Turkesterone: Does It Work? Benefits, Dosage & Side Effects

Dr. Josh Axe Vitamin Advisor · 4–5 questions

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High in the Boysun mountains of Uzbekistan grows a wild herb called Ajuga turkestanica, and local people in Central Asia have used it to treat heart disease and muscle and stomach aches.67 The plant makes a family of compounds called ecdysteroids, the same molecules insects use as molting hormones, and researchers believe plants make them to help fend off the insects that feed on them.8 Turkesterone and its sister compound, ecdysterone, are this plant's two main ecdysteroids, and turkesterone is sold in capsules as a natural way to build muscle.1

The research on this family is promising. In muscle cells, ecdysteroids switch on protein building; in rats, ecdysterone enlarged muscle fibers; and in people who strength-trained, ecdysterone products added strength in two trials.29310 Turkesterone itself has been tested in three short human trials, where body fat in one trial, grip strength and IGF-1 moved slightly in its favor.41112

My answer on turkesterone is not yet: the human evidence is too thin, so creatine comes first. Strength training, protein and creatine have dozens of human trials behind them, and they build muscle in the people who put in the work.1314 Turkesterone's family of compounds is worth watching as the human research grows.

Did you know?

• Turkesterone is ecdysterone with one extra hydroxyl group attached, which is why chemists call it the 11α-hydroxy form of ecdysterone.1

• In a 2026 lab analysis of seven plant-food samples, kaniwa, an Andean seed grain related to quinoa, carried the most ecdysterone: 691 micrograms per gram of dry weight. None of the foods carried turkesterone.5

• No FDA-approved medicine contains an ecdysteroid, but a purified, drug-grade form of ecdysterone is being tested as a medicine for age-related muscle loss.1516

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What is turkesterone?

If you shop for turkesterone, you'll find it as capsules of Ajuga turkestanica extract, usually labeled with a percentage of turkesterone, such as 10%.5 Some blend it with other herbs, and some products sold as turkesterone hold more ecdysterone than turkesterone, as you'll see in the label section below.

So is it a steroid? Chemically, yes, but think of a distant cousin of your own hormones. Ecdysteroids share the four-ring frame of every steroid, yet their shape differs from human steroid hormones: they carry extra hydroxyl groups and a full side chain, and researchers haven't found convincing evidence that they bind the receptors your steroid hormones use.8 Even so, in lab muscle cells, ecdysterone's growth effect was blocked by an anti-estrogen and left untouched by an anti-androgen, which points to a role for estrogen receptor beta rather than the androgen receptor that the testosterone-based drugs called anabolic steroids act on.17

Which foods contain ecdysteroids?

If you eat spinach, quinoa or asparagus, you're already getting a little ecdysterone. In a 2026 lab analysis of seven plant foods, spinach carried 260 to 462 micrograms of ecdysterone per gram of dry weight, white quinoa 330, red quinoa 272 and asparagus 198, and turkesterone turned up in none of them.5 USADA also names spinach and quinoa as the foods richest in ecdysteroids.15

Your body absorbs only a small share of it, judging by what turns up in urine. When eight adults ate about 950 grams of sautéed spinach or a spinach smoothie, about 1.4% of its ecdysterone and metabolites showed up in their urine, and after about 370 grams of cooked quinoa, about 2.6%.1819 Keep eating these foods for everything else they bring, from the magnesium and folate in spinach to the complete protein in quinoa; the ecdysterone comes along in food-sized amounts, the way people have always gotten it.

A short history of turkesterone

Long before anyone put it in a capsule, Ajuga turkestanica was a traditional medicine. It's a perennial herb that grows mainly in Central Asia,7 and a 2021 review lists its traditional uses in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan: for being underweight, for ulcers, burns and wounds, to protect the heart and to support hair growth.8

The lab story began in 1965, when scientists found ecdysteroids in plants soon after identifying their structure in insects. At first, they hoped these compounds might help control insect pests.8 Then interest turned to what they do in mammals, and by 1976, Soviet researchers had reported anabolic effects of turkesterone in male rats.20

How does turkesterone work in your body?

