Review: Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals Sustanon 250

Posted By elissa on Oct 1, 2008 | 1 comment

“Sustanon 250™’s inner core tablet contains 250mg of four derivatives of the legal prohormone prasterone. This inner core table is then compressed and encompassed within an outer shell tablet that contains another 450mg of seven highly anabolic and muscle-sparing compounds. Thus Sustanon 250™ provides you with a whopping 700mg from 11 of bodybuilding’s most anabolically efficacious agents.

This makes Sustanon 250™ the most powerful, single dose bodybuilding supplement ever created. In fact,this product has such a powerful impact on the body’s anabolic metabolism that Hi-Tech recommends its use in a cycled regimen.”

“The most powerful, single dose bodybuilding supplement ever created”? That’s a debatable proposition, but then again—if you’re a supplement company—you don’t name your product “Sustanon 250” if you’re shy about making extravagant claims.

Sustanon 250 is an oil-based injectable containing four different testosterone compounds: testosterone propionate, 30 mg; testosterone phenylpropionate, 60 mg; testosterone isocaproate, 60mg; and testosterone decanoate, 100 mg. The mixture of the testosterones are time-released to provide an immediate effect while still remaining active in the body for up to a month.

Sustanon 250—the pharmaceutical version—is an injectable blend of 4 testosterone esters. In other words, it’s “gear.” Beyond sharing the name, however, Hi-Tech’s product resembles the actual drug in the same way that brass resembles gold.

Inner Core Tablet—Proprietary Blend 250mg
Prasterone Propionate 30mg
Prasterone Phenylproprionate 60mg
Prasterone Isocaproate 60mg
Prasterone Decanoate 100mg

Outer Core Tablet—Proprietary Blend 450mg
6-Keto Diosgenin Cypionate 50mg
Diosgenin Enanthate 50mg
25R Spirostan-5A-Diol-6-One-3-One Undecanoate 50mg
Rhaponticum Carthemoides 95% 100mg
Belizean Man Vine 90% 150mg
3b-Hydroxy-5-Androsten-17 One 25mg
Androstenolone 25mg

As you can see, the supplement imitates the form—but not the substance—of “Sust.” Instead of 30 mg testosterone propionate in the “Inner Core Tablet,” you have 30 mg of prasterone propionate; and so on. It’s a counterfeit.

This is even more apparent when you consider what “the legal prohormone Prasterone” really is: it’s DHEA. Dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) is an androgen produced by the adrenal glands. Sure, it’s a prohormone, as it can be converted to androstenedione and testosterone (as well as estrogens) in the the body, but it’s not a very strong one.

Don’t be fooled by the language: DHEA is a far cry from prohormones like (the original) 1-AD or Nor-Diol.

Although it’s banned by most competitive sports organizations, it’s not clear why…studies have demonstrated that DHEA has no significant effects on either serum testosterone or body composition in younger, healthy men.

And, if that’s not enough…check out the last two ingredients in the “Outer Core Tablet.” As it turns out, 3b-Hydroxy-5-Androsten-17 One and Androstenolone are also synonyms for DHEA!

So, let’s be clear before we move on: 6 out of the “11 of bodybuilding’s most anabolically efficacious agents” in “Sustanon 250” are simply…DHEA. “Prasterone,” “3b-hydroxy-5-androstene-17-one” and “androstenolone” are just three out of the many different ways to write it. Caveat emptor.

And the remaining 5 ingredients???

Two of these—Rhaponticum carthemoides and Man Vine—are herbal preparations. Rhaponticum is used as an adaptogen in Eastern Europe and is a source of 20-hydroxyecdysone: a plant (and insect) steroid reputed to have anabolic activity in mammals. “Man Vine” is a South American plant, Agonandra racemosa, which is used as an herbal remedy for muscle spasm and impotency. Problem is, there are no reliable human studies on either herb, nor do they appear to be standardized for any active ingredients.

So, are these truly useful ingredients given in useful doses? Who knows?

Next, let’s consider the two diosgenin ingredients: 6-keto diosgenin cypionate and diosgenin enanthate. Diosgenin ((25R)-Spirost-5-en-3beta-ol) is the aglycone form of a steroidal saponin.

In English, “saponins” are compounds from plants that have foaming (i.e., soap-like) characteristics. In nature, these are bound to sugar molecules, which makes them “glycones”—so “aglycone” simply means that the sugar has been removed.

Diosgenin is a useful base for the pharmaceutical production of active human steroids, but the necessary conversion steps take place only in the laboratory, not the human body. Although it has some potential medicinal uses, diosgenin has no direct hormonal or anabolic activity in humans or animals.

What about the 6-keto derivative? In the past, diosgenin has been touted as an anabolic due to its resemblance to human steroids. The argument made for 6-keto diosgenin, however, is that it stimulates protein synthesis via non-steroidal mechanisms. Needless to state, the evidence is pretty thin.

Farmakol Toksikol. 1976 Sep-Oct;39(5):631-5.

[Experimental study of the anabolic activity of 6-ketoderivatives of certain natural sapogenins][Article in Russian]

Syrov VN, Kurmukov AG.

It is shown that 6-ketoderivatives of natural sapogenins, viz. agigenin, diosgenin and alliogenin, display the anabolic activity and do not manifest any androgenic properties. The compound IV/(25 R)-5alpha-spirostan-2alpha, 3beta, 5alpha-triol-6-OH/produces an accelerated gain of weight in rats, and also an increase in the weight of the liver, heart, kidneys, musculus tibiliasis anterior and augments the total amount of protein therein. All of the above-mentioned changes become more pronounced with the study substance introduced to young animals. Castration of sexually immature rats greatly mitigates the anabolic effect of the compound IV.

That’s it: a single, 30+ year old, Russian study on rats, published in an obscure, Russian language journal. This work has never been replicated by any Western, peer-reviewed research that I could find, let alone any “in-house” studies.

Lastly, there’s 25R Spirostan-5A-Diol-6-One-3-One-Undecanoate—which is the esterified version of still another saponin derivative with no confirmed anabolic activity.

As Porky Pig used to say…

The cartoon imagery is appropriate for a “cartoon” supplement: given the lack of any credible human studies or data, it’s tough to take Hi-Tech’s claims seriously. Not a single ingredient in Sustanon 250 has been shown to be “highly anabolic” or even “muscle sparing” in any credible human studies. If you’re an older person with declining serum DHEA-S levels, the DHEA component might be useful, but for everyone else…well, let’s just say that a little skepticism is in order.