Revisiting Methandriol: The Briefly Used Oral Steroid

Assessing Its Purported Effects and Brief Bodybuilding History

Background and Development

Methandriol is an oral steroid hormone intended to be a modified form of 5-androstenediol (5AD) with a methyl group added at the 17th carbon position. Thisaimed to improve oral bioavailability and steroidal potency compared to 5AD.

Methandriol was first synthesized by scientists in the 1950s-60s when research into altering testosterone-derived compounds was gaining interest. However, it never gained much popularity or widespread use compared to other oral steroids.

It was never approved as a prescription drug or medically prescribed. Methandriol remained an obscure experimental performance-enhancing drug without formal clinical uses. Availability was extremely limited even on the black market.

Perceived Effects

On paper, methandriol was intended to exhibit enhanced anabolic properties compared to 5AD, with reduced androgenic activity leading to less side effects. However in practice, methandriol displays very weak anabolic attributes with an anabolic rating of only 20-60 (testosterone is 100).

Unfortunately, methandriol also possesses considerable estrogenic activity according to evidence, potentially even more than 5AD. This leads to problems like gynecomastia, water retention, hypertension, testosterone suppression, and cardiovascular strain.

Claims about methandriol “sensitizing” androgen receptors or providing any anti-catabolic effects are unsubstantiated currently. Any theoretical benefits are outweighed by the demonstrated estrogenic issues.

Decline Into Obscurity

Within just a few years of limited use, methandriol faded into obscurity as other oral steroids proved to offer far more favorable risk-to-reward ratios.

Its weak effects even at high doses, lack of availability, and emergence of safer, more effective muscle builders rendered methandriol obsolete before it ever gained any momentum.

In summary, methandriol represented another failed oral anabolic steroid experiment by scientists that never came close to meeting its goals. Knowledge and options have only improved over the decades since.