There are few herbs that actually boost testosterone, fewer that really lower estrogen, but none that do both exceptionally well – except Bulbine Natalensis.  The rodent data suggests a testosterone boost of 347% compared to baseline, while lowering estrogen by 35%. And all of this is achieved at a dose of 50mgs/kg (rat dose), which translates very well to a low human dose, which would easily fit in a single daily serving. I should know…because I’ve been taking it for the past several months, and using it to boost my testosterone and lower my estrogen – with zero side effects!

Do the math…how many herbal estrogen reducers can lower it by 35%? How many herbal test boosters can raise testosterone by more than double? If Bulbine Natalensis only worked half as well as the study indicates, then we’d still have a blockbuster ingredient.

But nobody’s using it yet…and here’s the story…

In 2007 I formulated a totally unique nutritional supplement that contained Fadogia Agrestis, a Nigerian herb; the research showed that it could double testosterone levels. This modicum of success earned me a two-year sentence in the nutritional industry, where I designed three more products for two different companies (Protein Factory and Custom Capsule), before earning time off for good behavior. I pulled my own product off the market, and currently earn nothing from anything related to supplement design/formulation. I haven’t gotten paid for designing a supplement in several years. Period.

By 2008 I had been doing some research and discovered an herb called Bulbine Natalensis. I looked online and saw that nobody was using it… which was odd because it seemed really great. The numbers were all there…a huge test boost with a nice reduction in estrogen. By 2009, some people had actually posted the Bulbine abstract on Bodybuilding.com, but since they were only posting the free abstract, none of the relevant numbers were included (i.e. the actual %-  testosterone boost, or the estrogen reduction).

While Fadogia has been shown in rodent studies to increase testosterone by 100% (doubling your natural test levels!), Bulbine Natalensis clocks in at 247% (i.e. you will end up with a total of 347% of your original level). It works more than twice as well as Fadogia, at half the dose. Oh, and it is several times more effective than Massularia Acuminata…but the dose is far lower (you can take 20x less). Unlike those other herbs, Bulbine doesn’t just boost testosterone, it lowers estrogen.

If you like Massularia or Fadogia, then you’re going to fall in love with Bulbine -  it was studied by the same scientist, using the same protocol, with the same parameters; the only difference is that Bulbine kicks the sh!t out of them.

Because I write for a South African magazine (Muscle Evolution), and Bulbine is a South African Herb, I figured that I could easily get my hands on some. Well…that wasn’t the case. I contacted several South African suppliers, and nobody had it. I contacted several Chinese suppliers, and although they claimed to have it, when I tested the samples it turned out to be something else (don’t ask).

The reason I wasn’t seeing Bulbine in any supplements was that nobody could get the damn stuff! I later found out that the conditions for growing the herb are ideal in South Africa, while it’s fairly difficult to grow elsewhere. In South Africa  it  has a folk reputation as a libido booster and fertility enhancer, and this seems to be well supported by the research.

Even though it was an exciting ingredient, I gave up on the idea by the end of 2008; totally removed it from my thoughts and carried on with my other projects.

In late 2009 I was contacted by Daniel Clough from At Large Nutrition. He was toying with the idea of adding a testosterone booster to his product line, so I started researching and formulating a product for him. I ended up purchasing a lot of scientific data, and pouring through the research. A lot of ingredients are good, but you need to take several grams of them per day – far too much to reasonably put in a capsule with other ingredients. D-Aspartic Acid comes to mind, as does Massularia Acuminata.

If I’ve been highly negative about testosterone boosters lately, it’s because I’ve used Bulbine Natalensis. Oh, and let’s not forget that I’m not on the monthly payroll of any supplement companies, and my plans to sell this stuff have already fallen through (more than once). I just thought my blog readers would be interested in my experience, and I’m sure there’s more than enough companies out there who will want to pick up the ball and run with my idea. I have no additional information to “sell” and I’m not soliciting companies to hire me…this is just a rundown of my experience.

