The effect of androstenedione supplementation on testosterone, estradiol, body composition, and lipid profile: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Abstract

To date, no meta-analysis has been carried out to collect evidence from randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) for the purpose of comprehensively summarizing the effect of androstenedione supplementation. Therefore, the aim of this research was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of all RCTs that explored the effect of androstenedione supplementation on individual hormonal, lipid, and anthropometric indices. We searched five databases (Web of Science, SCOPUS, Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE, and Google Scholar) using a combination of medical subject headings (MeSH) and non-MeSH terms. Using the random-effects model, we summarized the outcomes as weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Eight eligible articles were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled effect sizes suggested a significant effect of androstenedione supplementation on serum estradiol concentrations (WMD: 20.82ng/ml, 95% CI: 7.25 to 34.38, p = 0.003), triglycerides (TG, WMD: -0.19mg/dl, 95% CI: - 0.96, 0.57, p = 0.000), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (WMD: - 0.13mg/dl, 95% CI: - 0.23 to - 0.03, p = 0.009); however, it had no effect on testosterone (WMD: 0.098ng/ml, 95% CI: - 0.499 to 0.696, p = 0.748), body weight (WMD: 0.579kg, 95% CI: - 4.02 to 5.17, p = 0.805), body mass index (BMI, WMD: - 0.73kg/m2, 95% CI: - 2.98, 1.50, p = 0.519), low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (WMD: - 0.074mg/dl, 95% CI: - 0.37 to 0.22, p = 0.622), and total cholesterol (TC, WMD: - 0.15mg/dl, 95% CI: - 0.49, 0.17, p = 0.198). These findings indicate that androstenedione supplementation can lower TG and HDL-cholesterol and increase estradiol concentrations.