Ecdysteroids are a group of compounds that are found in the natural world, mostly in insects and plants.
Ecdysis is the insect moulting process, which is where the first part of the name is derived from.
Steroids is a name more familiar to the bodybuilding and gym world. This is the part of ecdysteroid that refers to the shape of the compound. They resemble androgenic hormones in structure – aka steroids.
Scientific studies have shown that ‘Ecdy’ acts like a steroid in one sense and not in another. To understand this is to understand the excitement surrounding this subject.
Due to them resembling androgenic hormones, like testosterone for example, the initial wave of hype came because they were hailed as being the next big thing to boost a man’s testosterone levels through the roof.
Ecdysteroids actually failed to boost testosterone at all. It’s actually good news, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Of course, not many supplement companies or pundits thought this was very good news though, and so ecdysteroids sort of faded from the narrow field of popular view.
The case for ecdy was re-opened when it was found that, while they don’t actually increase androgenic hormone activity, they DO trigger high protein synthesis rates. Protein synthesis is how the raw material for muscle tissue is manufactured.
This time, the hype is real.
Ecdysteroids are Steroids but Don’t Hurt like Steroids
Back in the day, when the US and Russia olympic weightlifting teams were pawns in a bigger game than they realized, Testosterone and Methandrostenolone (Dianabol) were the steroids of choice. Actually, they were the only choice in the beginning.
Those anabolic steroids were the start of something new, the first true synthetic performance enhancing drugs of the modern era. A kind of drugs race ensued, and the world was presented with one anabolic steroid after another.
Most of which, if used on humans today, are illegal.
That’s because synthetic androgenic anabolic steroids – to give them their full title – can cause an array of negative side effects that necessitate a course of Post Cycle Therapy (PCT) to mitigate them. PCT might involve a course of other synthetic drugs to counter the effects of the steroid.
In Dianabol’s case, it is toxic to the liver, and can suppress the user’s natural testosterone production to the point that they would need to inject exogenous testosterone just to prevent themselves from having massive health problems.
Then, after all that, they would have to hope their natural, or endogenous, testosterone production would return. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Ecdysteroids, on the other hand, don’t cause any negative side effects. That’s why it’s a good thing they don’t act like androgenic steroids, but instead act on the anabolic pathway instead.
In fact, in addition to the muscle friendly protein synthesis, they can improve various other areas of human health, including liver and intestinal health, blood glucose levels, and possibly neural tissue protection.
Supplements are Plant Sourced
It was mentioned earlier that insects and plants contain these compounds, but don’t worry, the supplements – at least the ones we’d recommend – are sourced from the plants.
Ecdysteroids might get half their name from an insect process but they are just growth factors that are all over the natural world.
D.Bal.Max is one such supplement that we can say has a solid inclusion of 20-Hydroxyecdysterone, one of the studied ecdys that have proven to be as strong as some anabolic steroids in terms of protein synthesis.