Click to listen – Superhuman Radio – Bulbine Natalensis scientist interview!

For numerous reasons, Bulbine kept coming up as the best option, but I’d already been down that road, and it led nowhere. But what’s the use of designing a product if you can’t actually source the main ingredient? So I looked at the research available and figured out what my best options would be. The next few weeks were spent sending out a wish list of about a dozen unique herbs to various suppliers.

Just for a laugh, I put Bulbine Natalensis on the bottom of each list, knowing that nobody would have it. Almost immediately two things happened: 1.) I found a reliable supplier and paid for a sample and 2.) Daniel phoned me to say that the project was on indefinite hold. I had jumped the gun pretty badly, and through complete fault of my own, invested quite a bit of time and money into an idea that had never been officially green-lighted.

I was now stuck with a bunch of expensive medical studies ($30 each!), several months of wasted research, and 377 grams of Bulbine Natalensis on the way to my office. Even getting the 377 grams was difficult, as it required over 8 kilograms of raw material to be harvested, which was dried and powdered, and ended up as about a third of a kilogram. Now it was on the way – finally! – and I had no use for it. The South African supplier I stumbled upon had never sold the stuff before, didn’t have it on their price list (still doesn’t), and probably couldn’t imagine what the hell an American wanted with it.

I contacted some friends in the supplement industry, who wished me good luck, and told me that they weren’t interested. I was rejected by one of the largest companies currently being sold in GNC, and one of the smallest companies on the Internet. I contacted some more friends and was given the same answer. I had no promises from anyone, no contracts, and nothing promised to me at all. A few people were interested here and there, but nothing ever panned out, and I never earned a cent from this idea.

But I was still curious to see if it actually worked. I’d already invested quite a bit of money, and written it off as a loss. The least I could do is follow the project through to the end and test it on myself. There was still a lot of work to do, and I needed to determine the appropriate dose.

Bulbine Natalensis follows something called an “inverted-U” dose response curve. Imagine the letter “U,” but imagine it upside down. That’s how the dose response of this herb would appear on paper. If you take a certain amount (the dose), it raises testosterone (the response)– to a point. Once you hit the peak dose, the more you take, the lower your testosterone will go. Although it sounds odd, we see this effect with a surprisingly large number of drugs.

Rodents taking 25mgs/kg of bodyweight showed an average testosterone level at 260% of the control group (with a 20% estrogen reduction to boot). So, even at the lowest tested dosage, the stuff whips fadogia and a lot of other stuff out there. Rodents taking 50mgs/kg showed a tremendous 347% testosterone level compared to control. But there’s too much of a good thing – rodents taking 100mgs/kg showed a 1/3rd lower testosterone level, plus they experienced selective toxicity in some of their internal organs. That’s the inverted-U at work, and if you don’t know the right dose, and haven’t done your research, that’s what’s going to happen (although the bloodwork I have at the end of this article shows zero adverse effects for my 3 month-ish trial run).

The human equivalent dose of a drug (or nutritional supplement) is determined by a very specific mathematical formula. The way not to figure this out is to simply multiply/divide by bodyweight. Test animal weighs one kilogram? You weigh 100 kilograms? Just take 100x the dose! That’s not how it’s done.

Let’s just skip to the part where I tell you that I did a bunch of math-stuff, ended up with a number, and that’s the dose I ended up taking.

To make things quasi-scientific, I went off all nutritional supplements, and had my (free) testosterone and estrogen (E2) tested. Then I took a week’s worth of Bulbine Natalensis, once per day, before bed. I took it once per day because that’s what the rodents in the study did, and because it was easier to make fewer capsules. During this time I trained and ate normally. I used ZRT laboratories for testosterone and estrogen testing (saliva) and my primary care physician for bloodwork.

To make a long story short, I botched my calculations, and I ended up taking far too much, probably because I wasn’t using the same extract as the study (I was simply taking the raw herb). I was on the down slope of the curve. So while my estrogen was lowered by over 20%, my testosterone was also lowered by around 20% also!