No one has traced turkesterone itself through the human body, so what's known comes from its sister compound, ecdysterone, studied in people, animals and muscle cells.

So the lab dish and the capsule are far apart. That's why the trials that pair these compounds with real training, at measured doses, tell you the most.

What is turkesterone good for?

Turkesterone benefits, ranked by evidence

Ranked by the strength of the human research, the ecdysteroid family's benefits start with strength gains with training and holding muscle when training stops, both from ecdysterone products, followed by mobility in older adults, then turkesterone's own early results on body composition, grip and mood and IGF-1, and the lab and animal findings on muscle growth and recovery.

Does turkesterone work? What the human trials found

Start with the body-composition trial. At Nova Southeastern University, 31 active adults, 14 men and 17 women, took 500 mg a day of a turkesterone product or a placebo for four weeks and kept their usual habits. Neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what, and the maker donated the capsules.4 On body scans, fat mass rose 0.1 kg on turkesterone and 0.5 kg on placebo, a gap that came just short of a clear difference. Lean mass dipped a little in both groups, 0.6 kg on turkesterone and 0.3 kg on placebo, with no clear difference between them. Over the month, the placebo group's fat mass and body-fat percentage clearly rose, while the turkesterone group's held steady. This trial measured body composition only, not strength.

The second trial asked what happens in the hours after a dose. At Baylor University, 11 active men took single doses of 1,000 mg and 2,000 mg of a turkesterone product and a placebo, about a week apart, so each man tried all three without knowing which he got. The researchers chose those amounts because most makers recommend 1,000 mg a day.11 IGF-1 in the blood rose at three hours on both doses and stayed flat on placebo, though in the researchers' analysis the gap wasn't clear-cut. Resting metabolism and the body's use of fat and carbohydrate didn't differ either. Heart rate, blood pressure and digestion held steady, and no one reported symptoms.

The third trial, reported so far as a conference abstract, gave 24 university students, 12 men and 12 women, one capsule a day of a turkesterone-containing product or a placebo for four weeks; the abstract doesn't give the turkesterone dose.12 Several measures leaned toward the product. Grip strength rose 2 kg on it and fell 3 kg on placebo. A mood-disturbance score fell 3.3 points against a 0.6-point rise, and a sleep-quality score, where lower is better, fell 0.9 points against a 0.3-point rise. Body weight, fat-free mass and fat mass leaned the other way: weight and fat-free mass dipped 0.2 kg each on the product while rising 1.1 and 1.4 kg on placebo, and fat mass rose 0.1 kg against a 0.3 kg drop. None of these measures showed a clear difference from placebo.

Put together, the three trials point in a hopeful direction on a few measures. Short trials without training or tested capsules could easily miss a modest effect, which is why a longer trial that pairs a lab-verified product with strength training is the test that matters next. Until that trial is done, creatine comes first.

Turkesterone vs. ecdysterone: what's the difference?

Turkesterone and ecdysterone are siblings from the same plant, and ecdysterone is the one with far more human research. No trial has compared them head to head.

The label problems in the section below affect both compounds, and ecdysterone has its own page with the full research picture.

Should you take turkesterone?

On my show, while walking through the supplements I recommend, I put it simply: "If you just pick two of all of the supplements on here, creatine and protein powder will give you the biggest impact to burn fat and build muscle."34 Both work on top of training, which is what builds muscle in the first place.

Strength training first

As I've said on my show, "Lift weights two to three days per week, pushing a little heavier over time, and eat protein at every meal."35 That steady, progressive work, called progressive overload, is what tells muscle to grow, and my metabolic reset protocol builds its sessions around squats, hinges, pushes, pulls and carries.36 See compound exercises for how to do them.

