New "Gold Standard" For "Natural" Testosterone Boosting: 10x Increase in Plasma Testosterone After Subcutaneous Gold Chloride Injections in 2004 Rodent Study

Image 1: The world's first "all natural" test booster that is worth every penny... even if, just like the competition, it does not turn your muscles into granite hard stone ;-)

I guess, by now, it is an "open secret" that I am no particular fan of "natural test boosters", simply because the effect of these products on the revenue of their producers is usually several orders of magnitudes larger than their effect on the testosterone levels of their credulous customers. And while even the "product" today's blogpost is about has nothing but a single rodent study to back its efficacy, it certainly would be a valuable investment in these days of permanent financial crisis: gold! I honestly don't remember exactly how I happened onto this study, but the results are so extraordinary, that I thought it was worth a post despite the fact that it was originally published in 2004 and thusly does not qualify as part of "latest research" - after all, this would be the first test booster that would be worth its money, even if it did not work!

Gold chloride: The new gold-standard in natural testosterone boosting?

Over the course of a 26-day study period, N.M. Biswas and his colleagues from the Department of Physiology at the University College of Science and Technology in Calcutta India, injected a group of immature Wistar rats with 0.3 mg or 0.5 mg of gold chloride (46.7% pure gold!) per 1 ml sterile distilled water/kg body weight per day. The injections were subcutaneous, which - given the profound effects the procedure (cf. figure 1) - obviously did not hinder the gold choloride molecules from getting down to the testes (or working systemically from the brain?):

Figure 1: Body weight, testes weight, weight of seminal vesicle and prostate (left) and plasma testosterone levels after 26-days of subcutaneous injection with 0.3 and 0.5mg per 1 ml sterile distilled water/kg body weight per day of gold chloride per day (data adapted from Biswas. 2004)

As you can see in figure 1 (right) the increase in testosterone was literally "earth-shattering" - and in this case, this is still an understatement, I guess. If we assume that the corresponding +20% increase in Δ5-3β-HSD and 17β-HSD the scientists measured in the testes of the animals in the 0.5mg AuCl group, and considering the fact that both enzymes are regulated "centrally" via the release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the pituitary gland, it appears reasonable to assume that the subcutaneous gold chloride injections exhibited central effects on the amplitude or pulsatile frequency of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone production in the hypothalamus, which would be in agreement with the morphological changes of the testes, about which the researchers write:

The weight of the testes and accessory sex organs are the other indicators of a possible alteration in androgen status. An increase in testicular weight in gold treated rats is possibly due to increased level of circulating testosterone, as androgen exerts its major role in sex organs. Testicular size and weight are normally regulated by fluid secretion from Sertoli cells and the production of sperm in the seminiferous tubules. The higher testicular weight in gold treated rats than the controls suggests less degeneration of germ and Sertoli cells that normally occur in immature rats.

This hypothesis in turn corresponds to the -41% reduction in degenerated step 7 spermatids (immature sperm that did not make it to the elongated, let alone the mature state) and the overall profoundly stimulated spermatogenesis in the immature rodents of the high dose gold chloride group.

Impressive results with a couple of non-negligible caveats

Yet, even if we disregard any potential risks, acknowledge the scientists' conclusion that "the beneficial effect of gold may play a significant role in the prevention of infertility" and interpreted the +18% increase in body weight in the high dose gold chloride group as experimental evidence that - contrary to your usual herbal testbooster - the profound effects of the subcutaneously injected gold chloride solution would actually produce visible increases in lean mass, I strongly advice against experimenting with this "ayurvedic panacea"! And that despite the fact that similar solutions are already used clinically as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and regardless of the results of a 2001 study by Sharma et al., which showed that subjects who ingested 2x100mg gold per day (orally) for 40 days did not show any symptoms of toxicity (Sharma. 2001).

Did you know that some of the ingredients of commercially available test boosters and other OTC supps, like piper longum, tinospora cardifolia, garcinia cambogia (HCA) or bulbine natalensis can induce testicular damage at high doses? If not, I suggest you go back to a SuppVersity post from 2010 and read up all the details on the results of a study by D'Cruz et al.: "Protect Your Testes! Beware of These Plants and Plant Products".