The results were (and are) promising, because at least I knew that the herb did exactly what the study said it would – I just miscalculated and used too much. So I put together several weeks worth of capsules in a variety of doses, and waited a little longer before retesting. As you can see, by the time I’d readjusted my dose and had another test done, I had still achieved a lower estrogen than my baseline (going from 1.3 to 1.1, or 15% under baseline) and brought back my test levels to slightly over their accidentally lowered level (from 101 to 131, up about 30% from the depressed level):

I was finally on the right track, and as you can see, Bulbine Natalensis has a pronounced effect on both testosterone and estrogen, that I was able to control by changing the dose – which was predictably in line with the rodent study. By getting the original test done, along with two more tests at different doses, I could plug my own results into the dose response curve, and figure out where I needed to be, ideally, to get the test boost/estrogen reduction that would put me at the peak of the curve for each.

When I figured out the optimal dose, my libido was up, my strength was up, and I was gaining a bit of muscle too…then I stayed at that dose for a couple more months. Needless to say, with a huge boost in test (and reduction in estrogen), my results were phenomenal.

When I was sure that it was safe (I didn’t die), I began giving it to my friends. This is fairly standard for me…not too long ago, I gave Iron Man Magazine author Jerry Brainum, a bunch of Irvingia Gabonensis, for him to test out (I couldn’t do it personally because I was testing another herb on myself at the time). I like giving samples to other authors,  because if something sucks, they’ll write about it….there’s no safety net for me or the compound.

Normally, my buddies get a month’s supply (of whatever I’m testing) and in return I get a month’s worth of data about their strength gains, bodyweight changes, libido, fat loss,  etc…in this case, all of the things we’d want to experience with a testosterone booster. Maybe I’m not doing textbook science here, but at least we can say that I’ve put forth some pretty good reasoning for Bulbine Natalensis to be included in future testosterone boosters, or at least for people to look into it, right?

After I gave it to my friends – the guys I hang out with on a daily basis – I gave some to Mike Mahler, a professional in the fitness industry who has probably written and spoken as much as anyone else on hormone optimization. After a month on Bulbine Natalensis, he asked for a Summer supply! Luckily I still had plenty left over from the original bag. And just like Jerry, if the stuff was rotten garbage, Mahler woulda’ let me know. You can read about Mike’s experience on Bulbine Natalensis here.

By the end, I was sitting on a mountain of real-world data – the kind of data that you get from sweating in the gym and moving heavy iron…i.e. the kind of data that matters to us. Everyone using the stuff felt a libido boost, everyone got stronger, and everyone put on lean mass while reducing body fat. My own hormone tests showed that it was working predictably on paper, but in the real world we also care about the kind of data that shows up in the gym, not just on a hormonal profile.

When I’d been on the herb for multiple months, at what I figured was the ideal dose, I did a blood test to make sure the herb was safe. Typically, when you raise test levels and lower estrogen, you’re going to put yourself at risk to throw your body out of whack – complete blood count (CBC), blood lipids, liver enzymes, etc…can all be adversely effected. But this stuff works…it’s been quite an ordeal to get here from 2008, when I first discovered Bulbine, through researching testosterone boosters for Daniel/ALN, to the point we’re at now, where I can confidently say that it’s a winner.

Bulbine Natalensis lowers estrogen, it raises testosterone, and it had no adverse effects on me. Remember, the rodent data tells us that we’re looking at a 35% estrogen reduction, with a 347% boost in testosterone. The stuff is the real deal, even though it took me 2 years to figure it out…and at this point, I’m pretty happy saying that the raw Bulbine Natalensis herb is safe and effective. My test levels ended up higher than baseline, even after all of the messing around with bad doses…and my estrogen was lower. And you can check out my liver enzymes, lipids, etc…at the end of this article…they’re all fine.

