Chrysin

A flavonoid compound found in bee pollen and propolis. Can boost Testosterone when injected into testicles, it is just a shame it isn't absorbed at all. Unless better absorption arises, Chrysin remains a pretty interesting colon cancer preventative agent that doesn't boost testosterone

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Chrysin is a Bioflavonoids compound found in high levels in propolis and in honey. It is a flavonoid known for supposedly increasing testosterone levels in humans.

It has the general health benefits that are shared with many bioflavonoids, and has limited but promising evidence for its usage in increasing testosterone. It does this via inhibiting the enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen, and by sensitizing the testicular cells to produce more testosterone.

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Also Known As

Propolis, Honey extract, Passiflora caerulea Linn


Is a Form of


Goes Well With

  • COX2 inhibitors (for the purposes of StAR upregulation)
  • StAR inducers like D-Aspartic Acid (as it potentiates the effects of cAMP induction)

Caution Notice

Examine.com Medical Disclaimer

At this moment in time, there does not appear to be enough evidence for an optimal dosage amount or technique for boosting testosterone. In aged rats at least, low doses (1mg/kg) have been shown to enhance male sexuality.


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The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (excluding animal/petri-dish studies) to tell you what effect Chrysin has in your body, and how strong these effects are.
GradeLevel of Evidence
ARobust research conducted with repeated double blind clinical trials
BMultiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
CSingle double blind study or multiple cohort studies
DUncontrolled or observational studies only
Level of Evidence
EffectChange
Magnitude of Effect Size
Scientific ConsensusComments
CTestosterone

Has failed to increase testosterone levels in one study.


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Table of Contents:


Edit1. Sources and Structure

1.1. Sources

Chrysin is a bioflavonoid compound that is touted to enhance testosterone levels and male virility.

Sources of Chrysin include:

  • Passiflora caerulea and Incarnata[1]


Edit2. Pharmacology

2.1. Intestinal Absorption and Bioavailability

Like many Bioflavonoids, they suffer from poor bioavailability in isolated form[2] which limits their practical usage. This poor bioavailability does not seem to be related to intestinal transport per se,[3] but more related to extensive metabolism by P450 enzymes of sulphation and glucuronidation in the intestines and liver limiting how much bioactive Chrysin reaches systemic circulation.[4][5]

When tested in humans, 400mg of Chrysin supplementation resulted in approximately 0.2-3.1mg of unchanged Chrysin excreted in the urine; this confers a relative bioavailability of less than 1% unchanged Chrysin.[5] When measuring Chrysin and its two serum metabolites (Sulphate and Glucuronide), total urinary recovery was 1-7% of the oral dose whereas the other 93-99% was lost in the feces.[5] Over 99% of an oral dose of Chrysin reaching the blood is in the conjugated form.[5]

One study found Chrysin to induce UGT1A1 expression in intestinal cells (Caco-2), which increases glucuronidation rates. When tested in vivo, the side-effects of a pro-drug associated with insufficient glucuronidation were reduced, contributing some validity to the results seen in vitro.[6]

2.2. Serum values

After oral ingestion of 400mg Chrysin, plasma levels of Chrysin sulphate appear to be 30-fold higher than plasma levels of bioactive Chrysin.[5] Glucuronide conjugates appear to be present in plasma, but at undetectable levels.[5]

The Cmax or 400mg Chrysin was 3-16ng/mL while the AUC was 5-193 ng/mL/h.[5] The Cmax was reached (Tmax) about 1 hour after ingestion, fell rapidly at 6 hours, and returned to baseline 48 hours after ingestion.[5] The half-life for the first 12 hours was 4.6 hours.[5]

2.3. Metabolism

When tested in vivo and vitro, there does not appear to be any evidence of oxidative metabolism of Chrysin.[5][3]

When injected into rats at doses of 1-5mg/kg bodyweight, it appears that glucuronide conjugates are 10-fold more prevalent than sulphate conjugates; this contrasts oral dosing, where in both rats and humans glucuronide conjugates are quite low relative to sulphation.[5] This may be due to Chryin's ability to active sulphation enzymes in the intestines and liver,[7][6][8] which would lead to enhanced intestinal auto-metabolism.


Edit3. Neurology

3.1. Anxiety

A plant that Chrysin comes from, Passionflower, is known to be an anxiolytic compound;[9] it appears Chrysin plays a central role in Passionflower-induced anxiolysis.[10]

3.2. Aphrodisia

In aged rats, oral doses of 1mg/kg bodyweight Chrysin appear to be effective at increasing mounting frequency and impregnantions suggesting it may exert pro-fertility actions in aged animals.[1] Sperm count was also increased at this dosage after 30 days.[1]


Edit4. Interactions with Hormones

4.1. Testosterone

Chrysin is one of the more potent flavonoid compounds in inhibiting aromatase in vitro[11] with similar efficacy to Apigenin,[12][13] which can potentially be a mechanism to increase testosterone secondary to preventing conversion of testosterone into estrogen. A direct steroidogenic effect may also occur in the leydig cells of the testes, where mRNA levels of the StAR regulatory protein (rate limiting step of testosterone synthesis) are unregulated and the suppressor of StAR, DAX-1, inhibited;[14] the increase in StAR activity appears to be secondary to suppressing DAX-1 and possible COX-2 (both negative regulators) rather than a direct stimulatory effect like D-Aspartic Acid.[15][16]

