A study on 6-OXO was recently completed by a prestigious clinical research organization*. This study examined the blood hormone responses over a 3 week cycle of 600mg a day of 6-OXO. The study used 6 normal men aged 32-40, and in addition to tracking changes in sex hormone levels it also looked at common indicators of toxicity.
The results were very impressive. Total testosterone levels rose an average of 188%, while free testosterone levels rose an average of 226% over the course of the three weeks. The variability among the 6 subjects was quite low, and most of the testosterone increase was seen after only the first week. Results from two of the six subjects are demonstrated below.
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Contrary to testosterone levels, changes in estradiol levels were slight but not statistically significant. The explanation for this is simple. 6-OXO acts to inhibit the aromatase enzyme and block the conversion of testosterone to estradiol. A consequence of this is a signal from the brain to increase production of testosterone to compensate for the blocked estradiol production. As testosterone levels increase, so do estradiol levels since more substrate has now become available for the aromatase enzyme. Basically, what has occurred is the establishment of a new baseline level of testosterone to maintain the body’s normal levels of estradiol.
This sort of hormonal response is very desirable. It is probably not healthy to lower estradiol levels below the physiologically normal range, so if we are able to raise testosterone without lowering estradiol this is great! Mind you, we don’t know what will happen if doses over 600mg a day are ingested. It could be that at higher dosages the aromatase inhibition becomes too great for increased testosterone production to overcome. In that case, a more dramatic lowering of estradiol will be seen. This is something that we probably want to avoid, at least for any longer than the short term.
No evidence of acute toxicity
A complete metabolic analysis was done examining changes in blood cells and lipids, liver function, kidney function, and immune function. No adverse changes were observed in any of these areas over the course of the three weeks. In fact, indications are that liver function actually improved slightly, and average cholesterol level dropped by about 26 points. That is an 11.6% reduction in cholesterol in 3 weeks! The explanation for this dramatic improvement is not known at this time.
Conclusion
The conclusion from all this is that 6-OXO appears to be a safe and effective way of raising the body’s own natural testosterone production. This makes it an excellent alternative to prohormones if one does not want to deal with the negatives associated with the use of these compounds. 6-OXO’s potent ability to stimulate natural testosterone production also makes it an excellent agent for bringing hormone levels back to normal after long term use of steroids or prohormones.