Now, I’m onto different trials,  for different herbs, still experimenting on myself…but not with Bulbine Natalensis. I plan to get some additional bloodwork (a full hormone panel) done for a before and after test on this herb, probably some time in the Autumn, and hopefully I can do some more research and figure out the upper limit of itspotential. All of that is on hold for me, though, because I’ve moved on to testing other stuff, and it’s a pain in the butt to get Bulbine…but now that I’ve put the ball in motion, I’m sure we’ll see increased interest, and probably a couple of products hitting the market before 2010 is over.

So, just to end things on the right note, I’ve got a nice copy of my blood work for you (excuse the sloppy scan-work, I combined two pages into one for the blog, and cropped my address out). But remember: this stuff isn’t magic …it’s not going to turn you into Mr. Olympia overnight, and it’s not going to put 30 lbs of muscle on you in a week -  but it appears to be a very safe, very effective, testosterone booster that doubles as an anti-estrogen…and you don’t need to take 20 grams of it.

Originally posted by Anthony Roberts on July 18, 2010, at www.anthonyroberts.co.za

“MENT has always been my favourite steroid, and that’s just from reading the studies and looking at the structure of it. Thinking of what MENT can do should make every steroid user drool”

The key words here are “steroid” and “user” - because the author of those words - which have been copied and pasted on hundreds of discussion boards - has never actually used steroids. Right…So this guy who is talking about his favorite steroid (which he has never used), is also a guy who has never used any steroids at all. If you end up making it to the end of the profile, what you’ll find is this:

Keep in mind that there are very few real world results with MENT on humans, and there is no literal data on its hypertrophic ability, so a lot of this is hypothetical, based on the available studies and evidence.

Of course, at the time of that original writing, this particular steroid wasn’t even available on the black market, so not only had the author not even tried the drug, but he didn’t know anyone who had tried it either. Nonetheless, with the Internet being the wonderful place that it is,  demand for MENT was stimulated by Pete’s glowing endorsement, and that demand stayed high until present day, when we now have several underground labs releasing their own versions of it. Awesome.

I mention this mainly because it amuses me, but also because it’s important to realize where the demand for this steroid came from.

Chemically speaking, it’s actually an alright looking drug. It doesn’t show much interaction with Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (J Med Chem. 1992 May 29;35(11):2113-29.), which means that a good portion ought to stay unbound and active in the blood. Also, the drug is a potent binder to the androgen receptor (J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 1999 Dec 31;71(5-6):213-22.), while showing minimal affinity for the progesterone and mineralocorticoid receptors respectively (J Med Chem. 1992 May 29;35(11):2113-29.). Since it is not able to be 5a-reduced into a dihydro-version, it likely wouldn’t cause many of the side effects commonly associated with Dihydrotestosterone. This is also a likely reason that it is less apt to cause prostate enlargement, and may even be indicated for the treatment of specific prostate issues (Ann Med. 1993 Apr;25(2):199-205.)

But the part that would likely thrill most steroid users is the following (quoted directly from a study comparing MENT with Testosterone):

The ability of 7 alpha-methyl-19-nortestosterone acetate (MENT) to increase the weights of ventral prostate and seminal vesicles of castrated rats was four times higher than that of testosterone, while its effect on the weights of bulbocavernosus plus levator ani muscles (muscle), was 10 times that of testosterone.(Endocrinology. 1992 Jun;130(6):3677-83.)

When we talk about the androgenic rating of a steroid (any steroid), we’re actually talking about its ability to increase the weight of the ventral prostate. In many cases, this score (compared to testosterone, which is scored at 100 for its androgenic rating) gives us a clue as to how much of an androgenic effect a given steroid will have on a user. And when we’re talking about androgenic effects, we’re specifically talking about the development of male secondary sexual characteristics. Naturally, when we look at the hypertrophy of the levator ani muscle, we’re seeing the anabolic effect of this steroid…which, according to the quoted research was found to be 10x that of testosterone.

Ten times as anabolic as testosterone!

