Comment · Tue, February 15, 2022 · ND Owner
Cistanche vs Shilajit as test booster?
Original post in this thread
PachoCali · 16 points
My bloodwork showed that my testosterone has gone to the lower end at 391 ng/L.
I have already started taking vitamin D (also tested), ashwagandha and boron, which were available locally. I will be ordering Tongkat Ali 10% from ND. I have some budget left for either Cistanche or Shilajit. I am leaning more towards Cistanche for the testosterone, but I would love to hear some opinions.
What they were answering
DisturbedBurger · -4 points
One person's anecdotal experience can't be used to invalidate the risks of something for the population as a whole.
No, but one person's experience is more valuable than that of a zillion rats, I say 🙃
An example of this is tribulus terresteris, which when studied in rats produced increases in testosterone, but these outcomes just haven't been able to be replicated in humans.
Tribulus does though seem to have pro-androgenic effects independent of androgen levels through some unknown mechanism, and I'd love to see it as an inclusion to your menu. It's very inconvenient for Americans to get a real, quality tribulus extract.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
No, but one person's experience is more valuable than that of a zillion rats, I say 🙃
I would trust a properly designed safety study with a zillion rats before I would ever trust a human study with a sample size of one. Even apart from sample size, that would only apply to a properly measured and controlled experiment. If you setup a properly controlled experiment with good baseline numbers for yourself, and then monitor actual data on your testicular and kidney health, then I would be more apt to use that information to make postulations on the population as a whole. Without that, it's just noise.
An example of this is tribulus terresteris, which when studied in rats produced increases in testosterone, but these outcomes just haven't been able to be replicated in humans. Tribulus does though seem to have pro-androgenic effects independent of androgen levels through some unknown mechanism, and I'd love to see it as an inclusion to your menu. It's very inconvenient for Americans to get a real, quality tribulus extract.
Agreed. However, many people focus on testosterone alone, when other mechanisms can lead to positive effects associated with testosterone levels. This is what I think of beta ecysterone and turkesterone, too. I don't believe they are binding to the androgen receptors like testosterone does, and like many companies claim. However, I do think they are having an effect on muscle growth through other mechanisms. Regarding tribulus specifically, we are already working on our own version of it. You should see us release one this year.