Aside from the health issues, the oral supplement regimen (at 200mg/day) would be pretty costly. At the current price of gold ~5$ per day... but hey, if you think about it, that money would probably still better spent than for a 30 months supply of any of the useless and partially likewise not very healthy (cf. red box above) herbal test booster. After all, you can just put the powder back into the box or wherever you store it and wait for the next stock market crash, the occurrence of which is - all pun intended - as safe as the Bank of England ;-)

+87% Increase in Testosterone Within 21 Days from a 100% Natural Supplement? Study Shows: Soy Bean Extract Can Do Just That While Wreaking Havoc on Your Testes. Plus: Corn Oil Reduces Testosterone to Estrogen Ratio by -50%!

Image 1: I guess the feed of those boars does not contain any corn oil and is spiked with both bisphenol A and soy bean extract - I mean, how else could you possibly explain those balls? (img dirtybutton.com)

Let me start today's post with a few questions: Would you buy a 100% natural product that can lower your estrogen levels by up to -98%, increase the weight of your testes by ~30% and, above all, boost your testosterone levels by a whopping +87%? I guess, at least all those of you who either have not read or not understood the Intermittent Thoughts episode on estrogen's role in skeletal muscle hypertrophy are just sitting there, nodding their heads... I would yet also venture the guess that this nodding will end pretty abruptly, now that I am about to tell you that this all natural testosterone booster is derived from the powder of 2kg of Glycine max soy beans via methanol extraction, subsequently freeze dried and capped into 600mg caps of which the average adult (~80kg body weight) is supposed to ingest two per day.

Chose your poison: BPA, soy, or maybe just some governmentally subsidized corn oil?

The preceding paragraph was an ironic, yet as far as the underlying facts and figures are concerned 100% accurate introduction to today's post which revolves around a study Evanski from the Mind&Muscle forum has brought to my attention (Norazit. 2012). The authors, a group of scientists from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had set out to investigate the purportedly negative effects of what they call "soya bean extract" (interestingly this spelling of "soy", which is identical to the German version is probably the reason the study did not appear on my "interesting stuff for the SuppVersity radar", before ;-), bisphenol A, 17β-estradiol and "harmless" corn oil on the testis and endocrine system of juvenile rats.

Figure 1: Phytoestrogen content (µg/g dry weight; mind the logarithmic scale!) of soy bean extract an standard rat chow measured by LCMS (data adapted from Norazit. 2012)

To this ends, the scientists divided thirty 21-day old juvenile male Sprague-dawley rats (=the standard lab rat) into five groups, receiving either a standard diet (which contained an insignificant amount of soy, cf. figure 1) + 100mg/kg Tween 80 (a standard food emulsifier with derived from polyethoxylated sorbitan and oleic acid; this group served as control for the soy and the bisphenol group) or standard diet +100mg/kg of corn oil (Mazola; this group served as a control for the estradiol group because the 17b-e did not dissolve in the Tween 80), soy extract, bisphenol A (Aldrich Chemical Co.) and 17b-estradiol (the most active form of estrogen, which binds to both the alpha- and beta-receptor) for three weeks.

Note: It is (at least in my view) a lucky coincidence that contrary to the soy extract and the bisphenol, the estradiol did not solve in the Tween 80, so that the scientists had to come up with Mazola corn oil as a "positive control". I mean, if you take a look at the effects this supposedly neutral "solvent" had on the endocrine milieu of the peripubertal rats, it is no wonder that with the average testosterone levels of the male inhabitants of the #1 corn producer of the world, the Unites States of America, is on a constant decline.

At the end of the study period the rats were sacrificed, the testis were excised and their testosterone and estrogen levels were assessed using standardized enzyme immunoessay (EIA) kits from Caymen Chemical.

Figure 2: Section of seminiferous tubules from control Tween 80 group, BPA group and soy bean extract group; (1) maturing spermatids, (2) lumen filled with cellular debris, (3) vacuaolation, (4) interruption of spermatogenesis (data adapted from Norazit. 2012)

Even a layman can see that both the bisphenol A, as well as the soy bean extract treatments induced profound changes in the cell-morphology of the testes (cf. figure 2). Vacualation (3), i.e. formation of vacuoles in cellular tissue, was present in both, only the bisphenol A group showed the characteristic lumen filled with cellular debris (2). Visible signs of spermatogenesis (1) were visible in neither of the groups, a clear interruption of the latter (4), was yet observed only in the soy and the estrogen group (latter not shown in figure 2). Moreover, the estrogen treated animals were the only ones where the testis showed clear signs of apoptosis (cell death).

