Anavar (oxandrolone) is not very toxic, not very androgenic, mildly anabolic, and pretty mild on the body’s HPTA (Hypothalamic-Testicular-Pituitary-Axis). Those are its 4 major points, and I’d like to examine each one a bit further; as usual, gym rumors and Internet conjecture have made this steroid the subject of many misconceptions. First of all, and this will come as no surprise to many people, Anavar is quite mild on your liver. It’s probably the mildest oral steroid available today. Dosages of up to 80mgs/day are easily tolerated by most men, and most side effects often found with other steroids are not common with ‘var (1). For this reason, Anavar is frequently the steroid of choice for many top-level female bodybuilders and other athletes. It’s a very mild steroid in every sense of the word. It binds reasonably well to the AR, but pretty high doses are still needed and I would never suggest doing less than 20mgs/day. In fact, 20-80mgs are needed to start halting AIDS related wasting (1) and recovering weight for burn victims (2), so that’s the range I’d recommend for dasging this compound. Personally, I’d use 100mgs/day if I were ever going to try this stuff. Any less than this amount (20-100mgs) would be a waste. For women, however, I think 2.5-10mgs/day would suffice. Virilation is not a concern with this compound, as it is only very mildly androgenic (3). Water retention is also virtually nil with it. Although Anavar is an oral steroid, and has been alpha-alkylated to survive oral ingestion and the first pass through the liver; it’s still relatively mild in that respect too. The unique chemical configuration of oxandrolone both confers a resistance to liver metabolism as well as noticable anabolic activity. It would also appear that Anavar appears not to exhibit the serious hepatotoxic effects (jaundice, cholestatic 198 hepatitis, peliosis hepatis, hyperplasias and neoplasms) typically attributed to the C17alpha-alkylated AASs (17). Anavar has even been used successfully in some studies to heal cutaneous wounds (7), or to improve respiratory function (18). Both of these novel properties could make it a good choice for in-season use for boxers, mixed Martial Arts competitors, and other such athletes. Now here’s some interesting stuff for anyone interested primarily in the fat burning properties of this stuff: Anavar may be what we’d call a “fat-burning steroid.” Abdominal and visceral fat were both reduced in one study when subjects in the low/normal natural testosterone range used it (4). In another study, appendicular, total, and trunk fat were all reduced with a relatively small dose of 20mgs/day (8) and no excercise. In addition, weight gained with ‘var may be nearly permanent too. It might not be much, but you’ll stand a good chance of keeping most of it. In one study, subjects maintained their weight (re)gains from Anavar for at least 6 months after cessation (2)! Concomitantly, in another study, twelve weeks after discontinuing oxandrolone, 83% of the reductions in total, trunk, and extremity fat were also sustained .If you’re regaining weight, Anavar will give you nearly permanent gains, and if you are trying to lose fat (and you keep your diet in check), the fat lost with Anavar basically looks to be nearly permanent.