3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran: a powerful testosterone booster

This ingredient is extracted from Urtica Diodica, or more commonly also known as nettle. Now before we start, if you decide to buy a product with this ingredient, make sure you standardize it for this ingredient, not just ‘nettle extract’ or ‘Urtica Diodica extract’. With these, you are not sure how concentrated your extract is for that ingredient.

How does 3,4-Divanillytetrahydrofuran work?

3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran works primarily by binding to sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). What SHBG does is bind to sex hormones; mainly testosterone and estradiol. So the basic function of SHBG is to regulate the amount of biologically active hormones in your body. The reasons for this are not clear, however, I suppose it is because your body loves balance. Anyway, now that we know what SHBG is, we can understand how 3,4-Divanillytetrahydrofuran works. It attaches itself to SHBG, rendering it inactive, so it cannot bind to sex hormones. In theory this will allow free testosterone and estradiol to increase, and we know that higher testosterone promotes muscle growth.

And now for the investigation.

There are only a few academic journals on this ingredient because sadly none are free, however they do point out the binding affinity of 3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran for SHBG. In a journal they state that “All lignans except (-) – pinoresinol developed a binding affinity to SHBG in the in vitro assay. The affinity of (-) – 3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran was extraordinarily high” (1). Another magazine says the same, “Lignans bind to sex hormone transport globulin (SHBG). The lignan with the highest binding affinity is (+/-) – 3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran” (2). Although we cannot see the actual research done, this summary information establishes that 3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran binds to SHBG. This shows that the claims are true, however, to what extent is unknown. Many people have run sponsored / non-sponsored product registrations with this ingredient and have also had blood tests showing free testosterone before and after, so if you want to see some anecdotal reviews, you can find them online.

Can you help bodybuilders in other ways?

Nettle also performs other functions that could be useful to bodybuilders. One magazine found that nettle had the ability to lower glucose or that it is antihyperglycemic (3). Additionally, another journal stated that glucose-lowering abilities came from it, causing increased insulin secretion in the islets of Langerhance (these are the hormone-producing cells in the pancreas) (4). This research seems to indicate that nettle could also be used to manipulate insulin. However, they did not say what kind of extract or part of the plant they used, so I would avoid buying nettle for the purpose of manipulating insulin.

References:

1. Schottner, M., G. Gansser, and D. Spiteller. “Urtica dioica root lignans and their metabolites bind to human sex hormone transport globulin (SHBG).” Med Plant. 63 (1997): 529-32. PubMed. .

2. Schöttner, M., D. Gansser and G. Spiteller. “Interaction of lignans with human sex hormone transport globulin (SHBG)”. Z Naturforsch C. 52 (1997): 834-43. PubMed. .

3. Bnouham, Mohamed, Mohammed Aziz, Abdelkhaleq Legssyer, et al. “Antihyperglycemic activity of the aqueous extract of Urtica dioica”. Phytotherapy 74 (2003): 677-81. Science Direct. .

4. Farzami, B., D. Ahmadvand, Sh Khaghani, et al. “Induction of insulin secretion by a component of Urtica dioica leaf extract in peripheral islets of Langerhans and its effects in vivo in normal and diabetic rats with streptozotocin”. J Ethnopharmacol 89 (2003): 47-53. PubMed ..