Why Testosterone Boosters Are a Waste of Money
Of all the ingredients found in common testosterone boosters, not one has a shred of scientific evidence supporting its purported benefits.
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The supplement industry is notoriously suspect. Whether it is the selling of protein-powders spiked with saw-dust, or the selling of pre-workouts that contain meth-like compounds —only to be taken off the shelf by the FDA by the time it is too late, the supplement industry is the economic wild-west; as is the fitness industry in general. This unregulated industry has an extensive track record of getting away with selling useless and sometimes dangerous products.
Where a lot of this trouble derives from, is from the selling of products that are not substantiated by evidence, or, by selling products that are substantiated by evidence, but not at doses that are anywhere near being effective. In both cases, supplement companies spend the majority of their money on marketing their products, by making claims for them that supersede reasonable expectations as to what one should expect from ingesting a supplement.
In the former group, a predominant form of supplements that are big money makers are “natural” testosterone boosters. That is to say, all of the major testosterone boosters are essentially a big waste of money. Yet, these supplements make some of the biggest claims for themselves within the supplement industry. These big claims — some of which include steroid-level progress (i.e. huge increases in strength, muscle mass, and “masculinity”) — yield big results, as, testosterone supplements constitute themselves a multi-billion dollar industry within the supplement industry. With the endorsement of a large number of fitness “influencers”, such as pro-bodybuilders and Instagram models, it is simply the case that there is a growing industry with many influential people involved that are preying on insecurities. They are feeding off of the fact that, in general, male testosterone levels have been at a considerable decline over the past 100 years. No matter who you are —male, female, trans, etc.— having low testosterone levels will make you depressed, and raising them will help relieve that depression. Surely there is some level of correlation between this phenomenon and the phenomenon of increased levels of depression in the last half-century.
Regardless of the causes of the decline in average testosterone levels amongst men, it is clear that the success of testosterone booster sales is a direct result of the common utilization of human vulnerability by the supplement industry.
In light of this, the evidence should be made very clear. None of the common ingredients in testosterone boosting supplements actually boost testosterone, nor do they result in any of the purported benefits that such a boost in testosterone would yield. In fact, many of these supplements do nothing at all: that’s right, many testosterone boosters are actually duds. Or worse, some of these supplements can be outright bad for you, by having the opposite effect of boosting testosterone — by either lowering it or increasing estrogen.
There are various different common compounds that are used in prevalent testosterone boosting supplements, and the rest of this article will go over the evidence regarding them and their efficacy.
These are the most common ingredients found in testosterone boosters:
Boron
D-Aspartic Acid
Basella Alba
Bryonia laciniosa
Dehydroepiandrosterone
Forskohlii
Chrysin
Bulbine natalensis
Fadogia agrestis
Brassaiopsis glomerulata
ZMA
Tribulus Terrestris
I will be going in-depth on the effectiveness of all of these ingredients. What I will show — based on the overwhelming scientific evidence — is that not only do none of these supplements have data to support their utility, but some of them even have data to suggest that they are bad for you.
Boron
Boron is a dietary mineral that is found in many whole foods such as apples, broccoli, raisins, prunes, almonds, peanuts, and hazelnuts. It is a necessary compound to consume, as, deficiency in boron can lead to bone weakness and depressed estrogen levels. The primary utility of boron is its ability to help the body break down and utilize other minerals. It also aids in the body’s production of natural steroid compounds that relate to muscle growth and the maintenance of bone integrity. It must be noted that with boron, having a deficiency is profoundly rare.
Supplementing with boron at levels that are higher than ordinary dietary intake (which is 2.3 to 4.1 mg/day) is said to have beneficial hormonal effects, including increases in testosterone. Hence, it is often used in testosterone-boosting supplements.
However, the data simply doesn't support this. There was a small study (13 participants) done on postmenopausal women who supplemented with boron and the testosterone levels of these women did increase; however, so did their estrogen levels, which is counterintuitive to the purported effects which testosterone boosters “aim” to achieve. The primary conclusion of this study was that “the findings suggest that supplementation of a low-boron diet with an amount of boron commonly found in diets high in fruits and vegetables induces changes in postmenopausal women consistent with the prevention of calcium loss and bone demineralization” which suggests that supplementation with boron has a predominantly estrogenic effect, rather than testosterone boosting one.
