[quote]I suppose it depends on what one means by “readily.”
Not one but two enzymatic conversions are required. If only 1 occurs, you’re not going to get 1-testosterone from this compound.
Both conversions are reversible so it’s not the case that there’s a tendency for everything to go in the desired direction. While the equilibrium won’t be exactly at the halfway point for each one, nor will the reactions go all the way to equilibrium, let’s assume for simplicity that the 50/50 point is reached for each conversion.
In this case, only 1/4 of what compound goes through the skin will wind up converted to the claimed compound to which it “readily converts.”[/quote]
That may be true, but even if it doesn’t yield 1-Test it will convert to 1-Adione and 1-Adiol with only one conversion. I’ve heard plenty of people get great results from 1-AD, some say even better than 1-Test.
[quote]By the way, 4-androsterone was tried by others as an oral supplement on the theory that it would undergo the same 2 conversions and be a useful precursor to testosterone.
It was not only in practice so useless that it was a complete failure in practice, but it was so useless that though known to exist, the government didn’t bother to schedule it while scheduling all other prohormones.
It is also a known fact that DHEA has the same substituents at the 3 and 17 positions at this compound, and transdermal delivery does not result in much metabolism at those positions for DHEA. So I would not assume it for this compound either.[/quote]
Not sure if this is relevant, but much the same can be said about oral DHEA and the conversion to testosterone. It is well known that DHEA is not only not very bio-available orally, but it also seems that it does not readily convert to test in men (particularly young men).
On the other hand, Primordial also makes a topical DHEA product which is absorbed very well and, due to the high concentration of specific enzymes in the skin, is more readily converted into testosterone. I have experienced this first hand.