Equol binds DHT and renders it harmless?

[Hoppi]

That's what I was reading online and on old threads on here! (I thought I would make my own new one instead of reviving an old one, so I could put the purpose of equol in the title too!)

Apparently, equol is made in only about 30-50% of people from soy. You can take it as a supplement however.

It reminds me of SHBG, but instead of binding to free testosterone and rendering that inactive, it binds to DHT!!

Isn't that pretty amazing? I mean I don't know how the effectiveness of that compares to finasteride, and I'm sure a lot of guys have already heard of it but... does anyone know anything more about this stuff? How does it compare to Finasteride and beta-sitosterol in effectiveness and sides? Does it lower DHT indefinitely, or act similarly to lignans and "balance" DHT better?

Thanks, I am looking forward to learning a little more about this one!

Hoppi!

 

[KANGA]

That's what I was reading online and on old threads on here! (I thought I would make my own new one instead of reviving and old one, so I could put the purpose of equol in the title too!)

Apparently, equol is made in only about 30-50% of people from soy. You can take it as a supplement however.

It reminds me of SHBG, but instead of binding to free testosterone and rendering that inactive, it binds to DHT!!

Isn't that pretty amazing? I mean I don't know how the effectiveness of that compares to finasteride, and I'm sure a lot of guys have already heard of it but... does anyone know anything more about this stuff? How does it compare to Finasteride and beta-sitosterol in effectiveness and sides? Does it lower DHT indefinitely, or act similarly to lignans and "balance" DHT better?

Thanks, I am looking forward to learning a little more about this one!

Hoppi!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equol

Interesting... it's available in supplement form? Where? & how effective?


Also a very interesting study:

http://jjco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/34/2/86

And a BBC article:

They carried out two experiments on rats which showed injecting equol into male rats reduced the size of the prostate.

In one, the testes of male rats were removed, so they produced no DHT. When investigators injected DHT into rats, their prostates grew.

When they injected rats with both equol and DHT, the equol prevented the DHT from functioning as it normally would - as a stimulator of prostate growth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3607815.stm

I was also reading that probiotics help digest the soy so that equol is created.

 

[Hoppi]

Wow nice work! You know more than me already!

I asked this on the other hair forum I frequent and I was told that there doesn't appear to be yet an immediate way to get it into the system, without eating a regular dose of soy isoflavones for perhaps two years.

Apparently someone tried the 1mg capsules but it didn't go very well.

(I would say where it's from but I dunno, I guess I'm just playing it safe and not putting names and stuff!)

I would be fascinated to hear if more people have tried it.

What's really odd though is how little you hear about it. This means either it isn't very good (unlikely due to the tests), it has bad sides (unlikely as it's in soya and people get limited soya sides!), there isn't a good enough way to take it yet (possible) or the push of Finasteride is simply so strong it got pushed aside and forgotten about (also possible). I mean of course people do always seem to go for the most effective one with manageable sides, that's why everyone talks about finasteride and not beta-sitosterol, even though there are more sides from finasteride.

Who knows... I really hope the upcoming posts can shed some light on this!

 

[Bryan]

Personally, I'd expect side effects from equol to be rather similar to those from finasteride.

 

[KANGA]

Personally, I'd expect side effects from equol to be rather similar to those from finasteride.

Why?

 

[n0142248]

Im not sure how good this would actually be.

Equol binds to DHT --> this inhibits its binding to androgen receptors as this
new molecule cannot attatch with the androgens active
site

so the effects of blood circulating DHT do not impact on the folicule, however free testosterone can still enter the follicule\cell and be coverted to DHT inside the follicule/cell.

finasteride works by inhibiting the enzyme which actualy produces DHT so reduced amounts in the blood and also inside the follicule cell.

Im not saying that this wouldnt have an impact as it would and you could still experience the same sides as you would if you were suseptible as you would from finasteride because you would have lower DHT levels circulating in your blood stream but would still have the same benefits as you would from finasteride? proberly not as stong.

This thinking might be wrong so please feel free to burn me if need be!

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

Regardless of whether the compound works or not, here is an article on gaining the ability to produce it:

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/135/6/1400

Basically you have to regularly consume soy products and it also helps if you regularly consume meat. Yes that's right, eating meat is good for your prostate.

And for those considering the probiotic route:

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0899900707002018

Found that there was little to no influence of probiotic supplements on the bioavailability of soy metabolites in the blood.

 

[Hoppi]

Well, yeah I guess the sides would have some comparison to finasteride, although 5ar does convert other hormones too so you wouldn't be blocking those which would be nice

It would need some testing I think!