Boosting DHT is all the rage these days because it’s the king of all androgens. It’s the most potent androgen, and is much more androgenic than anabolic, or pro-fat loss.

DHT:

• Inhibits pre-adipocyte conversion to mature adipocytes (R).
• Promotes apoptosis (cell death) of fat cells. Basically, DHT helps destroy fat cells.
• Promotes lipolysis and β-oxidation (the release of fat from fat stores and the subsequent utilization thereof).
• Inhibits lipogenesis (the formation of new fat)
• Inhibits the aromatase, lowers estrogen levels and inhibits vasopressin. This creates that dry lean look as well as boosts confidence as vasopression promotes water retention, anxiety and emotional and defensive behavior (R, R, R).
• Increases nitric oxide synthesis by increasing eNOS, thus promoting vasodilation (R).

DHT and muscle growth & fat loss

Here’s 3 studies that show that DHT promotes muscle growth and fat loss.

1. 70mg DHT daily for 3 months resulted in an increase of 2kg of lean mass and a 2kg of fat loss. (R, R, R).
2. 70mg of DHT daily for 2 years lead to a 2.4% increase in lean mass and a 5.2% decrease in fat mass (R).
3. 70mg of DHT daily for 3 months had no effect on body composition in men with partial androgen deficiency (R).

It could be that the reason DHT doesn’t promote muscle growth or fat loss is because high doses of 70mg daily lowers testosterone production significantly. Testosterone and DHT synergistically promote muscle growth and fat loss, but T is more important than DHT in that aspect.

Studies show that men with benign prostatic hypertrophy who are treated with a 5-alpha reductase inhibitors do not experience muscle loss. Similarly, individuals with congenital 5-alpha reductase deficiency have normal muscle development at puberty.

However, when testosterone injection are coupled with a 5-AR inhibitor like dutasteride, the dutasteride group gained less muscle, indicating the necessity of DHT in muscle growth (R).

Interestingly, in this study, DHT increases protein synthesis and the transport of essential amino acids into fast contracting muscle fibre bundles, whereas testosterone does not. This reinforces the idea that DHT may be a better hormone for the treatment of muscle wasting conditions than testosterone (R).

This study found that DHT was potently anti-catabolic was in patients with HIV. Patients with low DHT, but normal testosterone lost significantly more weight (lean mass) than patients with normal testosterone and DHT (R). 

DHT can be anti-catabolic by acting as a adaptogen as it prevents the increase in ACTH in response to stress (R). This can help to keep cortisol low and preserve muscle.

Furthermore, DHT boosts muscle strength to a greater degree than testosterone. A lack of DHT results in strength loss (R, R). Keep in mind that lifting heavy is better for hypertrophy and DHT will help with that.

Conclusion

So is DHT even worth optimizing? Definitely!

It helps with fat loss, although not that much, is anti-catabolic and promotes better well-being and mental health. The increased benefit of feeling better mentally is enough for me to keep my DHT high.

Not only that, but DHT will also help against water retention, giving your physique a dry, hard and lean look.

Have you done or used something that worked fantastic at boosting your DHT or that gave you a lean dry physique? Please let me know in the comment. I’d love to hear about your experience.

Do you want to maximize muscle growth and strength while staying lean? Then my Ultimate Strength, Size and Skill Program is for you. It contains the perfected formula that produces the best results every time, all you have to do is implement it.

As always, thanks so much for reading my article.
If you found it helpful and insightful please like and share so others can also benefit from this information and feel free to leave a comment down below if you have any questions for me.

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