Is this a deceiving statement? Of course it is. Remember, this is rodent data, and we can point to numerous other drugs that, on paper, have a higher anabolic rating than testosterone, while producing negligible results in real life. Remember, you may write out your cycles on a piece of paper, but that’s not where you actually do them; you do them in real life. Still, judging from the feedback I’ve received from users who have tried it,  we’re looking at a nice, potent, anabolic, with a complimentary androgenic factor.

Both Nandrolone and Trenbolone are cousins to MENT, and are very useful on either cutting or bulking cycles. From the current feedback from users who have tried MENT, it would appear that it too lends itself equally to both uses. Because this drug is currently only available with a short acting ester (thereby causing it to remain active for only a couple of days), the majority of feedback I’ve seen is from its use on cutting cycles.   Feedback has been positive, but nothing compared to the fanfare it received for the decade prior to its market release.

Unfortunately, the same study that tells us that MENT is 10x as anabolic as testosterone, and 4x as androgenic, also tells us that MENT is 12x as suppressive to serum gonadatropins as testosterone. For this reason, it is very appealing to scientists who have studied it for use as a male contraceptive - and ended up calling it “The Optimal Androgen for Male Contraception” (Ann Med. 1993 Apr;25(2):199-205.). In addition, and partly owing to its inability to be 5a-reduced, MENT is converted (via the aromatase enzyme) to a very potent form of estrogen - which can cause gynecomastia (enlarged breast tissue in males), and several other nasty side effects.

My favorite part about this bust is the following picture, in which you can see George Koufalis, one of the snitches from the original series of arrests, taking first place at a bodybuilding contest…and having his hand held up by the promoter of the show…who would ultimately get snitched out by George, and get arrested in this latest series of busts (a year later!):

It’s actually kind of interesting, but nobody in the mainstream media has figured out that this entire bust centers entirely around the NPC (and IFBB) in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. I mean…literally, this bust involved almost entirely bodybuilders and bodybuilding officials.

Craig Johnson, a promoter and judge for the NPC, who claimed (through his lawyer) that he never sold steroids to earn money, but simply knew someone (an informant) who asked for steroids, who he then hooked up with a supplier (thus becoming a spoke on the conspiracy wheel). Not surprisingly, the story being told by the informant, who alleges that he made purchases via hand to hand transactions with Johnson on the premises of Top Physique Nutrition and Promotions (Johnson’s business), is a bit different.

Still, the quantities involved are relatively minor, and realistically, this is a pretty obvious case of an informant trying to save his own skin by purchasing a few bottles from a friend, and setting the guy up as a dealer.

Also charged is NPC bodybuilder Edward Moyzan, who was recently sentenced to 23 months in prison related to a 2006 bust, where he was (*surprise, surprise) selling steroids to an undercover officer at his local Gold’s Gym (and even writing out cycles for the guy).

So yeah, this is his second time getting arrested for the same offense, and he actually got popped for this crime, while he was awaiting sentencing for the first one. He’s likely to go away for a long time, especially since he’s got no ability to nark anyone else out. Moyzan was actually a pretty good bodybuilder and a bit of a rising star in the NPC – until his first steroid bust…likewise, it’s doubtful that George Koufalis will ever win another state title.

On the other hand, NPC & IFBB  promoters and judges can be indicted, currently face charges, and still maintain their standing and position in the organization(s).

Brian Potance, a corrections officer who unbelievably appears to have no connection with the NPC, was also arrested…Moyzan admitted providing steroids to Johnson, and said that he’d began purchasing them from Potance in the summer of 2009 (thereby narking out his supplier as well as his customer, in typical bodybuilder fashion). Potance was also selling to another informant, and was making his own purchases online.

Again, although these guys were all dealing anabolic steroids, the trend I’m seeing is that none of them were what we’d think of as traditional drug dealers…i.e. they all had real jobs, and were more or less earning a few grand on the side. 

