What is the history of androstenedione?
Androstenedione became famous in 1998 when a reporter claimed that major league baseball player Mark McGwire carried a bottle of it. Sold as “Andro,” it was a popular dietary supplement in the 1990s, but is now illegal.DefinitionAccording to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), androstenedione is an anabolic steroid precursor, which is “a steroid that does not itself cause muscle growth, but can be converted by the body into such a steroid.” Androstenedione converts to testosterone.DiscoveryResearchers discovered androstenedione in the 1930s. They were looking for the key to revitalizing male characteristics in older men but decided that androstenedione had little effect on the male prostate, according to ergogenics.org.ResurgenceIn the early 1980s, East German scientists produced sprays containing androstenedione and testosterone. They found that the sprays lessened stress and enhanced concentration and aggression in athletes, according to ergogenics.org.Androstenedione in the
