Tongkat Ali: fitness-muscu advice

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Presentation of tongkat ali

THE tongkat ali is a shrub of Indonesian origin. And the roots of this shrub are sold as a testosterone booster supplement
And among testosterone boosters, tongkat ali seems to have a lot of potential, as shown by a recent study that we will review later in the video
And for the next few minutes, we will simply analyze the studies done on this shrub, to determine if this popularity is deserved, or if this plant is just the victim of overly aggressive marketing, like the tribulus terrestris for example

All this to, at the end of the video, decide whether, as an athlete, you should buy this supplement or not
But before analyzing the studies, let's review traditional uses of tongkat ali.

Traditional uses of tongkat ali

Tongkat ali has been used for millennia in traditional Indonesian medicine as aaphrodisiac. An aphrodisiac plant, for those who don't know, is a plant that improves sexual health parameters in general.
And what is also very aphrodisiac? An increase in testosterone.
So already, we see some concordance between traditional use and modern uses to increase testosterone levels.
This is already a good sign. Okay, enough talking, let's review these studies on tongkat ali.

Review of studies on tongkat ali and testosterone

We don't have a ton of studies on tongkat ali in relation to testosterone. In total, we will analyze 3 studies.
We will start with the oldest studies, and we will end with this 2021 study, which really propelled tongkat ali to the forefront

Tongkat ali: study 1 (2013)

Let's start with this 2013 study.
During this study, 32 men and 31 women took 200 mg of tongkat ali or 200 mg of a placebo
4 weeks later, participants were analyzed.
The treatment group's tension and anger rate decreased by 11 and 12% respectively, which is pretty good. .
But it is the next results that are the most interesting: the cortisol level of participants taking tongkat ali fell by 16%.
Cortisol levels are the stress hormone. And what you may not know is that the more cortisol you produce, the less testosterone you produce and vice versa.
And to complete the results of this study, the salivary testosterone level was also measured.
Salivary testosterone levels are another way to measure testosterone levels in the body

Participants taking tongkat ali saw their salivary testo rate increase by 37% compared to the control group.
37%, which is pretty good !

Tongkat ali: study 2 (2014)

Now, let's review this 2014 study.
Before starting this study, I must warn you, this study did not use a placebo group, so the reliability of the results is greatly reduced.
During this study, 13 old men and 12 old women took 400 mg of a patented form of tongkat ali for 5 weeks

The results?
The SHBG rate decreased by 20% among female participants, but not for men. SHBG being a protein which will “occupy your testosterone”, preventing this testosterone from being used to make your muscles grow. All participants also seen their free testosterone levels increase, especially women who saw their rate increase by around 100% !

The grip strength level of all participants also increased, which the researchers in this study believe could be explained by the increase in free testosterone

Tongkat ali: study 3 (2021)

Now, let's finally analyze this famous 2021 study

This study was done in a randomized, double-blind manner, with a placebo group and the participants were matched.
A study where participants are matched is a study where 2 people with more or less the same external factors such as activity level, age, diet, number of children, etc. are, therefore, “paired”.
And in each duo, one of the participants will be in the treatment group and the other in the placebo group, which will increase the reliability of the results.

In short, during this study, 32 men took 600 mg/day of tongkat ali for 2 weeks.
The total, free testosterone level, the estradiol level and the LH were all increased. .
LH is the hormone that signals your testicles to increase secretion of testosterone

Relevant testosterone studies have now been analyzed

Analyzes of scientific results on tongkat ali

But before moving on to the next part of the video, where we will interpret the results of the studies.
I need to talk very quickly about this meta analysis on tongkat ali and sexual health parameters.
Of the 11 studies analyzed during this meta-analysis, 7 showed an increase in sexual health.
The researchers of the meta analysis conclude that tongkat ali is a good aphrodisiac. .
The cause of these increases in sexual health is not discussed, but after reading previous studies on testosterone.

Personally, I have my own idea of the cause. I'll give you a hint: it may be due to an increase in testosterone

Tongkat ali – what can we conclude from these studies

We can conclude that tongkat ali is a good sexual health booster. .
For testosterone, things get a little complicated. I have to start by saying that we need more studies on the subject to be able to conclude with certainty. But from the studies we have, it seems that supplementing with the Indonesian shrub will increase your free and/or total testosterone levels. Especially if we take the results of studies showing improvement in sexual health as proof of an increase in the sex hormone testosterone

But again, with the limited number of studies we have, it only takes one new study showing no increase in Testo to call our conclusion into question.

SO, should you buy tongkat ali if you are an athlete looking to increase tongkat ali: is it a good investment?
His gain in muscle and strength? Personally, I would say that yes. And I intend to experiment with this plant

Tongkat ali and contamination problem

The problem is that you need to find a good source of this shrub, because tongkat ali supplements suffer from contamination problems

Also read: be careful tongkat ali confifefait

The researchers in this study analyzed different tongkat ali powders that you can buy online from several different sources
It turns out that tongkat ali powders alone should not be contaminated with toxic or mutagenic agents, but supplements containing several plants including tongkat ali may be

Additionally, in 2017, the FDA announced that two different brands of tongkat ali coffee were going to be recalled because they were contaminated with sexual dysfunction drugs, which isn't great. And according to this study, tongkat ali dosages above 0.29 g/kg/day, or around 20 g/day for a 70 kilo man (which is a huge dose) can cause kidney problems. So don't approach such high dosages

Advice before buying tongkat ali

Let's summarize a little: do not buy supplements containing tongkat ali and other herbs
Avoid buying coffee at tongkat ali
And if you plan to experiment with tongkat ali, never approach dosages as high as 0.29g/kg/d
And to finish this video, as a bonus, detect bad sources of tongkat ali.

I'll give you a little tip for detecting bad sources of tongkat ali: tongkat ali is an extremely bitter plant.
So according to this study, if your tongkat ali supplement doesn't have a very bitter taste, it's simply not tongkat ali

Dosage of tongkat ali

Let's now move on to optimal dosages of tongkat ali to increase your testosterone
The study using the highest dosage was that of 2021, with a dosage of 600 mg/d. So if you want to maximize your chances of increasing your testosterone levels, I would recommend this dosage. That said, some experts recommend 400 mg/day instead, so it will be up to you to see

Tongkat Ali Price

Let's finish with the video with the tongkat ali price.
The cheapest pure powders will cost you around €20 for 100g, which costs you 12 cents per day
You're not going to break the bank with this. But once again, I would not advise you to buy tongkat ali at the first price
Now you know everything there is to know about tongkat ali

For buy tongkat ali

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