Strength matters for more than how you look. In a prospective study that followed 139,691 adults in 17 countries, every 5-kilogram drop in grip strength was linked to a 16% higher risk of death from any cause, and grip strength predicted death better than systolic blood pressure.37 Muscle, as I've put it on my show, is a longevity organ.34 Strength training for longevity has a full plan.

Protein at every meal

I recommend most people get 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight a day, closer to 1 gram if you're over 40, spread across meals of 30 to 40 grams.3436 The research lines up with that range: across 49 trials with 1,863 adults who lifted weights for at least six weeks, protein supplements added 0.30 kg of fat-free mass and 2.49 kg to one-rep strength, and gains in fat-free mass leveled off above about 1.6 grams per kilogram a day, roughly 0.73 grams per pound.14

Easy places to start, food first:

• Pasture-raised eggs34

• Wild-caught fish like salmon34

• Greek yogurt34

• Protein powder to make the target easier: whey, ideally organic, A2 and grass-fed, or pea protein if whey doesn't agree with you.3436

Turkesterone vs. creatine: why creatine comes first

Creatine monohydrate is a natural compound found in meat and fish, and it's one of the most studied supplements for building muscle.38 The International Society of Sports Nutrition calls it "the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes" for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training, and it describes use of up to 30 grams a day for five years as safe and well tolerated in healthy people.39 In 22 randomized trials with 721 older adults who strength-trained two to three days a week for 7 to 52 weeks, creatine added 1.37 kg more lean tissue than placebo, along with more chest-press and leg-press strength.13

For most people, I recommend 5 grams of plain, unflavored creatine monohydrate a day, and about 3 grams for a smaller woman who weighs around 110 pounds.3438 Taking more than that doesn't help: "I max out at five grams per day because once you hit a certain threshold, there is no extra benefit of doing more grams on top of it."38 You don't need to cycle it.38

As I've explained on my show, creatine causes no kidney harm in healthy people; it can nudge creatinine, a kidney lab value, up a little, and other kidney tests such as cystatin C give a clearer picture.38 If you already have kidney disease, decide on creatine with the specialist who manages it. Creatine for women covers its benefits for women in more detail.

How much turkesterone do people take?

A standard dose is hard to set for two reasons: a capsule's percentage doesn't tell you what's inside it, as the next section shows, and no one has measured how much turkesterone your body absorbs. Cycling, taking it for a few weeks and then stopping, hasn't been tested either, and in three strength-training trials of ecdysterone products, testosterone didn't change compared with placebo.252627 Until a longer trial settles those questions, put your effort into training, protein and creatine, and see the safety section for who should skip it entirely.

Do turkesterone supplements contain what the label says?

At 10%, a 500 mg capsule should hold about 50 mg of turkesterone. When researchers at the Medical University of Plovdiv in Bulgaria checked 13 ecdysteroid supplements with a validated lab method, the four Ajuga turkestanica products varied widely. A 500 mg capsule that blended the extract with ginseng and astragalus held 54.77 mg. A 600 mg capsule held 40.03 mg, where its label implied about 60 mg, along with 35.51 mg of ecdysterone. A second 500 mg capsule held 6.23 mg. And a third held just 0.64 mg of turkesterone, with 24.98 mg of ecdysterone in its place.5

Tests of ecdysterone products have found the same problem. In 12 supplements labeled to contain ecdysterone, the content was generally much lower than the label promised.40 Some supplements sold as spinach extract turned out to be made from Cyanotis arachnoidea, a different, ecdysteroid-rich plant.41 And when researchers tested 21 ecdysterone supplements from 10 brands, all of them held much less ecdysterone than labeled, and 20% contained a substance on WADA's prohibited list.42 In the U.S., FDA doesn't approve dietary supplements before they're sold, so the checking falls to the maker and to you.43

The product matters too: the 12-week trial whose capsules held almost none of their labeled ecdysterone found no added benefit, while the 10-week trial that measured its capsules before the study found gains.2610

For any turkesterone or ecdysterone product you come across, these checks show whether its label can be trusted:

• Look for milligrams, not just a percentage. A label that gives milligrams of turkesterone per capsule tells you more than a percentage of extract.