Another study — short-tern (1–2 weeks) and small (8 participants) — displayed that boron supplementation led to a decrease in estrogen and an increase in free testosterone. This is the first and only study to show such an increase. All this study proves is that there is a conflict in the literature regarding its estrogenic effects and it proves nothing regarding its purported effects in increasing total testosterone levels.
All of the data correlating boron supplementation with testosterone levels are inconsistent, unreliable, and not comprehensive, and in turn, a supplement that is claiming to increase testosterone levels through boron is making fallacious claims for itself.
D-Aspartic Acid
D-Aspartic acid (D-AA) is one of the two forms of aspartic acid — the other form, being L-aspartate. This amino acid serves as a regulator of testosterone synthesis and potentially has the capacity to act on the stimulatory receptor NMDA. D-AA works primarily in the central region of the brain and the way it works, is that it facilitates the release of various hormones, such as luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and growth hormone.
D-AA is one of the most common ingredients in testosterone-boosting supplements. Surprisingly, it is one of the only compounds that actually shows somewhat consistently that it is capable of increasing total testosterone levels. However, there is a catch. The increase in testosterone in which D-AA yields is profoundly temporary. This increase lasts anywhere from 6–12 days in healthy adults. Testosterone returns to the pre-supplementation baseline after 6–12 days, even when supplementation is continued. Furthermore, these increases are not significant enough to yield any change in body composition. In other words, supplementing with D-AA will not aid in fat loss, muscle gain, strength gain, or any so-called “masculine” attributes that are commonly said to be gainable through taking a testosterone booster. In fact, in high enough doses D-AA can have a testosterone decreasing effect.
Given the unreliability and shortness of duration of potential positive effects of D-AA, it is clearly not worth supplementing with. Likewise, given that its effects diminish, it is possible that a reaction to such diminishing effects can result in the taker of D-AA increasing their intake, which can inadvertently cause testosterone to drop.
Basella Alba
Basella alba is a vine that is most predominantly found in tropical environments in both Asia and Africa. Traditionally it has been used in various recipes for vegetable dishes. In recent years, however, it has been utilized in many testosterone booster supplements.
Firstly, not much is known about Casella — to the point where there isn’t even a known effective dosage. But, the main problem with basella are the studies that have been done on it. Namely, the fact that none of the studies that are associated with its efficacy as a testosterone-boosting substance was done on animals. Furthermore, none of the studies utilized the ordinary route of administration of the supplement — namely, these studies injected the basella, which in supplement form, would never be injected by a human.
Furthermore, it is the case that the supposed efficacy of basella alba in increasing testosterone has only been found in conjunction with its ingestion with hibiscus macranthus which itself has only been seen in one rat study to have any testosterone boosting supplement.
Not enough research has been done yet to substantiate the use of basella alba as a human testosterone-boosting supplement. A human study showing its effectiveness with a by mouth route of administration is required to prove its effectiveness as a supplement, and no such study exists.
Bryonia laciniosa
Byronia laciniosa is a herb that has been traditionally used as a fertility booster and an aphrodisiac. Furthermore, it has traditionally been used as a youth enhancer and an anti-inflammatory. These purported uses aside, in recent years it has been used as a testosterone booster ingredient. However, its use doesn’t match up to the evidence on the matter.
Its use as a testosterone boosting compound is predicated on one — yes, one — study done on rats. To quote from examine.com — the supplement research database — :
That is to say, yes, Bryonia laciniosa showed an increase in testosterone in fertile male rats, but it is profoundly preliminary to suggest that it can do the same for humans. It is inconclusive, at the moment, to suggest that Bryonia laciniosa can act as a testosterone booster for humans.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a naturally occurring hormone that can be converted to either testosterone or estrogen depending upon the needs of an individual body. Likewise, it also confers its own benefits as it pertains to itself, such as serving as a neurosteroid and a neurotropic — or to put it simply, as a hormone, it plays a very important role in the function of the central nervous system.
