Cholesterol vs Testosterone: what is the difference?

How they differ

Testosterone is built from cholesterol, so this is a precursor and its product rather than two competing molecules. Cholesterol is the four-ring sterol every animal cell membrane uses to control its fluidity, and the body makes most of its own rather than absorbing it from food. From cholesterol the adrenal glands and gonads build pregnenolone and from there the whole steroid hormone family, testosterone included, along with cortisol, estradiol and vitamin D. The visible difference is size: cholesterol keeps a long hydrocarbon tail and weighs 386.7, and testosterone has lost that tail at 288.4. The common belief that eating cholesterol raises testosterone does not follow from the pathway, which is not limited by the supply of raw material.

Side by side

Structural similarity 0.35 of 1, computed as a Morgan fingerprint Tanimoto coefficient. It measures shape, not effect.

Common questions

What is the difference between Cholesterol and Testosterone?

Testosterone is built from cholesterol, so this is a precursor and its product rather than two competing molecules. Cholesterol is the four-ring sterol every animal cell membrane uses to control its fluidity, and the body makes most of its own rather than absorbing it from food. From cholesterol the adrenal glands and gonads build pregnenolone and from there the whole steroid hormone family, testosterone included, along with cortisol, estradiol and vitamin D.

Is Cholesterol bigger than Testosterone?

Cholesterol is the heavier molecule, 386.7 g/mol against 288.4 g/mol for Testosterone. Cholesterol is C27H46O and Testosterone is C19H28O2.