Chrysin has mechanisms to increase testosterone levels via both sensitizing testicles to luteinizing hormone and by inhibiting aromatase

Chrysin is somewhat limited by its poor intestinal absorption rates, with a bioavailability of less than 1%,[2] and most studies conducted with Chrysin are confounded with the inclusion of other nutrients known to increase testosterone such as DHEA.[17][18][19][20] In these blends, Chrysin appears to be dosed at around 300-625mg despite societal usage being reported to be in the range of 2,000-3,000mg.[6]

One study with of propolis with eucalyptus honey) at 1,280mg and 20g, respectively (54mg/g collective flavonoids in the propolis, 1mg/g Chrysin in the honey) supplementation failed to significantly influence testosterone levels in otherwise healthy men.[21] In rats, an increase of approximately 30% has been noted with oral intake of 50mg/kg bodyweight for 60 days,[22] which is a human estimated dose of 8mg/kg bodyweight.

Secondary to the poor absorption, there may not be a practically relevant increase in testosterone synthesis seen in humans orally consuming chrysin. There is still a possibility of this occurring if absorption is increased


Edit5. Interactions with Cancer Metabolism

5.1. Mechanisms

Chrysin appears to be an modifier of P-glycoprotein efflux pumps and reduce their activity; this can act synergistically with compounds that are subject to P-gp efflux, such as the anti-cancer drug epirubicin.[23] It shows potential at alleviating multi-drug resistance and exhibits anti-proliferative properties in isolation and in conjunction with other compounds.[23][24]


Edit6. Safety and Toxicology

In humans, 500mg of Chrysin (in two divided dosages) is not associated with many adverse effects, although this one study was not fully designed to test Chrysin as it was confounded with another compound.[6] Acute dosages of 400mg Chrysin do not observe any toxic effects in humans.[5]

References

  1. Dhawan K, Kumar S, Sharma A. Beneficial effects of chrysin and benzoflavone on virility in 2-year-old male rats. J Med Food. (2002)
  2. Saarinen N, et al. No evidence for the in vivo activity of aromatase-inhibiting flavonoids. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. (2001)
  3. Walle UK, Galijatovic A, Walle T. Transport of the flavonoid chrysin and its conjugated metabolites by the human intestinal cell line Caco-2. Biochem Pharmacol. (1999)
  4. Galijatovic A, et al. Extensive metabolism of the flavonoid chrysin by human Caco-2 and Hep G2 cells. Xenobiotica. (1999)
  5. Walle T, et al. Disposition and metabolism of the flavonoid chrysin in normal volunteers. Br J Clin Pharmacol. (2001)
  6. Tobin PJ, et al. A pilot study on the safety of combining chrysin, a non-absorbable inducer of UGT1A1, and irinotecan (CPT-11) to treat metastatic colorectal cancer. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. (2006)
  7. Smith CM, et al. Differential UGT1A1 induction by chrysin in primary human hepatocytes and HepG2 Cells. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. (2005)
  8. Chlouchi A, et al. Effect of chrysin and natural coumarins on UGT1A1 and 1A6 activities in rat and human hepatocytes in primary culture. Planta Med. (2007)
  9. Preoperative Oral Passiflora Incarnata Reduces Anxiety in Ambulatory Surgery Patients: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study
  10. Role of chrysin in the sedative effects of Passiflora incarnata L
  11. Aromatase inhibition by bioavailable methylated flavones
  12. Sanderson JT, et al. Induction and inhibition of aromatase (CYP19) activity by natural and synthetic flavonoid compounds in H295R human adrenocortical carcinoma cells. Toxicol Sci. (2004)
  13. Jeong HJ, et al. Inhibition of aromatase activity by flavonoids. Arch Pharm Res. (1999)
  14. Jana K, et al. Chrysin, a natural flavonoid enhances steroidogenesis and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein gene expression in mouse Leydig cells. J Endocrinol. (2008)
  15. Wang X, et al. Cyclooxygenase-2 regulation of the age-related decline in testosterone biosynthesis. Endocrinology. (2005)
  16. Stocco DM. StAR protein and the regulation of steroid hormone biosynthesis. Annu Rev Physiol. (2001)
  17. Kohut ML, et al. Ingestion of a dietary supplement containing dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione has minimal effect on immune function in middle-aged men. J Am Coll Nutr. (2003)
  18. Brown GA, et al. Effects of androstenedione-herbal supplementation on serum sex hormone concentrations in 30- to 59-year-old men. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. (2001)
  19. Brown GA, et al. Endocrine and lipid responses to chronic androstenediol-herbal supplementation in 30 to 58 year old men. J Am Coll Nutr. (2001)
  20. Brown GA, et al. Effects of anabolic precursors on serum testosterone concentrations and adaptations to resistance training in young men. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. (2000)
  21. Gambelunghe C, et al. Effects of chrysin on urinary testosterone levels in human males. J Med Food. (2003)
  22. Ciftci O, et al. Beneficial effects of chrysin on the reproductive system of adult male rats. Andrologia. (2012)
  23. Gyémánt N, et al. In vitro search for synergy between flavonoids and epirubicin on multidrug-resistant cancer cells. In Vivo. (2005)
  24. Sawicka D, et al. The anticancer activity of propolis. Folia Histochem Cytobiol. (2012)

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