What are steroids and corticosteroids?

Answer 1

Steroids are an organic fat-soluble compound composed of four joined carbon rings formed naturally or synthetically, and including bile acids, adrenocortical and sex hormones, sterols, and vitamin D.

Corticosteroids are a natural medicine, a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland and involved in metabolism and immune response.

Answer 2

Steroids are the hormones that your body uses to tell itself what to do. The only ones we usually hear about are sexual (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone), but they have effects all over the body. Corticosteroids are a specific category of steroids that control how your body reacts to stress, injury, allergy, etc. Use of them is common to treat inflammatory diseases and injuries.

Answer 3

Steroids are any hormones derived from cholesterol.

Corticosteroids are produced in the adrenal cortex. The term is often used to refer to glucocorticoids which are anti-inflammatory.