[Candace]

Thanks for digging up that paper. It confirms my fears: Reishi did nothing for "quality of life scores, peak urinary flow, mean urinary flow, residual urine, prostate volume, serum prostate-specific antigen or testosterone levels." Beta sitosterol, on the other hand, decreases IPSS (7.4 points vs Reishi's 2.1 points), increases peak urinary flow, and decreases residual urine. Thus, Reishi cannot be placed in the top tier of 5-AR inhibitors. It's definitely worth taking for the immune and lifespan effects, but to lower DHT one would be well-advised to take something else with it.

Which specific chemicals are you referring to? And for each of them, how much is in peony extract, what is the dose-response relationship for blood levels, what is the IC50 for 5-AR, and what is the half-life in the body? Using that information, enlighten us as to what dose would be required to be useful in lowering DHT. If you can't do this, please retract your claim that peony extract is a practical 5-AR inhibitor. We shouldn't have to take your word for it.

The answers have been given to you again, if you can quote IC50 values then you can certainly figure out the chemical constituents for 5 ar. On top of the you want me to tell you the IC50 of 5 alpha reductase?, hilarious!.

You have not provided a legitimate answer, you're just blowing smoke in a desperate attempt to avoid having to admit that you were wrong about something. The major components of peony do not inhibit 5-AR. (By the way, the term is "antagonists" or "inhibitors", not "chemical constituents".) Beta sitosterol does inhibit 5-AR, but the content in peony is too low for your reference to specify it, so the effective peony dose would be impractical, and perhaps dangerous if it caused an overdose of the major components.

I did not ask for the IC50 of 5-alpha reductase, I asked for "And for each of them ... what is the IC50 for 5-AR?" This gives us an idea of what blood level of the active ingredient we would need to achieve. Dose-response data tells us how much of the chemical we'd have to take to reach that blood level. And the concentration of the inhibitor in peony extract would tell us how much extract we'd have to take. Without doing that calculation, you cannot claim that peony is a practical 5-AR inhibitor.

Aromatase only works on testosterone

Incorrect, DHT is converted by aromatase to estrogen.

Whaaaaat? This chart and this paper say otherwise. You also used to believe that DHT could not be aromatized. What changed your mind?