The "harmless" corn oil shifts the testosterone to estrogen ratio from ~1/1 to 1/2pg/ng

Reckless, as I am I decided to discard Norazit et al.'s distinction into the BPA and soy groups with the Tween 80 group as a control and the estradiol group with their corn oil control and just plotted the total body and total and relative testis weight gain, estrogen and testosterone levels relative to the Tween 80 group. In other words, I treated the corn oil group as if it was just another treatment group. This is obviously somewhat fishy, but if no scientist appears to be willing to investigate the potential negative effects of corn oil on the endocrine system of adolescent rodents (let alone humans), this is the only way for us to get respective data ;-)

Figure 3: Body weight gain, total and relative right testis weight, estradiol and testosterone levels in peri-pubertal rats after 21 days on diets containing 100mg/kg bisphenol A, soy bean extract, corn oil or 17b-estradiol (in soy bean oil); data expressed relative to Tweenn 80 (polysorbate + oleic acid) control (data calculated based on Norazit. 2012)

And if you take a look at the data in figure 3 (the vertical axis of which is by the way discontinuous!) it becomes clear that you better feed your boys a food solvent such as Polysorbate 80 (=Tween 80) than the "healthy" corn oil the US government is trying to con you into. After all, the administration of 100mg/kg corn oil (human equivalent ~16mg/kg) during puberty decreased the testis weight of the rats by -23% it reduced the amount of estradiol by -35% and the amount of testosterone by -66% and thusly shifted the testosterone / estrogen ratio in the peri-pubertal rodents from 1.11pg/ng to 0.57pg/ng!

BPA and soy compete for the title of "most potent endocrine disruptor"

Following the bro-scientific "the more the better" type of reasoning, bisphenol A and soy bean extract are two potential candidates for the "testosterone booster of the year"-award. After all both, the organic solvent bisphenol A, as well as the "natural toxin" (sorry, I just had to write that ;-) soy, exert potent (8x) and ueber-potent (100x) effects on the testosterone to estrogen ratio, which is 8.2pg/ng for BPA and 100.1pg/ng for soy!

Note: Neither I, nor the scientists have any clue as to why the results of this study are diametrically opposed to those of previous studies in which extracts from soy products reduced, not increased, testosterone levels in male rodents and monkeys(!), across-the-board (eg. Sharpe. 2002; Cline. 2004) - and that although Sharpe et al. observed an increase in the testosterone producing Leydig cells in their soy-formula fed monkeys. Whether the rats in the study at hand were in a state where similar effects temporarily increase testosterone output until the Leydig cells literally "burn out", or whether other effects were responsible for the temporary increase in testosterone, would have to be elucidated in future studies, the results of which you will obviously read here at the SuppVersity, first ;-)

So, even if we assume that the data is correct and there were no cross-reactions between components in the soy bean extract and the testosterone anti-body test, I would strongly caution against the use of either of this compounds to boost your testosterone levels - I mean what's the use of a wickedly skewed testosterone to estrogen ratio (which in and out of itself will probably mess up your health and can potentially hinder your gains, cf. "Are You Serming Away Your Gains?"), when, at the same time, your testicles turn into dysfunctional balloons?

Honey, Smoke & Testosterone: One Tablespoon of Honey Protects Your Leydig Cells From Oxidative Damage

Image 1: A beehive in one of the beehives Koompassia excelsa (‘Tualang’) trees which grow in the Rain Forest of Kedah, Malaysia.

"Have you already had your tablespoon of honey, Honey?" If that's what your girlfriend or wife asked you this morning, she is probably concerned about your testicular health... A group of Malaysian scientists has recently been able to show that 1.2g/kg/day (human equivalent: 0.2g/kg/day or about 1 tablespoon for an average adult man) of a off-the-shelf Malaysian Tulang honey protected the testis of rats, who had been exposed to cigarette some for 8 minutes three times per day, from damage and oxidative stress (Mohamed. 2011).

