Ingestion of 1.5 g of L-arginine and L-Iysine by young adults increased GH concentrations 2.7 -fold at 60 minutes post-consumption, although GH levels were not elevated 30 minutes or 90 minutes after ingestion 19 Ingestion of 1.2 g of arginine and 1.2 g of lysine by males, 15 to 20 years of age, resulted in […]

In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was signed into law. This act classified substances derived from natural sources as food supplements and made many products otherwise classified as prescription drugs available over-the-counter (OTC) at health food and nutrition stores. In what could only be interpreted as a government mix-up, DHEA and other […]

DHEA was banned from over-the-counter sales in 1985 by the FDA. Because of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, DHEA was reclassified as a food supplement. This androgen precursor was first identified in 1934 and is produced naturally by the zona reticularis cells of the adrenal glands. The exact function of DHEA in the […]

Despite a dearth of information on their effects, supplementation with andro-compounds has become widespread. Unlike synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroids, these precursor androgens are produced endogenously by adrenal, gonadal, and peripheral steroidogenic pathways as part of the normal sexual and reproductive hormonal milieu. It has been suggested that peripheral enzymatic conversion of these pro hormones to testosterone […]

The initial studies done on prohormones (i.e. over-the­counter androgens or testosterone precursors) examined the acute hormonal response to their ingestion.Androstenedione became famous through professional baseball’s single-season home run king, Mark McGuire. His admission that he consumed and/or, as it’s commonly referred to by the lay press, set off a firestorm of scrutiny. At the time, […]

On August 16, 1999, the Wall Street Journal published a report on General Nutrition Center (GNC) decision to carry androstenedione as a nutritional supplement. Oddly enough, this occurred hot on the heels of a paper in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by King et al, showing it to have no effect on body […]

Testosterone Enanthate Improves Body Composition and Strength with No Change in Mood or Behavior
The 1985 edition of Goodman and Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics states that “the use of these agents (i.e., androgens) does not cause an increase in muscle bulk, strength, or athletic performance ­even when phenomenally large doses are used. The […]