Brian Chamberlain, an IFBB professional bodybuilder, was also swept up in the arrests. You may remember him from a column he had written in MuscleMag International (which was terrible), or from when he was working for BSN, the nutritional company.

In 2004 he won the IFBB North American Bodybuilding Championships, where he transitioned from an amateur bodybuilder in the NPC to a professional bodybuilder in the IFBB. After going pro, he quickly took 7th at some contest, 2nd at some other show, and ummm…8th and 6th at some other shows or whatever.

From what I can tell, the guy is a personal trainer, more or less, and works at his local Gold’s Gym. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s an interesting commentary on the financial state of the average professional bodybuilder…

Frank Peters, an NPC bodybuilder and personal trainer, also got pinched in this latest roundup and currently finds himself facing numerous charges stemming from steroid distribution and conspiracy. Peters and Chamberlain (allegedly) obtained steroids for their own personal use and additionally for resale in the Pennsylvania area. They were ordering from  China, Hungary and Pakistan, and paying  via wire transfers (under $20k for the entire length of the conspiracy).

Angela Girondo, Peters’ girlfriend, was also arrested for dealing steroids and GH to informants, working with Frank to distribute them throughout the Lehigh Valley area.

Below is a full list of the defendants and the charges against them (Although it should be noted that the investigation is ongoing):

Craig Johnson, 39, 3102 Lehigh St., Allentown, is charged with one count of criminal conspiracy.

Edward Moyzan, 37, 207 Turning Leaf, Trexlertown, is charged with three counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Brian Potance, 26, 606 Berks St., Easton, is charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance.

Brian Chamberlain, 35, 49 Sheffield Lane, West Chester, is charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Frank Peters, 34, 97 Hampstead Drive, Ambler, is charged with six counts of delivery of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, one count of criminal conspiracy and one count of dealing in proceeds of an unlawful activity.

Angela Girondo, 50, 97 Hampstead Drive, Ambler, is charged with four counts of delivery of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Ever since my first article and blog post about Bulbine Natalensis, the supply chain has been evolving in various ways, both expected and unexpected – and both good and bad.

We haven’t seen any Bulbine-based products released on the market since my original article, and that’s a very good thing. Why? Because the amount of wet harvested herb used to produce 100kgs of dry powder (the type you’d find in a pill) is roughly one ton. To insure a supply for a big company (MuscleTech, Gaspari, BSN), we’d be talking about more herb than is currently being grown in South Africa (although that’s changing, as an American company has recently moved into sharecropping and trademarking the herb with my original source).

Smaller companies actually have an advantage in being first to market, because a 500-1,000 bottle run of the herb would be feasible at the moment  -  a company like MuscleTech (or BSN, or whoever), who would likely be looking to use a 500-1,000 kilograms of Bulbine Natalensis per month, would require a currently-impossible harvest. Look to see Bulbine products hitting the market, first from very small companies, then progressing to the larger ones, and probably (*by the end) to the major players in the industry (as we saw with Fadogia agrestis).

Remember, early this year, I couldn’t get my hands on a full kilogram – but by 2011, enough will likely be grown to see several products hitting the market. And, just the other day, I did a search on Google, and the autofill function showed me that people aren’t just searching for the stuff, but they’re looking to buy it in bulk (meaning we’re about to see several bulbine natalensis products hit the market… I know of at least 5-6 companies who would like to add it to their own test boosters):

If you aren’t sure what the autofill function on Google does, it fills in the most common phrases to go with whatever word you’re searching on. In the case of Bulbine Natalensis, it fills in the kind of words that tell me people are looking to source large quantities of it. In addition, it also appears that someone (no, not me) has recently registered the BulbineNatalensis.com domain name:

But remember, when I first started looking for the stuff, I went through several BN samples, from South Africa as well as China, and all of them were fake except for one (they didn’t even look similar, when you line them up):

Can you spot the real Bulbine Natalensis?

