case, wouldn't everyone be on it?

Has anyone here tried it, and if so, what were the results? Does this stuff help at all with performance in things like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and martial arts? Does it raise your cholesterol or have any of the same negative side effects that certain steroids have? Can it make someone in their 40s feel and perform like they are in their 30s or even 20s? (HIGHLY doubtful on that last one, but had to ask lol...)

Apparently there is data that says turkesterone which is a ecdysterone does increase anabolic growth in muscles.

Have not been able to track down a source that identifies whether it increases testosterone and to what level it does. But it's clear that it instigates anabolic action above baseline significantly.

 

[Mycophile]

Apparently there is data that says turkesterone which is a ecdysterone does increase anabolic growth in muscles.

Have not been able to track down a source that identifies whether it increases testosterone and to what level it does. But it's clear that it instigates anabolic action above baseline significantly.

Does it have the same negative side effects as certain steroids, like, does it raise cholesterol?

 

[Skorpio]

That paper is accessible on scihub.

Apparently ecdysterones like Turkesterone actually do act anabolically and while the paper that I cite here is behind a paywall. It's clear that it has an anabolic effect. The level to which it increases testosterone is moot now, isn't it?


"Significantly higher increases in muscle mass were observed in those participants that were dosed with ecdysterone. The same hypertrophic effects were also detected in vitro in C2C12 myotubes. "

Ecdysteroids as non-conventional anabolic agent: performance enhancement by ecdysterone supplementation in humans - Archives of Toxicology

Recent studies suggest that the anabolic effect of ecdysterone, a naturally occurring steroid hormone claimed to enhance physical performance, is mediated by estrogen receptor (ER) binding. In comparison with the prohibited anabolic agents (e.g., metandienone and others), ecdysterone revealed to...

link.springer.com

The paper is kind of odd because it shows a modest increase in power for some of the treatment + exercise groups, but none for the exercise only or treatment only groups. Not a super large effect size, but it seems to be real enough. It is good that it is a study, so that the experiments can be assessed.

My worry is that ecdysterone doesn't seem to affect hormone levels. If it was an androgen receptor agonist to a significant degeee, it would produce negative feedback and decrease endogenous hormone levels, so the mild effect on muscle function may occur through a different pathway. I wish that paper did an androgen receptor reporter assay, as that would measure levels of activation and clearly assign or rule out androgenic effects being its mechanism of action.

 

[snmfmy]

That paper is accessible on scihub.


The paper is kind of odd because it shows a modest increase in power for some of the treatment + exercise groups, but none for the exercise only or treatment only groups. Not a super large effect size, but it seems to be real enough. It is good that it is a study, so that the experiments can be assessed.

My worry is that ecdysterone doesn't seem to affect hormone levels. If it was an androgen receptor agonist to a significant degeee, it would produce negative feedback and decrease endogenous hormone levels, so the mild effect on muscle function may occur through a different pathway. I wish that paper did an androgen receptor reporter assay, as that would measure levels of activation and clearly assign or rule out androgenic effects being its mechanism of action.

That's why I said I don't know if it actually increases testosterone but it does act as an anabolic steroid in the human body.

There is a dearth of data regarding ecdysterones. There's a couple other papers I want to look at. I think one was behind a paywall but I might get lucky and find it somewhere else.

Turkesterone is not the only ecdysterone, so I'll also track down specifically turkesterone as well.

 

[snmfmy]

Does it have the same negative side effects as certain steroids, like, does it raise cholesterol?

I have not seen any data that can support or refute negative side effects in humans.

However, here's a study in rats that was undertaken to prove or falsify the hypothesis that ecdysterones lower lipid levels in lean or obese rats. It doesn't. It's specifically identifies the fact that it didn't lower triglycerides or cholesterol.

However, I couldn't find anywhere that stated it increased cholesterol, so there's that.

Effect of Ecdysterone on the Hepatic Transcriptome and Lipid Metabolism in Lean and Obese Zucker Rats

Conflicting reports exist with regard to the effect of ecdysterone, the predominating representative of steroid hormones in insects and plants, on hepatic and plasma lipid concentrations in different rodent models of obesity, fatty liver, and diabetes, ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Skorpio]

That's why I said I don't know if it actually increases testosterone but it does act as an anabolic steroid in the human body.

Steroid signaling is extensively regulated by feedback. Steroid receptor activation will inhibit itself at steroid regular up. synthesis, and signal transduction. The fact that ecdysterone did not affect these parameters makes it difficult to consider it a steroid hormone agonist.

Also just going by my gut, I have doubts in compounds sold on amazon and blogs. If it really worked you would be seeing it show up as a PED on screens and it would be regulated in sports. Hell they banned gene therapy before anybody even tried it.

 

[snmfmy]

Steroid signaling is extensively regulated by feedback. Steroid receptor activation will inhibit itself at steroid regular up. synthesis, and signal transduction. The fact that ecdysterone did not affect these parameters makes it difficult to consider it a steroid hormone agonist.

Also just going by my gut, I have doubts in compounds sold on amazon and blogs. If it really worked you would be seeing it show up as a PED on screens and it would be regulated in sports. Hell they banned gene therapy before anybody even tried it.

I went and reviewed as much of the evidence as I could regarding ecdysterones.

There's a lot of evidence that shows significantly increased muscle growth over controls. That seems to indicate that it either has an anabolic action, is an aromatase inhibitor, or is an alpha 5 reductase inhibitor or combination of all three.

Increases in supposed free Testosterone were I think in the 20 to 30% range which is not massive.

One of the easiest and mildest ways to actually get really good effects from testosterone is some TRT gel and a derma roller.

I used it to get a lot more absorption , I was 42 at the time, and I had muscular growth that outpaced the ability of the fascia to expand and it was painful.

All from a little bit of cream/ gel and a derma roller.