Methandienone (trade names Averbol, Dianabol, Danabol) also known methandrostenolone, is an orally-effective anabolic steroid originally developed in Germany and released in the US in the early 1960s by Ciba Specialty Chemicals.

Methandienone is a testosterone derived anabolic androgenic steroid. Officially, it is a structurally altered form of the primary male androgen testosterone. Dianabol is the testosterone hormone with an added double bond at the carbon one and two position. This slight alteration reduces the hormone’s androgenic nature. It also carries an added methyl group at the 17th carbon position that allows the hormone to survive oral ingestion, officially classifying Dianabol as a C17-alpha alkylated steroid.

An important note, injectable Dianabol is also C17-alpha alkylated. The end result gives us an anabolic steroid with an androgenic rating of 40-60 with a much lower binding affinity to the androgen receptor compared to testosterone. However, it will also share a much weaker relationship for serum binding protein, which results in an extremely powerful anabolic steroid. If there’s any doubt, this is one extremely powerful anabolic steroid carrying a potent anabolic nature.

On a functional basis, Dianabol is one of the easier anabolic steroids to understand. This steroid will largely provide its anabolic benefits by enhancing protein synthesis, nitrogen retention and glycogenolysis. Protein synthesis represents the rate by which cells build proteins, the building blocks of muscle. Nitrogen retention, this is important as all muscle tissue is comprised of approximately 16% nitrogen. The more nitrogen we retain, the more anabolic we remain.