Reduction of rat prostate weight by combined quercetin–finasteride treatment

General Discussion
#1

Hello,

I haven’t posted much on this site before but have been using the info provided here for quite sometime now and seem to be recovering well from a period of very intense side effects upon quitting Finasteride a few months ago. I’m still dealing with some issues and while doing my research I recently came across the following article and thought that it might be of everyone’s interest here if it has not already been posted. I searched for this info on the forum and could not find it so I’m assuming it has not been posted. I apologize in advance if it has. The following is the abstract for the paper:

Title:

“Benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer are major public health problems. We report herein that daily treatment of male rats with 50, 100 or 150 mg quercetin per kg body weight resulted in serum concentrations of quercetin equivalent to 25·3 μM, 43·3 μM and 54·3 μM respectively. Concomitantly, serum testosterone levels were increased by 1·79-, 1·83- and 3·48-fold, while serum dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels were 125%, 92% and 73% of the control. A slight increase in prostate weight coupled with dilated prostate lumens full of secretory materials were observed. Finasteride alone caused a significant decrease in serum DHT level and prostate weight. Co-administration of quercetin with finasteride preventedthe finasteride-induced decrease in serum DHT levels but significantly enhanced the reduction in wet prostate weight, which was reduced by 26·9% in finasteridetreated animals to 31·8%, 40·0% and 48·2% after finasteride given together with the three doses of quercetin. The combined treatment altered cell cycle-regulated proteins in a wide spectrum. The expressions of cyclin D1, CDK-4, cdc-2 and phospho-cdc-2 at tyrosine 15, phospho-MEK1/2, phospho-MAP kinase, phospho-pRb at serine 780 and serine 807/811 were significantly inhibited, while the levels of p15, p21 and p27 were increased. In conclusion, quercetin–finasteride treatments caused wide cell cycle deregulation in rat prostates, which, in turn, decreased the proliferation rate, changed the secretion activities of epithelial cells and resulted in a marked reduction in wet prostate weight. The results suggest that quercetin synergizes with finasteride to reduce the wet prostate weight through a cell cyclerelated pathway, which may be androgen independent.
Journal of Endocrinology (2004) 181, 493–507”

Link for full study: joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/181/3/493.full.pdf

The main reasons I found this information important were:

  1. Foods rich in quercetin include black and green tea (Camellia sinensis; 2000–2500 mg/kg), capers (1800 mg/kg),[5] lovage (1700 mg/kg), apples (440 mg/kg), onion, especially red onion (191 mg/kg) (higher concentrations of quercetin occur in the outermost rings[6]), red grapes, citrus fruit, tomato, broccoli and other leafy green vegetables, and a number of berries. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercetin)

  2. I took finasteride for over 7 years without any side effects (i know and entirely believe the side effects creep up without you realizing it but I really did not have them up until the 7+ year)

  3. Up until year 7, my diet did NOT include any sort of teas (Green or Black) and very little of the other foods mentioned here as being rich in Quercetin. Even though I was extremely healthy - with above average levels of exercising and healthy eating habits.

  4. However, it was on that year (7) that I decided to take my eating habits and general health a little more seriously and started drinking A LOT of green teat as well as dramatically increase my increase of berries, broccoli, and other leafy green vegetables as mentioned here. At the same time I also increase my exercise routine from about 3/4x(week) to about 5/6x(week).

  5. It was only after introducing these changes (with emphasis on much bigger Green Tea consumption) that I started having the first few side effects from finasteride (depression, weight gain, ED in that order).

  6. At the same time, the effectiveness of finasteride for my hair loss had been potentialized to an extent I had never seen before with no more cycles of shedding and a total hair coverage which I had not had since I was 15 years old. (i’m 26 now) My hair had never looked better in the 7 years of hair loss treatments, which is odd since the ‘normal’ tendency would be for a worsening of the condition with age.

Now I know this might be a long shot and may or may not apply and it may only apply to me in the end, but I wonder if the synergistic action between Finasteride and Quercetin as observed on this study, could apply on our systems to potentialize the effectiveness of Finasteride on our systems and de-regulate the balance between our prostates and hormones.

Any thoughts would be highly appreciated and I would be glad to give more information on my particular case/background if needed. Again, I apologize if this has already been discussed here and would like to thank everyone that makes this website possible as well as wish you all the best of luck :slight_smile:

#2

There is a thread on this topic somewhere, do a search for quercetin.

Unfortunately, many here never drank green or black teas while on Finasteride (such as myself) but we still ended up with all the issues as a direct result of Finasteride.

Diet would have little, if any impact vs. the drug’s strong inhibition of 70% of DHT/neurosteroids etc while on it. I wouldn’t concern yourself with trying to find an alternative explanation for your issues, since Finasteride itself is documented to cause them.

#3

Many claim not to have side effects on the drug but actually do. One reason is because they believed Merck’s “studies”. Most people have mental side effects without attributing it to the drug. They become less ambitious, unmotivated, listless. You fuck with hormones, it’s going to affect you. That’s the way it is.

#4

Following what Mew said, the increase in exercise likely exacerbated your need for DHT which finasteride was blocking. You upped your routine 50%-60%, from approximately every other day to almost every day of the week, at the same time you started drinking more tea. This follows the same physical exertion pattern that others have reported here. After intense exercise or repeated masturbation crashes often occur. You increased physical activity which increased the speed at which hormonal output and recovery was required. Perhaps your body was able to maintain a level of hormonal output for the first 6 years on finasteride until you upped your activity level at which point it could no longer keep up. Tea/caffeine may have contributed as it’s a stimulant and increases metabolism, further depleting your body of the hormones finasteride was partially blocking, however in this picture exercise speeding up the rate at which DHT was required is the most likely cause, DHT finasteride was blocking.

#5

Thanks for all the responses guys, very insightful!

#6

I damn care about the prostate.
I damn care about the sex,
I damn care about penis size,
I need my health and muscles.