The three types of steroids are corticosteroids, anabolic-androgenic steroids, and sex steroids (estrogens and progestogens). All three share the same basic molecular backbone: 17 carbon atoms arranged in four rings, known as the steroid nucleus. What makes each type different is the small chemical modifications to that shared structure, which completely change how the molecule behaves in your body.
People often hear “steroids” and think of bodybuilders or anti-inflammatory medications, but those are just two corners of a much bigger picture. Your body naturally produces all three types, and each one controls a different set of critical functions.
Corticosteroids: Your Body’s Anti-Inflammatory System
Corticosteroids are produced in your adrenal glands, which sit on top of your kidneys. They come in two subtypes, each made in a different zone of the gland and each doing a distinct job.
Glucocorticoids are your body’s main tool for managing inflammation and metabolism. Cortisol, the most well-known glucocorticoid, raises blood sugar by triggering the liver to produce glucose. It also pulls fatty acids out of fat tissue to use as energy, shifts amino acids toward the liver for protein production, and dials down the immune response. This is why synthetic versions are prescribed for conditions like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, and multiple sclerosis. They work by interfering with the signaling proteins that activate inflammation at the cellular level.
Mineralocorticoids control your fluid balance. Their primary job is telling your kidneys to hold onto sodium. When sodium gets reabsorbed, water follows it, which increases blood volume and raises blood pressure. This is essential for staying alive, but problems with mineralocorticoid levels can contribute to high blood pressure or dangerous drops in blood pressure if levels fall too low.
Side Effects of Corticosteroid Medications
Because corticosteroids are so widely prescribed, their side effect profile matters to a lot of people. Short-term use is generally well tolerated, but long-term oral corticosteroid treatment can cause weight gain from increased appetite, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, thinning skin, acne, osteoporosis, mood changes including irritability and depression, higher infection risk, and in children, temporarily slowed growth.
The delivery method changes the risk. Inhaled steroids for asthma can cause coughing, hoarseness, and oral fungal infections. Nasal sprays sometimes dry out the nasal lining or cause nosebleeds. Topical creams applied to the skin may cause thinning, stretch marks, or small visible blood vessels called spider veins. Steroid injections into joints can cause temporary pain and swelling at the injection site, and repeated injections may lighten the surrounding skin permanently.
Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids: Muscle and Masculinization
Anabolic-androgenic steroids, often shortened to “anabolic steroids,” are the type most associated with athletic performance. Testosterone is the primary natural version. The “anabolic” part refers to tissue building, while “androgenic” refers to the development of male characteristics.
In muscle tissue, these steroids work through several pathways at once. They increase the accumulation of DNA in skeletal muscle cells needed for growth, boost the proliferation of muscle satellite cells (the repair and growth cells within muscle), promote the formation of new muscle fibers, and increase the number of androgen receptors on muscle cells. They also improve nitrogen and phosphorus retention, which shifts the body toward building protein rather than breaking it down. The net result is increased muscle size, density, and strength.
Beyond the gym, anabolic steroids have legitimate medical uses. Doctors prescribe testosterone for conditions where the body doesn’t produce enough on its own, such as when the testes are absent, damaged, or underdeveloped, or when the hormonal signaling chain from the brain to the testes is disrupted. It’s also used for delayed puberty in adolescent males. Off-label, anabolic steroids have been used to stimulate bone marrow in certain blood disorders, counteract muscle wasting in cancer and HIV, and address severe appetite loss.
In women, adrenal androgens (weaker versions produced by the adrenal glands rather than the ovaries) are responsible for much of the growth of pubic and underarm hair. They play a smaller but still meaningful role in female physiology.
Sex Steroids: Estrogens and Progestogens
Sex steroids overlap somewhat with anabolic-androgenic steroids since testosterone is technically a sex steroid too. But estrogens and progestogens are distinct enough in function that they form their own category.
Estrogens drive the development of female secondary sexual characteristics, but their influence reaches far beyond reproduction. Estrogen signaling promotes healthy cholesterol profiles by supporting HDL function and helping the liver clear cholesterol from the blood. It plays a role in fat metabolism and distribution, regulates the growth and protection of brain cells in the hippocampus (the region involved in memory and learning), and supports the immune system’s ability to suppress certain types of cancer metastasis. Estrogen receptors are found throughout the cardiovascular, skeletal, immune, and nervous systems, which is why the drop in estrogen during menopause affects so many different parts of the body.
Progestogens, with progesterone as the main natural form, prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy and the breast tissue for milk production. Synthetic progestogens are a key component of hormonal birth control and hormone replacement therapy.
Together, sex steroids affect prenatal and postnatal brain development, shaping regions tied to behavior, cognition, and emotional regulation. This is true in both sexes, not just in women. Men produce small amounts of estrogen, and women produce small amounts of testosterone, and both are necessary for normal function.
How the Three Types Relate to Each Other
All three steroid types are built from cholesterol. Your body converts cholesterol into different steroid hormones through a series of enzymatic steps, and some steroids are actually converted into others. Testosterone, for example, can be converted into estradiol (the most potent estrogen) by an enzyme called aromatase. This is why men with very high testosterone levels sometimes develop breast tissue: excess testosterone gets converted into estrogen.
The adrenal glands produce all three types to some degree. The outer zone makes mineralocorticoids, the middle zone makes glucocorticoids, and the inner zone makes androgens. The ovaries and testes then add large quantities of sex steroids on top of what the adrenals provide.
When people talk about “taking steroids,” context determines which type they mean. A doctor prescribing steroids for a rash or joint inflammation is talking about corticosteroids. An athlete using steroids to build muscle is using anabolic-androgenic steroids. A woman on hormone therapy after menopause is using sex steroids. The risks, benefits, and mechanisms are completely different for each, even though they all share that same four-ring molecular skeleton.