• Ask for the batch lab report. A certificate of analysis from an independent lab, for the batch you're buying, should list turkesterone and ecdysterone separately, since some products hold more of one than the other.5

• Know what else is in the capsule. Blends add other herbs, such as the ginseng and astragalus in one tested product, so read the full ingredient list.5

• If you're tested in sport, choose third-party certified products. USADA advises athletes to use only supplements certified by a third party.15

Is turkesterone banned in sports?

Turkesterone isn't named on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List or its Monitoring Program. Its sister compound, ecdysterone, has been on the Monitoring Program as an anabolic agent, in and out of competition, since 2020, and it's still there on the 2027 program published in September 2026.33445 The program tracks substances that aren't prohibited but that WADA wants to watch for patterns of misuse in sport. USADA notes that ecdysteroids aren't currently prohibited and need no therapeutic use exemption, and that WADA is monitoring them to decide whether to add them to the Prohibited List;4415 the researchers behind the 10-week ecdysterone trial recommended adding ecdysterone to it.10

Two findings matter most for you. A capsule sold as turkesterone can hold mostly ecdysterone, as one of the four tested products did.5 And in one analysis, 20% of ecdysterone supplements carried a WADA-prohibited substance.42 More broadly, a review of 50 studies covering 3,132 supplements found undeclared substances in 875 of them, nearly 28%, most often the weight-loss drug sibutramine and anabolic steroids.45 So if you're tested, stick with products certified for sport by a third party, or leave ecdysteroid supplements out; supplements for athletes covers better-studied options.

Turkesterone side effects & who should be careful

The wider family's record is reassuring. In a placebo-controlled safety study of 54 young and older adults, a purified, drug-grade ecdysterone caused only mild to moderate side effects at single doses up to 1,400 mg and at up to 450 mg twice a day for 14 days,23 and in the 233-person trial in older adults, treatment-related side effects ran 16.0% on placebo and 13.3% and 13.5% on the two doses over six to nine months.16 Liver and kidney markers didn't rise in the 10- and 12-week ecdysterone training trials,1026 and in mice, the dose by mouth needed to kill half the animals was more than 9 grams per kilogram of body weight, which is why researchers regard ecdysteroids as nontoxic to mammals.8