Given DHEA’s property of being converted into testosterone, it follows readily why it is used in various testosterone-boosting supplements. However, the simple deduction of DHEA’s naturally occurring properties — when it is endogenously produced — doesn’t exactly amount to what happens when one supplements with DHEA. That is, one might think that the fact that given the fact that DHEA produced in the body can be converted into testosterone, would mean that supplementing with DHEA would increase total testosterone levels. Logically, this actually makes sense, but the data doesn't support deductive thinking in this regard.
Interestingly, there is actually quite a lot of data on DHEA and the effects of supplementing with it for the purpose of boosting testosterone levels. Also, this data is actually somewhat good data — i.e. double-blind, large-scale and long-term studies. However, the vast majority of the literature on DHEA’s effects on testosterone has been done on post-menopausal women — as testosterone pertains to libido — and the results of such studies are profoundly unreliable — in that, in some studies, there is shown an increase in testosterone and in others none. In particular, in young athletes, it cannot be said that DHEA has any testosterone-boosting benefits, as, there has been little to no research done on this topic.
In a large study done on middle-aged men — a demographic where testosterone levels are generally declining— DHEA simply failed to increase testosterone and yielded no benefits regarding sexual dysfunction — which is one of the supposed benefits of DHEA’s supposed testosterone boosting abilities. There was also a study done on young athletes that did show a correlation between DHEA and increased testosterone levels, but it also correlated with an increase in estrogen levels — furthermore, it conferred no athletic or body-composition benefit.
Thus, until it is the case that we see consistent human studies showing that DHEA can increase testosterone in multiple differing demographics and without increasing estrogen levels, it cannot be plausibly used in a testosterone boosting supplement that claims for itself “muscle building, fat loss, and masculinizing” benefits.
Forskohlii
Forskohlii is quite a popular supplement. It is a herb that has been used traditionally in Ayurvedic medicine. For the most part, it has been utilized as a fat-burning supplement. In this vein, it is actually quite useful, as, there is data that supports the idea that Forskohlii can accelerate fat loss when one is in a caloric deficit. That is due to the fact that Forskohlii increases intracellular levels of cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate) — when cAMP levels are high that signifies that ATP levels are low, and in turn, instead of utilizing ATP for the burning of energy, the body begins to prioritize energy reserves like body fat.
Despite this, it is also commonly touted as a testosterone-boosting supplement. The data, however, doesn't exactly support the notion that Forskohlii can boost testosterone levels. In a long-term double-blind study done on overweight and obese men, Forskohlii was shown to increase testosterone. However, the variability in this effect varied widely. In other words, it was a mixed bag when it came to Forskholii’s testosterone-boosting effects. It had this effect on some of the participants, and it did not have this effect on others. Furthermore, it was noted in the study that the fat mass of the participants dropped. What this means, however, was that the participants of this study were in a caloric deficit — as, it defies the laws of thermodynamics to drop fat mass without being in an energy deficit. The study does not parse out whether or not the testosterone boosting effects were due to the fact that the participants were taking Forskholii — which would imply that supplementing with it has intrinsic testosterone boosting effects — or whether the increase in testosterone was due to the loss in fat mass — as, it is the case that obesity and being overweight (in fat mass) in men is highly correlated with a drop in testosterone, where, a loss of such weight increases testosterone.
Thus, given that the aforementioned study is the only study discussing the possibility of Forskohlii’s potential as a testosterone booster, more comprehensive research needs to be done before it can be definitively said to be capable of boosting testosterone.
Chrysin
Chrysin is a bioflavinoid that is found in high levels in compounds that are manufactured by bees such as honey and propolis. It is commonly taunted as a plant-based testosterone boosting compound.
Firstly, like many bioflavonoids, Chrysin is extremely poor in terms of bioavailability, so even if it did confer the supposed benefits that many testosterone boosting supplements claim that it can confer, it would be unable to do so merely by its poor absorbability.
The idea that Chrysin can increase testosterone is predicated on one rat study which showed that Chrysin was able to increase testosterone in rats by 30%. However, compare this to a human study on Chrysin in which it was shown that Chrysin failed to have any significant effect on human testosterone levels. Finally, in some of the studies that do show that it can boost testosterone, the route of administration was via injection into the testicles — an obvious impracticality for general supplement customers. It is quite unlikely that supplement companies will begin to start selling testosterone booster supplements that need to be injected into the testicles.