That picture is supposed to be 4 powder samples of Bulbine Natalensis. One of them is real, and was confirmed by an independent analysis – the other three are fake (and don’t even look the same!). And of course, I get daily emails from people in South Africa, China, India, etc…all telling me that they have acres of the stuff growing in their back yard, ready to be harvested and sold to a willing nutritional company…but as of yet, nobody has been able to provide a sample or a COA to me, so I can confirm the validity of their vast herbal empire..(despite one or two of the people seeming pretty legit).

In fact, some of the companies who have “already harvested several thousand kilos of the herb” are operating with only a P.O. box as their physical address. (*Shady!) This same company has told me that they can not provide a Certificate of Authenticity performed by an independent lab for any of their powders. I’d classify them as probable scammers at this point.

There’s one South African dude selling 50mg caps (pre-orders only) on some random sites already (Ebay style), but I’ve got my doubts that they’ve been COA’d and determined to be real.In fact, I’d probably avoid him…especially since he’s got no idea what an effective dose is, and he’s charging $70/bottle. For $70/bottle, you’re going to want to know that each serving is actually an effective dose – and this guy has no idea what that is.

Thus far, other than the original supplier I worked with several months ago (who have gone exclusive with an American sharecropper already), I’ve only been contacted by one potential supplier who I think might turn out to be reputable. I say that because he’s sent me numerous photos of Bulbine Natalensis, clearly being grown in a dedicated crop. So, it seems that various legitimate and illegitimate suppliers of this herb are springing up all over the place. I’m hoping to figure out which is which and keep everyone updated.

Stay Tuned, because this looks like it’s poised to be very big for the natural testosterone booster market.

It is widely grown in these areas, and used for a variety of purposes, including its antibacterial properties, its strength and durability as a building material, and its folk reputation as a libido booster.

Recently, Massularia acuminata has been touted as a testosterone booster, based on a study conducted on rodents in Nigeria.

The study revealed a boost in testicular testosterone of roughly 60%, with a corresponding increase in luteinizing hormone levels of approximately 66% relative to control animals. While that increase is substantial, it is likely too low to provide much of an ergogenic (performance enhancing) effect.

It is important to note that the dose used to achieve the moderate-at-best 66% testosterone boost was 1,000mgs/kg. A human attempting to achieve that type of dosing protocol would need to take several thousand milligrams of the herb, several times each day; at the time of this writing, there are two products on the nutritional supplement market containing Massularia acuminata (aka Massularia accuminate), and neither list a milligram amount, or a daily serving amount, which could reasonably be expected to approach the maximal studied rodent dose.

While it could be reasonably expected that Massularia acuminata will raise testosterone levels in humans, it is highly unlikely that this boost would be deemed performance-enhancing, in light of the unrealistically high dose required by the practical inefficiency of the herb itself.

The arrests include:

Craig Johnson, an NPC promoter and judge, who is charged with one count of criminal conspiracy.

Edward Moyzan, an NPC bodybuilder, who is charged with three counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Brian Chamberlain, an IFBB professional bodybuilder, who is charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Frank Peters, an NPC bodybuilder, who is charged with six counts of delivery of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, one count of criminal conspiracy and one count of dealing in proceeds of an unlawful activity.

Muscle memory is quite a generic phrase and does not necessarily focus on just the return of previous muscle mass. It also includes the memory of muscles (and the nervous system) for task performance. No doubt you’ll have heard of the phrase “it’s like riding a bike”, which implies that once you’ve learned how to ride a bike it’s a skill you’ll have for the rest of your life. This is muscle memory.

But what about the rapid return of muscle size? Through the years I have read several theories for this, including one put forth that it is down to the stretching of the muscle fascia allowing for growth (apparently once this fascia is stretched once it doesn’t return to its original capacity, thus allowing for faster growth next time round). But the Norwegian scientists have given a different theory on a cellular level.

Bro, I'm ripped!

