Ecdysterone & Turkesterone
Ecdysteroids (20-Hydroxyecdysone, Turkesterone), the 'Natural Anabolic' Craze
Evidence grade 2 of 5, Thin. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.
The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.
- FDA
- Not FDA approved; sold as a supplement; ecdysterone flagged by WADA for monitoring
Reference only. Not medical advice.
What can go wrong
Short-term human safety in the single trial appeared unremarkable, but there is no long-term safety data, no data in adolescents, and no characterization of the estrogen-receptor effects over time. Label inaccuracy means users cannot know their true exposure. Because WADA monitors ecdysterone, competitive and drug-tested athletes should treat it as a compound under active anti-doping scrutiny.
This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about ecdysterone & turkesterone in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.
Ecdysteroids are insect/plant steroid hormones (20-hydroxyecdysone from spinach and Rhaponticum; turkesterone from Ajuga turkestanica) marketed as 'natural anabolics' that build muscle without hormonal side effects. The evidence is dominated by one human RCT: Isenmann et al. (2019, Arch Toxicol, Freie Universitat Berlin/German Sport University Cologne), which reported greater muscle and bench-press gains with ecdysterone over 10 weeks and prompted WADA to add ecdysterone to its Monitoring Program. Turkesterone has essentially no human trial data. A recurring problem is that independent testing finds many products contain little or none of the labeled ecdysteroid.
One intriguing 2019 German trial, a mountain of hype, and a label-accuracy scandal.
What people take it for
These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.
Combinations named above are how people use these compounds together, under names the community gave them. The combinations themselves have not been studied. Evidence for one compound is not evidence for a pair.
How it is supposed to work
Rodent and cell studies suggest ecdysteroids act partly through estrogen receptor beta to stimulate protein synthesis, distinct from the androgen receptor pathway of anabolic steroids, which is why marketers claim no androgenic side effects. Human mechanistic data are thin, and the effect sizes seen in animals often used doses not achievable orally in people.
One study is not a literature, and the bottle may be empty
The Isenmann trial is genuinely interesting but small, single, and not yet independently replicated at scale, and its own authors flagged uncertainty. Turkesterone, the more heavily hyped compound, rests on rodent studies and anecdote with no human RCT. Compounding this, third-party analyses (including work associated with the same Cologne group) found that many ecdysterone products contained far less than labeled, sometimes negligible amounts, so consumer results are running on an unverified dose of an under-studied compound.
What people get wrong
Often saidTurkesterone is a proven natural steroid alternative
ActuallyThere are no human RCTs on turkesterone; the muscle data belong to ecdysterone, and even that is a single small trial.
Often saidEcdysteroids have no hormonal effects
ActuallyProposed mechanism involves estrogen receptor beta; 'non-hormonal' is a marketing simplification, and long-term effects are unstudied.
Often saidWhat is on the label is in the bottle
ActuallyIndependent testing repeatedly found low or absent ecdysteroid content in commercial products.
Who profits, and who pushes back
Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.
Set against the alternatives
Unlike anabolic steroids (banned, hormonally active, well-characterized risks) or SARMs (investigational, liver/cardiovascular concerns), ecdysteroids are legal and appear low-risk short term, but their efficacy claim rests on far thinner evidence and their real-world dosing is unreliable due to label inaccuracy.
What we do not know
- Will the 2019 ecdysterone result replicate in larger independent trials?
- Does turkesterone do anything in humans at all?
- Can the industry deliver label-accurate, standardized products?
- Will WADA move ecdysterone from monitoring to prohibited?
The market for this
What follows describes how this is bought and sold. It is not a buying guide and it is not an endorsement of any seller.
Ecdysterone is extracted from spinach, quinoa, and Rhaponticum carthamoides; turkesterone from Ajuga turkestanica. Standardization is inconsistent and third-party assays have exposed widespread underdosing and mislabeling, the central quality problem in this category.
At a glance
- Marquee trial
- Isenmann 2019, Arch Toxicol, ~46 participants, 10 wk
- WADA
- On the Monitoring Program (not banned)
- Proposed MOA
- Estrogen receptor beta agonism (rodent data)
What this entry does not yet cover
What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Ecdysterone & Turkesterone. A short entry is not a safe entry.
- Timeline. We have not built the dated record of research and regulatory events.
- Cost and market. We have not documented what it sells for or who sells it.
- Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
- Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
- What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
- Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.
- Where we land. We have not taken a position on this yet.
Sources
The studies below are named and described, but not linked. You cannot open them from here and check our reading against them, which means this page is our summary of the literature rather than a document you can verify. Weigh it accordingly until the links exist.
The studies that matter
Isenmann et al., Arch Toxicol (ecdysterone RCT)2019
Greater muscle mass and 1-RM bench gains vs placebo over 10 weeks; authors urged WADA review
Freie Universitat Berlin / WADA-linked analyses2019
Prompted addition of ecdysterone to WADA Monitoring Program; product label-content shortfalls reported
Turkesterone human evidencen/a
No published human RCTs; claims rest on rodent and cell studies