The bottom line

Turkesterone: frequently asked questions

References

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19. Isenmann E, Yuliandra T, Touvleliou K, Broekmann M, de la Torre X, Botrè F, et al. Quinoa as phytopharmaceutical? Urinary elimination of ecdysterone after consumption of quinoa alone and in combination with spinach. Arch Pharm (Weinheim). 2024;357(6):e2300689. doi:10.1002/ardp.202300689. PMID:38400693
20. Syrov VN, Kurmukov AG. [The anabolic properties of turkesterone phytoecdysone and turkesterone tetraacetate in experiments on male rats]. Probl Endokrinol (Mosk). 1976;22(3):107-12. PMID:935080
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23. Dioh W, Tourette C, Del Signore S, Daudigny L, Dupont P, Balducci C, et al. A Phase 1 study for safety and pharmacokinetics of BIO101 (20-hydroxyecdysone) in healthy young and older adults. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2023;14(3):1259-1273. doi:10.1002/jcsm.13195. PMID:37057316
24. Gorelick-Feldman J, Cohick W, Raskin I. Ecdysteroids elicit a rapid Ca2+ flux leading to Akt activation and increased protein synthesis in skeletal muscle cells. Steroids. 2010;75(10):632-7. doi:10.1016/j.steroids.2010.03.008. PMID:20363237
25. Wilborn CD, Taylor LW, Campbell BI, Kerksick C, Rasmussen CJ, Greenwood M, et al. Effects of methoxyisoflavone, ecdysterone, and sulfo-polysaccharide supplementation on training adaptations in resistance-trained males. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2006;3(2):19-27. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-3-2-19. PMID:18500969
26. Dissemond J, Havers T, Held S, Geisler S, Kostov T, Diel P, et al. How reliable is the labeling of a commercial phytosteroid product? A 12-week randomized double-blind training study. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025;22(1):2540408. doi:10.1080/15502783.2025.2540408. PMID:40781783
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28. Zwetsloot KA, Shanely RA, Godwin JS, Hodgman CF. Phytoecdysteroids Accelerate Recovery of Skeletal Muscle Function Following in vivo Eccentric Contraction-Induced Injury in Adult and Old Mice. Front Rehabil Sci. 2021;2:757789. doi:10.3389/fresc.2021.757789. PMID:36188800
29. Lawrence MM, Zwetsloot KA, Arthur ST, Sherman CA, Huot JR, Badmaev V, et al. Phytoecdysteroids Do Not Have Anabolic Effects in Skeletal Muscle in Sedentary Aging Mice. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(2):370. doi:10.3390/ijerph18020370. PMID:33418916
30. Sripinyowanich S, Denben B, Satapoomin P, Tumnark P, Phoemsapthawee J. Effects of Asparagus-Derived 20-Hydroxyecdysone Supplementation on Fat Oxidation and Insulin Sensitivity in Resistance-Trained Males. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2025;71(6):526-536. doi:10.3177/jnsv.71.526. PMID:41485968
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33. World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2020 Monitoring Program. 2019.
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35. Axe J. 12 Warning Signs Your Body Is Aging Faster Than It Should. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (Dr. Axe speaking at 6:54–7:11; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgQotNSHa08).
36. Axe J. Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset: The 90-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (Phase 2, "Build," p. 17 of 31).
37. Leong DP, Teo KK, Rangarajan S, Lopez-Jaramillo P, Avezum A, Orlandini A, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. Lancet. 2015;386(9990):266-73. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62000-6. PMID:25982160
38. Axe J. Creatine Isn't Just for Muscle: What It Does for Your Brain, Energy and Healthy Aging. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (Dr. Axe speaking at 12:25–12:32, 18:13–18:33, 19:50–20:27, 23:40–24:40 and 24:56–25:12; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqe0ZGM4U1g).
39. Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, Ziegenfuss TN, Wildman R, Collins R, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:18. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z. PMID:28615996
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42. Pálinkás Z, Békési D, Utczás M. Quantitation of Ecdysterone and Targeted Analysis of WADA-Prohibited Anabolic Androgen Steroids, Hormones, and Metabolic Modulators in Ecdysterone-Containing Dietary Supplements. Separations. 2023;10(4):242. doi:10.3390/separations10040242
43. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on Dietary Supplements.
44. World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2027 Monitoring Program. Published September 2026; in force January 1, 2027.
45. Kozhuharov VR, Ivanov K, Ivanova S. Dietary Supplements as Source of Unintentional Doping. Biomed Res Int. 2022;2022:8387271. doi:10.1155/2022/8387271. PMID:35496041
46. Tan AJN, Case S, Tokunaga A, Wong L, Sempokuya T. S5673 Not All That's Herbal Is Healthy: A Case of Drug-Induced Liver Injury With Autoimmune Features From Turkesterone [conference abstract]. Am J Gastroenterol. 2025;120(10S2):S10. doi:10.14309/01.ajg.0001150152.25700.f4
47. Shuvalov O, Fedorova O, Tananykina E, Gnennaya Y, Daks A, Petukhov A, et al. An Arthropod Hormone, Ecdysterone, Inhibits the Growth of Breast Cancer Cells via Different Mechanisms. Front Pharmacol. 2020;11:561537. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.561537. PMID:33192507

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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This article is for educational purposes. See our medical disclaimer.