Resistance training leads to an increase in muscle fiber size and thus bigger muscles. The researchers also found that the number of nuclei increases to support the growth processes necessary in muscle cells (the nucleus directs protein synthesis), which are huge in comparison to other cells in the body. When training is ceased and the fibers begin to atrophy, these extra nuclei are not destroyed, but appear to remain intact. This means that when the person resumes resistance training, they have more of the machinery in the muscle fibers for making them bigger.

The full research paper is available free via open access here for anyone wanting to read the full details.

Source: Bruusgaard JC, Johansen IB, Egner IM, Rana ZA, Gundersen K. Myonuclei acquired by overload exercise precede hypertrophy and are not lost on detraining. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 16.

Another example, this time from the UK, was the investigation of a drinks company based in London. This company, called ‘Innocent’, manufactures and sells milkshake-based drinks. By the way, if you’re wondering why I bring up a UK company for this, its because US giant The Coca-Cola Company recently increased its share in Innocent to 58%, buying out the original two start-up investors and making it the majority shareholder and essentially a US company. Back on track, in 2007 Innocent got into a bit of trouble with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority for claiming their “smoothie” drink to be a “superfood.” But that isn’t my issue with this company or product. What I want to point out is that this company has grown rapidly in several short years (the company only founded in 1999) off the back of consumers believing it to be a health food. After all, the marketing promotes each product as being two of the UK-recommended five-fruit-and-vegetable portions per day, and gives you “the goodness of nine different types of fruit.” What it doesn’t highlight, however, is that each bottle is approximately 130 calories, giving around 27g of sugar from nearly 30g total carbohydrates! Realize that this is a 250ml portion. In comparison, a 330ml can of full-sugar Coca-Cola gives 139kcals, making it less calorie dense per 100ml. But of course the majority of people will pick up a Smoothie believing it to be the healthier calorie choice.

And this is something that has recently been investigated. Research coming out of Holland has looked specifically into the impact a nutrition logo has on how a chocolate dessert is perceived. While several factors were looked at, the main finding was that with the so-called health logo, the dessert was judged to be less unhealthy (although obviously not healthy, this is a chocolate dessert after all, the participants clearly weren’t idiots) than when it did not feature the logo.

I think a lot needs to be done to help correct the escalating ill-health in the US, not just label-adjustments. Fundamentally, people need to be educated from a young-age, but since I find most RD’s to barely know their assholes from their elbows I guess that would be just as much of a lost cause. Until then I guess people will continue to get fat and develop obesity-related diseases, and large pharmaceutical companies will continue to pump out expensive drugs to help stop them dying so quickly.

Source: Steenhuis IH, Kroeze W, Vyth EL, Valk S, Verbauwen R, Seidell JC. The effects of using a nutrition logo on consumption and product evaluation of a sweet pastry. Appetite. 2010 Aug 3.

Insulin-like growth factor 1 is so-called because its structure resembles that of insulin. Created in the liver under direction of growth hormone, IGF-1 is a nicely anabolic hormone for pretty much every cell in the body, especially muscle. If you need a quick primer on vitamin D, check out the article Sun, sea and sex drive. As noted above, the study that article is based on found a correlation between sufficient vitamin D intake and serum androgen levels in men.

Some new research coming out of the University of Pisa, Italy is showing the same effect on IGF-1 levels. The subjects with vitamin D deficiency had lower levels of IGF-1 than those with adequate, or almost adequate, vitamin D levels. This highlights another reason why you should be regularly getting yourself into the sunshine as much as possible, especially with it being summer time in the Northern hemisphere right now! Alternatively, get yourself a reputable brand of Vitamin D3.

The research is due to be published in the Journal of Endrocrinological Investigation soon.

Source: Bogazzi F, Rossi G, Lombardi M, Tomisti L, Sardella C, Manetti L, Curzio O, Marcocci C, Grasso L, Gasperi M, Martino E. VITAMIN D STATUS MAY CONTRIBUTE TO SERUM IGF1 CONCENTRATIONS IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS. J Endocrinol Invest. 2010 Jul 29. [Epub ahead of print]