Ostarine, also called Enobosarm is routinely peddled on the internet as a very ‘mild’ performance enhancement drug that can produce some amazing gains. (1)
Amongst a slew of positive effects that are spoken about, increasing lean muscle mass and reducing body fat are at the forefront.
When you consider the fact that SARMS are known to have zero androgenicity, these results can make Ostarine seem like the perfect gateway drug before someone wants to try anabolic steroids.
It does not aromatize, it does not cause virilization in females and it can burn fat and build muscle at the same time. Jeez!
There are a few problems though.
Most people who hop on their first Ostarine cycle end up terribly disappointed with the results they manage to achieve.
What’s even worse is that they are misguided into thinking that the compound is very mild. But they are hit by suppression around weeks 4-5 of their cycles.
This can vary from person to person. But it is estimated that on an average, Ostarine can suppress natural testosterone production by as much as 70%.
You know what else causes up to 70% suppression and can possibly produce better gains? Anavar!
If you have been swayed into believing that Ostarine is your ticket to glory, then here are some hard hitting facts.
What is Ostarine?
Ostarine is a selective androgenic receptor modulator, or a SARM, that was under development by Merck.
Just like many other SARMS being researched, itshows selective affinity to bind to androgen receptors in muscle and bone tissue, while sparing receptors at other sites in the body.
It does not have androgenic side effects, nor does it aromatize.
Ostarine has the distinction of being one of the most closely researched SARMS in the world. This is often touted as one of the factors in its favor.
What’s rarely mentioned is that it is also one that has repeatedly failed clinical trials.
It was being studied as a treatment for urinary stress incontinence, which it failed. (2, 3)
It was being developed as a treatment for cancer-related muscle wasting. There was one double-blind clinical trial which was conducted in 2008, the results for which, were said to be largely positive.
But if you look at the results closely, you’ll notice that there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
The Ostarine clinical trial with deceptive data
In 2008, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial was conducted with 159 patients to research the safety and efficacy of Ostarine in cancer patients.
The increase in lean body mass and muscle strength (physical function) was used as a reference to determine the outcome. (4)
The manufacturers kept pushing this study as the bedrock for further development of Ostarine.
But the full study was published only a few years ago and a closer look at the study reveals several glaring facts.
1. Patients in the advanced stages of the disease were unfavorably grouped together in the placebo arm of the participants. This automatically increased in the results in favor of Ostarine as the patients who took the drug had more muscle function to begin with.
2. Many of the patients were outliers who had great results in the muscle function tests. Or they performed very poorly. As if by coincidence, the results were calculated using mean values instead of median values. If you were to recalculate the results using median values instead of mean, the favorable results of Osatrine quickly dissipate.
3. The manufacturer often depicts the data from the study using a selected group of participants who had lung cancer, as it is this subset that’s claimed to have experienced the most benefits. But out of the 61 lung-cancer patients enrolled in the study, only 31 were included in the analysis. What’s even more shocking is that the results are based on only 13 of these participants, or merely 15%.
4. In another bunch of participants who had Colon cancer, the difference in outcome between placebo group and Ostarine was not significant at all. (5)
What about the results that people speak about on messaging boards?
Based on anecdotal experiences, athletes and fitness buffs looking to use Ostarine are advised to use it for cuts, since it helps preserve muscle tissue and might even boost fat loss.
To be honest, any SARM that binds to an androgen receptor even weakly, will have a positive influence on lean body mass.
Moreover, when you are already dieting and working out, add the placebo effect to the mix and you get reasonably good results.
But most people who have used Ostarine have called it a very weak SARM.
Comparisons to oral steroids like Winstrol, Masteron and Anavar are just hogwash.
What are the risks of running Ostarine?
Let’s talk about the risks of running a compound like Ostarine at 15-20mg/day for 8-weeks.
- Your testosterone levels will be suppressed by up to 70%. So will your LH. That’s based on anecdotal reports and bloodwork logs on messaging boards across the internet. There are people who have ended up nearly shutdown taking this shit. So if someone’s saying that this stuff is mild, they are talking through their arse. (6,7)
- Your HDL levels will tank and your LDL will be sky high. If you already have poor HDL levels to begin with, then you can expect them to drop to single digits. It’s probably as bad as using an 8-week dose of any oral steroid.
- There are other random sides being mentioned. But it could just be a bad batch of a drug or someone reacting differently to it. Some of these sides are elevated BUN, headaches, BP, hair loss and insomnia.
Is Ostarine worth the risk?
In our honest opinion, it isn’t.
There are other products that can give you more bang for your buck at less than half the risk.
Proviron for example, is a great choice if you were to go the AAS route. So is Primo. At least you know
what you are dealing with and there are decades of trial and error as well as clinical studies to support
the use of these products.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enobosarm
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03241342
https://www.genengnews.com/news/gtxs-enobosarm-fails-phase-ii-trial-in-stress-urinaryincontinence-stock-plunges-90/
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(13)70055-X/fulltex
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/the-gtx-cancer-muscle-wasting-drug-studieswill-fail-heres-why-11974668
https://www.reddit.com/r/sarmssourcetalk/comments/dhwa2y/ostarine_testosterone_suppression/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2602589/