Thus, until it is shown that Chrysin can reliably increase testosterone when taken in ordinary supplement form, it cannot plausibly be said to be a testosterone booster.
Bulbine natalensis
Bulbine natalensis is a herb that has been traditionally used in South and South-Eastern Africa as an aphrodisiac, a cognitive enhancer, and as a testosterone booster. Currently, it is utilized in a large number of many popular testosterone-boosting supplements.
It has been shown in three separate Bulbine natalensis studies that it has the ability to significantly increase testosterone in rats. Thus far, this is probably the most hopeful outcome in the data on testosterone-boosting supplements. However, there is — of course — a catch. The levels of Bulbine natalensis which conferred the testosterone boosting effects on the rats, also had an almost steroid-like effect when it comes to the liver and kidneys; that is to say, testosterone-boosting doses of Bulbine natalensis were shown to also have toxic effects on the kidneys (indicated by literal distortions in the architecture of the kidneys) and have adverse effects on liver enzyme levels.
There is, in turn, a twofold folly in asserting that Bulbine natalensis is a natural — which very often implies safe — testosterone booster: (1) there are no human studies showing its benefits, and (2) it comes with the potential for health risks that resemble those that accompany steroid use. Supplement companies ought to first take into account the latter danger if they’re going to extrapolate benefits from rat studies and should also wait for human studies to emerge showing that it is the case that Bulbine natalensis can help boost human testosterone levels — safely or not. Until then, it cannot be said to be a reliable supplement in this respect.
Fadogia agrestis
Fadogia agrestis is a herb from Nigeria that has traditionally been used as an aphrodisiac. This aphrodisiac effect — which has yet to have been proven in humans — has often been assumed to be derivative of Fadogia agrestis’ supposed capabilities of increasing testosterone levels.
Such supposed capabilities, however, is poorly supported by the data. Firstly, as a supplement in general, it lacks human studies… period. Yes, no human studies have been done on Fadogia agrestis. It would be very easy to simply dismiss Fadogia agrestis just based on that, but, the common study that is cited regarding its supposed testosterone-boosting benefits, too, deserves scrutiny.
One study done on rats showed that supplementing with Fadogisa agrestis had dose-dependent remarkable increases in testosterone. However, what is often overlooked about this study is the fact that it was a profoundly short-term study. That is, it only showed increases in testosterone after 5 days. We have no idea if there is any medium to long term testosterone boosting benefits from supplementing with Fadogia agrestis
Hence, longer-term and human-based studies need to be done to confirm that Fadogisa agrestis is suitable as a human testosterone booster. Likewise, more research in general on its safety needs to be done, as it has been shown that supplementation with Fadogisa agrestis is associated with biomarkers that are indicative of damage to cell membranes.
Brassaiopsis glomerulata
Brassaiopsis glomerulata is a Vietmetnese tree that has traditionally been used to treat rheumatism. Further, it has been traditionally been used to treat back pain in the elderly.
Oddly enough, Brassaiopsis glomerulata makes its appearance in many testosterone-boosting supplements. But, in general, there isn’t a lot of data on it. This is to the point where there isn’t even enough evidence to formulate a recommended dosage of it.
That is, there is zero evidence to suggest that Brassao glomerulata can boost testosterone in any living organism. It can, in vitro (i.e, in a test-tube/outside of a living organism) inhibit the aromatase enzyme — aromatase inhibition is a common way to reduce estrogen conversion when using external testosterone. This, however, doesn't in the slightest suggest that it can boost testosterone in humans.
In turn, any supplement containing Brassaiopsis glomerulata that says it can boost testosterone really should be outright dismissed.
ZMA
ZMA is a very popular “testosterone boosting” supplement. ZMA is a combination of zinc, magnesium, and vitamin B6.
It is well known that a zinc deficiency can cause a drop in testosterone levels. However, it is the case that if you are not deficient in Zinc, ZMA will provide absolutely no testosterone-boosting benefits. This is made clear by the fact that boosts in testosterone have not been shown in any study where participants do are not deficient in Zinc.
