Androstenedione has become extremely popular since, once home run, king Mark Mc Gwire admitted to using it during his extremely popular home run race in 1998. The NFL, the International Olymipic Committee and NHL have banned the use of it.

Androstenedione is a natural precursor to testosterone. The adrenal glands and gonads produce Androstenedione. In the liver Androstenedione can be converted to testosterone and back depending on the need (1). The anabolic effects that testosterone displays are what is desired by users. Androstenedione can also be converted to estrone, a predominantely female hormone (2). This conversion is responsible for many of the possible negative side effects. The recommended dosage of androstenedione is 25mg to 100mg daily. Most supplement companies have made claims that androstenedione can boost testosterone. There have been no

Dehydroepiandrosterone or DHEA is also a precursor to testosterone. It is made in the adrenal cortex (7). DHEA is two conversions away from testosterone. It is either converted to androstenediol then testosterone or androstenedione and then testosterone (8,9). DHEA is not only used as a performance enhacing supplement. DHEA is said to boost sex drive, and immune system, prevent heart disease, cancer, and non insulin-dependant diabetes, slow memory loss, Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. Many call DHEA the fountain of youth pill. Due to the natural decrease in DHEA throughout aging. It is said that through supplementation that DHEA levels will be brought back to a normal youthful peak (10). In some studies it has been shown that increases in lean body mass and strength have resulted from DHEA supplementation in older men. DHEA supplementation has been proven to be effective in aspects of human health other than bodybuilding. Some studies have shown it decrease the risk of heart disease, enhance glucose/insulin tolerance levels and immune system function, also improve lipid levels (11). Most of these benefits seem only to be noticeable in older men because eof their decreased DHEA levels. In a 1998 middle aged men with at least one year training experience were given either androstenedione, DHEA or a placebo 50mg, twice daily. Subjects were tested on body composition, performance, hormone profile (12). Subjects continued their regular exercise routines. The DHEA supplemented group had no significant differences in body composition or perf

Some common words found in the essay are:
Committee NHL, Alzheimers Parkinsons, Dehydroepiandrosterone DHEA, Androstenedione DHEA, , Mc Gwire, dhea supplementation, body composition, hormone profile, precursor testosterone, hormone profile risk, precursor testosterone adrenal, extremely popular home, effects include premature, training experience, twice daily, profile risk, androstenedione converted, middle aged, popular home run, test subjects,
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