Before the experiment, the scientists had conducted FRAP and DPPHI assays to determine the in-vitro antioxidant activity of the sweet gummy superfood from "beehives built on a tall tree, Koompassia excelsa (locally named as ‘Tualang’ tree) that grows in the Rain Forest of Kedah".

Figure 1: Total phenolic content (Eq/kg), antioxidant activity (FRAP; µmol of Fe Eq/L), free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay % inhibition of DPPH radicals) and sugar composition of the Tulang honey used in the study (data adapted from (Mohamed. 2011).

As the data in figure 2 shows, the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant effects of the honey (cf. figure 1), were so pronounced that the +234% increase in TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance) cigarette exposure induced in the unsupplemented group was completely abolished by the Tulang honey "supplement" (I deliberately put this into quotation-marks, because I would not consider the "human equivalent", i.e. putting a tablespoon of honey in the tea you have with breakfast as "supplement").

Figure 2: Effect of 13 weeks of honey supplementation (H: 1.2g/kg/day), exposure to cigarette smoke (CS: 8 min, 3x daily) or both (H+CS) on oxidative stress markers from rat testis (Mohamed. 2011).

Accordingly, the Leydig cell sections from the "smoking rats" that received supplemental honey (H+CS; -15% Leydig Cell count), did not show similarly pronounced degenerations as their standard fed peers in the CS (8min 3x daily exposure to cigarette smoke; -23% Leydig cell count) group (cf. figure 3).

Figure 3: Representative photomicrographs of testicular sections showing Leydig cells in intertubular space from the control, the cigarette smoke and the honey + cigarette smoke groups (graphic is based on photos from Mohamed. 2011).

Even if, as I would hope, you have not yet seen how "damaged" Leydig cells look like, the photomicrographs in figure 3 leave no doubt that even with the protective effect of honey, 13 weeks of only 24 minutes cigarette smoke exposure wreak havoc on the morphology of those cells of your best parts that are responsible for the production of testosterone.

Image 2: Believe it or not, despite the fact that it has carbs (you could also argue that it is pure sugar!) honey is not only good for your testis, but for your blood sugar levels as well (photo from readmyreview.com)

Just a quick note to all you sugar-haters out there who are afraid that the one tablespoon of honey will give you diabetes, heart attacks and strokes (let alone all those unaesthetic body fat you will gain ;-): A very recent review on the health effects of honey consumptions comes to the conclusion that (Cortes. 2011)

compared to glucose and sucrose, the consumption of honey decreases glycemic levels and blood lipids in healthy, diabetic and hyperlipidemic individuals. Moreover, long periods of honey intake seem to reduce fasting glucose levels in humans, suggesting that honey consumption influences plasma glucose regulation, mainly through a normo- or hypoglycemic effect.

Digest this before you pass on the honey, because "it has carbs in it!" *scary*

So, while we all know that testosterone won't make you aggressive (ScienceDaily. 2009), there is another sort of "testosterone-related" issue that always has me close to freaking out: Male and female tobacco junkies who dare to light their weeds right next to their own kids... and I bet you, those poor little buggers won't be fed a teaspoon (that should be enough given their smaller body weight) of Malaysian Tulang honey a day.

Zinc and Vitamin A Can Protect Your Testis Against Alcohol

While most gymrats abstain from alcohol, anyway, some do not mind the occasional binge drinking and other consume drugs and "supplements" which may as well increase testicular malonaldehyde (MDA) content to potentially dangerous levels. To this group of people it may thus be of special interest that scientists (Xie. 2010) from the Center for Desease Prevention and Control in Shijiazhuang, China, have found that vitamin a and zinc supplementation at a human equivalent dose of 8µg vitamin A/kg and 1.3mg zinc gluconate/kg effectively protects rat testis against MDA induced damage:

Histological evaluation for testes revealed that seminiferous epithelium was disorganized and the sertoli cells and germ cells were degenerated in alcohol-treated rats.Zinc or vitamin A supplementation decreased the testicular mitochondrial MDA formation and the expression of iNOS in testes,as a result,the germ cells degeneration was improved,sperm counting and motility were higher than those in alcohol group,however,which couldn't prevent the decrease of serum levels of sexual hormones(T,LH,FSH)(P0.05).

So, if you cannot resist consuming too much alcohol or other potentially dangerous substances you better watch your vitamin and trace element intake.