The Research Continues to Mount Up
Many testosterone boosters and so-called natural Viagra supplements are squirrely, but some are backed by research. Like this one.
Testosterone Boosters: The Natural Viagra?
Many regard testosterone boosters and “natural Viagra” supplements with a jaundiced eye. It’s understandable. The retired athletes featured in the round-the-clock commercials that hawk the restorative ability of these products come across as sincere as the guy who insists he eats dinner at Hooters for the cuisine.
But some of the ingredients in a handful of these products aren’t a joke. While they’re not a substitute for testosterone replacement therapy, the legitimate ones can give men who are mildly low in testosterone a legitimate testosterone boost – a boost they can feel.
One of these legitimate T-boosting supplements has a lot of research to support it. It’s known as “Asian Viagra” in certain parts of that continent for its pro-sexual effects and, unlike many other testosterone-boosting supplements, it’s increases testosterone levels in young men as well as older ones, too.
The most recent of these studies even caused the authors to postulate that the substance could “benefit muscle and strength gain in young adults.”
That substance is the herb Eurycoma longifolia (Buy at Amazon), known colloquially as tongkat ali or Long Jack.
A 34% Increase In Testosterone
The study found that daily doses of Eurycoma led to dose-related increases in testosterone and free testosterone of 14% and 34%, respectively, over just a two-week period. (1)
Granted, they used a rather large dosage of Eurycoma to elicit the biggest bump in testosterone – 600 mg. a day – but taking smaller amounts of highly purified versions of the herb would negate the need for such large doses.
One really interesting thing about the study – at least to endocrinology geeks – was that the herb didn’t seem to significantly affect luteinizing hormone (LH) or follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).
These pituitary produced hormones operate on a feedback loop: increased amounts of LH and FSH tell the testes to churn out more testosterone and in turn, those increased testosterone levels inhibit the release of LH and FSH. It’s rather elegant and it’s how most testosterone-increasing substances work, including actual testosterone injections.
What this study suggests, though, is that Eurycoma may not increase the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis to the degree we thought it did, but that it may also increase testosterone through activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. (While hardly anybody talks about it, the adrenals also produce testosterone, albeit at much smaller doses than the testes.)
This may indicate that testosterone levels might rise higher than they would through substances that only affected the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal-axis. That’s of course intriguing, especially for athletic or muscle-building purposes.
Another Recent Eurycoma Study
Since Eurycoma has been shown to increase testosterone, it’s often used in studies with men who actually suffer from “androgen deficiency” or age-related low testosterone.
One such study, published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, decided to see if Eurycoma improved strength and cardiorespiratory fitness in men with androgen deficiency. (2)
Forty-five subjects with a mean age of 47.6 years were split into four groups: a control group, a Eurycoma only group, a training group, and a training plus Eurycoma group.
After 6 months, the training group and the training-plus Eurycoma group showed decreased symptoms of ADAM (androgen deficiency of aging male) by 27.3% and 36.1%, respectively, prompting the authors to laud the “benefits of concurrent training and Eurycoma longifolia consumption as a non-pharmacological treatment for ADAM.”
One Big Study About Male Sexual Health
Testosterone is intimately related with sexual function so it’s no surprise that a good number of studies would focus on that aspect of Eurycoma.
Another recent paper – this one a meta study – looked at 150 papers on Eurycoma and found 11 that met their inclusion data (those studies that included the search terms “male sexual health,” male libido," “erectile dysfunction,” “testosterone levels,” and of course, “Eurycoma longifolia” and “Tongkat Ali”). (3)
All of the studies demonstrated considerable effects of Eurycoma on male sexual disorders, prompting the authors to write:
“The findings of human clinical studies revealed a promising efficacy of Eurycoma to treat erectile dysfunction in sexually sluggish males by improving penile erection, erectile hardness, and sexual performance. The clinical significance of Eurycoma in male infertility was also evidenced by significantly improving semen volume, concentration of sperms, and proportion of sperms having normal morphology, sperm motility, sexual libido, and overall sexual satisfaction.”
What to Take
Clearly, some T boosters work, particularly those that contain highly purified extracts of Eurycoma longifolia, like Biotest’s Alpha Male. Alpha Male® also contains a criminally under-publicized and under-appreciated testosterone booster named forskolin carbonate, which also boasts some impressive studies behind it.
The third component in Alpha Male® is another herb, Tribulus terrestris, which enhances androgen receptor density in the brain (and possibly muscle tissue, too). That means that any testosterone churned out courtesy of Eurycoma or forskolin has a lot more roomy places for it to park and do its stuff. It also explains the proven libido-enhancing effects of Tribulus.
Together, or even individually, these substances might remove the tarnish caused by some of the cringe-worthy television ads that caused the more serious-minded among us to be unduly skeptical of all such products instead of just a few of them.
References
References
- Chan KQ et al. The effect of Eurycoma Longifolia on the regulation of reproductive hormones in young males. Andrologia. 2021 May;53(4):e14001. PubMed.
- Leitao AE et al. **Exercise associated or not to the intake of Eurycoma longifolia improves strength and cardiorespiratory fitness in men with androgen deficiency.**Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2021 Feb;42:101301. PubMed.
- Thu HE et al. Eurycoma Longifolia as a potential adoptogen of male sexual health: a systematic review on clinical studies. Chin J Nat Med. 2017 Jan;15(1):71-80. PubMed.