What would likely be better than supplementing with ZMA, would be purchasing a high-quality multivitamin, where you not only fill in potential zinc, magnesium, and B6 deficiencies, but you fill in all potential deficiencies. This ensures that any deficiency-related health issues are dealt with, on top of the potential lowering of testosterone from being deficient in zinc.
Tribulus Terrestris
Tribulus Terrestris was actually the first herb to be marketed by supplement companies as a testosterone booster. It was traditionally used in Indian medicine known as Ayurveda as a promoter of male sexual vitality.
In modern times, however, it has been used to increase testosterone for the sake of building muscle, increasing strength, and losing fat. However, it is the case that the data doesn't substantiate the claim that Tribulus can increase testosterone levels.
In otherwise healthy individuals, there is no research that shows that Tribulus can increase testosterone levels. Even in a long-term randomized placebo-controlled study, there was no significant difference in effect between participants who took Tribulus and who were in the placebo group on testosterone levels.
There is data to suggest that in infertile men it can increase libido, — which is often, but falsely, attributed to an increase in testosterone. Though, even that is preliminary and needs more research to show that Tribulus can consistently help with libido. As, for women, in particular, the data seems to suggest that Tribulus doesn't help with libido any better than a placebo would.
One thing is for sure, and that is that Tribulus — the originator of the testosterone boosting supplement — like all testosterone boosting compounds, doesn't work.
How to Actually Achieve Healthy Testosterone Levels Naturally
The data clearly shows that basically, all testosterone-boosting supplements are worthless wastes of money. At best, there might be some hope for some of these supplements — in particular, DHEA. But, at this point in the game, I would go as far as to say if you see a supplement company that is selling a testosterone booster, do not buy anything from them: if they are willing to lie enough to sell a testosterone booster — which in all cases does nothing and in some, can actually do harm — who knows what else they are willing to lie about.
It is reasonable to want to maintain healthy testosterone levels, as, levels below a healthy range (for both men and women) can lead to various symptoms such as depression, loss of libido, impaired sleep, fatigue, muscle loss, absence of menstruation, and overall sexual dysfunction. You do not, however, need to purchase any supplements to maintain healthy testosterone levels.
The only supplements you might want to consider purchasing are magnesium, vitamin D3, zinc, fish oil, and a multivitamin. Micronutrient deficiencies — specifically in key nutrients like magnesium and vitamin D — are directly correlated with lower levels of testosterone — and, overall impaired endocrine functionality. Hence, it would be prudent to ensure that you are not deficient in any micronutrients. This is your first line of defense in protecting your endocrine health.
A few things you can do is, firstly, make sure you are eating a diet that is mostly composed of whole/unprocessed foods, that strikes a balance in your caloric intake between carbs, fats, and protein (20–35% fat, around 50% carbs and 0.8–1g per 1lb of body weight of protein). Next, make sure you are lifting weights in a manner that ensures you are increasing your strength, while keeping cardio to a minimum — as, too much cardio accumulates cortisol, which has the effect of decreasing testosterone levels. Finally, getting 7–9 hours of sleep each night is important in the maintenance of a healthy endocrine system. It is important that you keep your cortisol levels under control, as cortisol acts as an antagonist to testosterone. That is, the higher your chronic levels of cortisol are, the lower your chronic levels of testosterone will be. Hence, do things that will relax you as well.
Finally, avoiding exposure to harmful chemicals — in particular, phytoestrogens — is another way to ensure that your hormonal health is optimized. A few good ways of doing this are to quit using plastics — insofar as that’s possible for you (e.g. switching to a metal water bottle), begin to filter your water, and avoid phthalates, parabens, sulfates, fragrances, and petrolatum, among others. Consulting this list of items to replace your everyday items might be helpful — and, fundamentally, inexpensive, as most of the products on this list are as expensive as products with endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
In sum: do not buy testosterone-boosting supplements; rather, eat a reasonable diet, make sure you have no micronutrient deficiencies, get high-quality sleep, lift heavy weights consistently, and do not overdo cardio. This is the route to a healthy hormonal life, for both men and women.
