Revisiting Methandriol Dipropionate: The Obscure Steroid

Assessing Its Purported Effects and Brief Bodybuilding History

Background and Development

Methandriol Dipropionate (MD) is an injectable or oral preparation containing the obscure steroid methandriol, affixed with the dipropionate ester. It was synthesized by scientists in the 1950s-60s during research into modifying testosterone derivatives.

The intention was to create a long-acting version of methandriol that would be steadily released from the injection site or resist liver metabolism when taken orally. However, MD failed to gain much popularity compared to other steroids emerging then.

It was never approved as a prescription medicine or widely adopted medically. MD remained an extremely obscure experimental performance-enhancing drug without formal clinical uses. Availability was also scarce even on the black market.

Purported Effects and Issues

Although concrete data is lacking, MD was claimed to provide potent anabolic and androgenic properties on par with testosterone and Deca Durabolin injections. However, these effects were likely exaggerated.

In reality, methandriol alone exhibits very weak muscle building attributes but considerable estrogenic side effects according to scientific evidence. Any muscle boosting properties would be mild at best.

Problematically, MD was often stacked with other more powerful steroids in hopes of amplifying their effects. But this may have only compounded the risks of gynecomastia, water retention, testosterone suppression, and other estrogenic issues already inherent to methandriol itself.

Decline Into Obscurity

Within just a few years, MD disappeared from markets and bodybuilding circles once other steroids proved far more effective and safer. The questionable efficacy, scarcity, frequent doses, toxicity potential, and superior alternatives rendered MD obsolete before it ever gained significant traction.

Today it remains extremely rare, with no pharmaceutical companies still manufacturing it. While an interesting early experiment, MD ultimately proved to be an ineffective hormone with more risks than benefits.

In summary, Methandriol Dipropionate represented another failed oral anabolic steroid unable to live up to its intended effects. Knowledge and options have only improved dramatically over the decades since.