What Is the Natural Source of Halodrol?

Halodrol Liquigels and Halodrol MT are trademarked nutritional supplements manufactured by Gaspari Nutrition for use by elite athletes to aid in building muscle mass and strength and to increase blood flow and metabolism efficiency. The two Haoldrol products include several ingredients that can be derived from natural sources. According to Gaspari Nutrition's website, one of the testosterone booster compounds, Halodrol Liquigels, "is not a prohormone type of product." Prohormones are any substance that can be converted to hormones, especially testosterone, in the body.

Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids

• Anabolic-androgenic steroids were injected.

  Steroids are a class of drugs that include anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), which were used by advanced athletes to enhance performance. "Anabolic" refers to muscle cell growth, and "androgenic” indicates male characteristics. The use of anabolic steroids, which increase testosterone, produces more lean muscle mass and strength and enables the user to train harder. Because of anabolic steroids' many adverse side effects, the U.S. Congress made non-prescribed steroids illegal in 2004.

Post-Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids: Halodrol-50

• Halodrol products come in pill form.

  The race was on to find a legal substitute that would mimic testosterone’s ability to enhance training, and Gaspari Nutrition found success with Halodrol-50. After questions arose concerning its contents, however, the company voluntarily withdrew it from the market in 2005. Gaspari Nutrition then hired a team of specialists to invent a dietary supplement that could be marketed as “all-natural.” Garpari Nutrition now sells two Halodrol mimickers that purportedly contain no hormones or prohormones: Halodrol Liquigels and Halodrol MT. The two products’ proprietary blends do, in fact, have antecedents in nature, although often in such insignificant amounts that laboratory synthetics are inevitably used.

Halodrol Liquigels

• Stinging nettle roots are one source for a Halodrol Liquigels ingredient.

  Halodrol Liquigels are made from five ingredients: arachadonic acid, 5-ALPHA, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), 20-hydroxy-ecdysterone -(-) 3 and 3,4-divanillytetrahydrofuran.

  Arachadonic acid can be found in trace amounts in peanut and corn oil, but the fungus Mortierella alpina is a more commercial source.

  Gaspari Nutrition trademarked the name 5-ALPHA. It combines 5-etioallocholan-3, 6 and 17-trione. Etioallocholan and 17-trione are produced by the adrenal glands as part of a chain of hormonal changes that leads to testosterone. They are also part of the molecular makeup of androstenedione, a steroid hormone that was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009.

  DHEA is one of the most common prohormones available without prescription. It is a precursor hormone secreted by the adrenal gland that acts in creating female and male sex hormones.

  Also known as ecdysterone, 20-hydroxy-ecdysterone -(-) 3, an insect growth steroid, is most often derived from the silkworm.

  The last ingredient, 3,4-divanillytetrahydrofuran is a form of divanillytetrahydrofuran, which is found in stinging nettle roots.

Halodrol MT

• Broccoli is one source for a Halodrol MT ingredient.

  Halodrol Liquigels and Halodrol MT share three ingredients: 3,4-divanillytetrahydrofuran, 5-ALPHA and DHEA.

  Another Halodrol MT ingredient is adenosine-5-triphosphate disodium salt (PEAK ATP, a Gaspari Nutrition registered trademark), which is derived from horse muscle and yeast.

  The ingredient R-alpha lipoic acid sodium salt is found in organ meats, broccoli, spinach and yeast extract.

  Aspartate, also in Halodrol MT, is produced by the body and delivers zinc to cells. It also is in plants, particularly in sprouting seeds. Among its other roles, zinc promotes metabolic functioning. It is in crab and oysters, the dark meat of poultry, meats, dairy food, nuts and legumes.

Dietary Supplemental Homework

• Health is the first ingredient in fitness.

  Thoroughly reading the labels on any supplement that claims to help you bulk up is essential. Gaspari Nutrition advises users of Halodrol Liquigels and Halodrol MT that they may have a false positive if tested for steroids. It also stipulates the products are for men over the age of 21 years who consulted doctors about their usage. The products' labels advise that anyone who has or has had cancer, systemic inflammatory or autoimmune diseases absolutely not use the products. The medical community has concern about the ingestion of prohormones such as DHEA. Many ingredients are similar in molecular structure to anabolic-androgenic steroids, which may affect some consumers' use regarding their philosophy of health and performance ideals.