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Shilajit: Ayurvedic Testosterone Booster that Works in Men, not Rats: ~20% Increase in Free T + Higher Total T & DHEA

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"Get leaner, more muscular and hornier than ever before" - That's probably the promise on the T-booster someone will release after reading this SuppVersity article and sourcing an inferior Shilajit extract on Alibaba. No, I hadn't heard of Purified Shilajit (PS), either, before I read about it in a very recent study in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Andrologia (Pandit. 2015). Actually, the study was first published in online (ahead or print), in late 2015. It took several months for it to be finally available in print and to appear on my "study radar", though. Shilajit is traditionally used in Ayurveda, an indigenous system of Indian medicine, as a remedy for several diseases, particularly chronic diseases. It is a pale-brown to blackish-brown exudate that oozes from sedimentary rocks worldwide, largely in the Himalayas. The natives describe it as pahar-ki-pasina (sweat of mountains), paharki-khoon (mountain blood), shilaras (rock juice), asphalt...
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Is Resistance Training in the PM More Anabolic Than in the AM? Time of the Workout Doesn't Influence Acute Hormonal Response or Circadian Pattern of Testosterone Production

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The sun is setting and you're still working out. Could this disrupt your circadian testosterone rhythm? Or is it maybe even beneficial? I mean, you could compensate the natural nadir in testosterone in the PM, right? Testosterone, much like any other hormone, is subject to a circadian rhythm. This means that there are spikes and troughs at certain time points in the day. Now, we all know that a bout of resistance training will also have an effect on testosterone, i.e. it will lead to a measurable increase in the post-workout period, and could thus (a) amplify natural spikes and / or (b) fill natural troughs. Against that background, it appears to be a warranted question, whether one would want to do (a) or (b), i.e. amplify a natural spike as it occur in the morning and head to the gym at 8:00AM, or whether it would make more sense to wait a until the late afternoon / evening to hit the gym at 8:00PM, when the testosterone levels are at a nadir? You can learn more about sl...
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High Protein Diets Don't Counter Anti-Anabolic Effects of Low Energy Intake: 29% Reduction in Free Testosterone, -16% IGF-1 With 40% Energy Deficit Despite 2.4g/kg Protein

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Melt the belly, keep the muscle - a decent amount of protein is key, but more ain't more and as a recent study shows: This has nothing to do with hormones. If you are no newbie to the SuppVersity you will be aware that there is no way to escape the "anti-anabolic" effects of suboptimal energy intakes. You will also know that protein catabolism cannot be countered by the ingestion of extra protein (see "Protein Intake & Muscle Catabolism: Fasting Gnaws on Your Muscle Tissue and Abundance Causes Wastefulness" | read more ). And, last but not least, you will be aware of the fact that the best you can do is to eat enough protein to keep the protein synthetic machinery running by consuming mTOR-promoting fast-absorbing high BCAA (leucine) protein sources such as whey protein ( learn more about whey protein). The data from the Pasiokos study shows: 1.6g/kg and not 2.4g/kg allows for the optimal balance of fat loss and lean mass retention (Pasiakos. 201...
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TReaTing Diabesity With Testosterone!? If You Keep DHT in Check + Stay Away From Aromatase Inhibitors, It May Work

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It probably won't turn an overweight pre-diabetic into a fitness model, but a getting a TRT script has the potential of changing a man's physical and psychological health for the better. Despite the fact that more and more men recognize the benefits of supervised testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and the bodybuilding and fitness community cherishes 'their BIG T' as the be-all-and-end-all, many medical practitioners look at the administration of exogenous androgens as a potential health hazard. I would even bet that it won't be difficult to find one or two MDs who would say that Patricia S. Juang et al.'s idea to administer testosterone to obese men with normal, but low baseline testosterone levels to improve their body composition and insulin sensitivity borders physical injury - and that irrespective of adjuvant 5α-reductase (dutasteride) or aromatase (anastrazole) inhibitor administration. TRT w/ or w/out aromatase or 5α-reductase inhibitor? It ...
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4g of Conjugated Linoleic Acid Promote CYP17A1 + Leydig Cell Testosterone Production and Increase Cardio-Mediated Muscle, Strength and Endurance Gains

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"That's all the exercise in induced T-response, bro. Now shut up, I got to squat!" Yes, this is another of those rodent studies of which we simply don't know if the results will eventually translate to humans. In contrast to previous studies on CLA , which dealt with weight loss and produced marvelous results (see "CLA Destroys Body Fat & Increases Endurance!" | read more ) which could not be reproduced in human trials. This very recent paper from Italy deals with CLA 's effects on exercise, testosterone, and potential gains in muscle mass and leaves the parameter body fat out of the equation (Barone. 2013). "Hold on, that's not news, is it?" When Roy Nelson shot me the link to the pertinent paper by Rosario Barone et al. (2013), the above, i.e. "Hold on, that's not news, is it?" was actually my first thought. After all, I had written about the purported muscle building effects of CLA in the past (see "Re...
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Serum & Intramuscular Testosterone, DHT and Androgen Receptor Response to High vs. Low Volume Training

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Another set for another ng of testosterone? Does it work that way and is it worth it - not just on paper, but in terms of real gains? I know that we don't know! And among the many things we don't know the influence of the post-workout elevation in the long-thought "anabolic" hormones testosterone , growth hormone , and co. is unquestionably one of my personal favorites. You've read about it, here at the SuppVersity many times and I got to tell you in advance that the absence of convincing evidence for / against its importance will become a problem in the bottom line of today's SuppVersity article dealing with the intriguing results of an experiment that has been conducted by Lukas J. Farbiak as part of his Honors Thesis (Farbiak. 2013). "Effects of Lower- and Higher-Volume Resistance Exercise on Serum Total and Free Testosterone, Skeletal Muscle Testosterone and Dihydrotestosterone Content, and Skeletal Muscle Androgen Recept...
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Androgen 3-Some: BPA Exposure & Free Testosterone in Men. TRT Good For the Prostate. DHT, Alopecia (Hair Loss) & Monascus Fermentation. Plus: Mycotoxins in GCB Supps

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Coffee and green coffee bean extracts are by no means the only way by which you are exposed to mycotoxins. Corn, for example, is likewise a favorite for the toxic mold. The same goes for almost all other grains. Common routes of exposure are, amongst others cereals, bread s, wines, and even mils and meats (of swine ad turkey, not chicken; Duarte. 2010) 36%, 32%, 10%, and 16% these are the SuppVersity Figures of the week and the percentages of green coffee bean supplements (remember the chlorogenic acid news in Thursday's installment of the Science Round-Up ) that were contaminated with Ochratoxin A, ochratoxin B, fumonisin B1 and mycophenolic acid , respectively. "Mycotoxins occurred in the following concentration ranges: ochratoxin A: 2.7–136.9 µg/kg, ochratoxin B: 3.5–20.2 µg/kg, fumonisin B1: 110.0–415.0 µg/kg, mycophenolic acid: 43.1–395.0 µg/kg." (Vaclavi. 2013) These poisonous substances are produced by fungi that form during (inproper) storage and are sus...
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