Are Pro-Hormones Safe?

Are Pro-hormones safe? Each pro-hormone has different levels of toxicities. These toxicities are based on liver damage and blood toxins. A rundown of the actions of individual prohormone products follows so this section shall only cover actions attributable to all classes of prohormone products. This in itself could be an article in its own right so here is the shortened version.

Prohormones exert their effects through several different pathways, but the ones that are most important to people considering using them are their actions via their effects on the body's androgenic, estrogenic and progestogenic receptors. It is through these receptors that prohormone effects are largely mediated, with other pathways of secondary importance.

Prohormones, just like anabolic steroids, are androgen agonists meaning they work via their effect on the androgen receptor. A strong androgen receptor agonist will mean effects related to the male hormone testosterone will be particularly prominent – these include increased aggression, sex drive, alpha male type characteristics in general, as well as heightened risk of side effects related to high androgen levels such as an increased susceptibility to hair loss and acne, although these side effects are very much individual in nature and will depend on the person taking them. They tend to only be an issue for those already susceptible to these conditions.

Linked to these androgenic effects is the propensity for prohormones to induce sizeable increases in muscle strength, large muscle gains, and a hardening effect on the muscles, such that muscles feel denser and more solid. Prohormones that do not convert to estrogen such as Epistane or RPN's Havoc tend to exhibit these types of muscle gains with no water retention.

Away from their effects on androgren receptors, prohormones can also cause effects via estrogen and progesterone receptors. These effects tend to be quite similar in nature – prohormones that convert to estrogen and progesterone have the baility to cause large increases in mass and strength although much of the mass is of a poor quality visually and such gains often disappear rapidly being associated with water retention more than anything else. Estrogenic side effects are feared by most bodybuilders and include increased water weight, increased susceptibility to fat gain in the presence of high estrogen and worst of all, from a cosmetic standpoint at least, the dreaded gynecomastia.

It should be stated that while there are some products which are almost exclusively androgenic in nature with little to no risk of estrogenic/progestogenic side effects (such as Epistane or Havoc), the reverse is not true, in that compounds with high affinity for estrogen and progesterone receptors will still have an impact on the androgen receptor. You will often hear of prohormones being called androgenic or estrogenic or even both, but it should be stated this is often based on their primary method of action and that all will have an androgenic effect at some level, as they all primarily work via their effect on the androgen receptor.

Separate from their effects via androgen, estrogen, and progesterone receptors, prohormones will also differ in their impact on other body systems. Typically, strong androgens are useful for promoting strength gains via the central nervous system (CNS) stimulation, independent of their anabolic or muscle building effects. A strong androgen would often be something similar in nature to Dihydrotestosterone. Furthermore, prohormones will promote enhanced red blood cell production which is why users of prohormones usually experience great pumps and vascularity. Generally speaking, liver toxicity is a concern only for methylated, oral compounds, which is most prohormones nowadays but even then, as the list below shows, they can differ by a wide degree in magnitude of effect.