Epitestosterone

[setian]

What is epitestosterone? I see in strength events they test lifters epitestosterone:testosterone ratio. If it's higher than 6:1 than they fail the drug test.

[PK-V]

Epitestosterone is a biological form of testosterone that does not enhance performance. Drug tests for testosterone typically measure the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E ratio). An athlete can inject epitestosterone, lower the T/E ratio and hide the use of testosterone. By itself, epitestosterone has no real harmful side effects.

[setian]

How can some people have higher ratios of it naturally than other people? I have been tested at 1:1 ratio in a meet everytime. I have had friends test at as high as 6:1 before. What is it that can cause this when not using synthetic hormones?

Do people with a naturally higher ratio have any advantage? Or is it just meaningless?

[PK-V]

However, it is not uncommon to find T/E ratios of up to 4:1 and even T/E ratios of 10:1 can be normal for some individuals

a 1993 study found that around 50% of epitestosterone production in human males can be ascribed to the testis

It has been shown that exogenous administration of testosterone does not affect levels of epitestosterone in the body


also found this

Epitestosterone is a breakdown product of other hormones. It has never been really associated with a particular biological activity (although some research suggests that it is has an antiandrogenic effect). Until recently it wasn't even known what enzyme produced epitestosterone, but recent research suggests that it is made from DHEA using an enzyme called 17 alpha hydroxy-steroid dehydrogenase, mostly in the liver.


What epitestosterone does and why it is there doesn't really matter though. What does matter is that the ratio in an individual between testosterone and epitestosterone is relatively constant over time and does not show large variability between individuals.


hope this helps

and someone with some knowledge can pitch in

[setian]

Very good info! Thanks.