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Plant testosterone? A plant-based way to increase muscle mass

 Plant testosterone? A plant-based way to increase muscle mass


Testosterone is a steroidal male sex hormone. It is responsible not only for the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics during puberty, but is necessary for building muscle mass.


It is also possible to safely increase the level of testosterone from external sources. Only look at plants that produce testosterone equivalents.


Testosterone and muscle

Steroids, also called sterols, are chemical compounds necessary for the functioning of plants and animals. Testosterone belongs to the group of male sex hormones (androgens). In addition to controlling many male functions in the body, this hormone is able to retain protein in the human body. This leads to an increase in muscle mass.This is why testosterone derivatives, androgenic steroids, are used as powerful anabolic drugs, but also for doping. It is clear that athletes cannot legally use this type of assistance and are looking for alternatives. One of them is the use of plant substances that increase the level of testosterone in the body, called testosterone boosters.



Plants loaded with testosterone

Botanical steroids are nearly identical to our hormones. As studies show, some act anabolic, such as testosterone. Plants also produce hormones similar to human sex hormones, for example. Previous. In mushrooms and pollen there are relatively high concentrations of androgens, including the main representative of this group - anabolic testosterone .


 

Already in the early 1930s and 1940s, scientists were increasingly excited by the idea that plant steroids could convert into testosterone in the human body as in a pharmaceutical company's lab and thus raise the level of this hormone in the blood. Similar conclusions were drawn from studies of the so-called adaptive flora, which were conducted by Nicholas Lazarev during the Second World War. These plants generally increased strength, stamina, sexual activity, and protein synthesis in laboratory animals and humans. It has a positive effect on all factors that affect testosterone in the human body. At the same time, the chemical composition analysis showed that the main active components of the strongest conditioning adaptogens are plant stimulants.


 


Plant Steroid Research


Unfortunately, more than half a century of research has not been able to determine whether plant steroids convert to testosterone in the human body. Nor do we know if they somehow increase the level of this hormone in the blood. The most frequently studied steroid plants are: the Far Eastern medicine - ginseng, the secret weapon of Bulgarian weightlifters - Tribulus, the ancient anabolic that restored


 strength to elderly champions - fenugreek. The experience of each of these plants showed a significant increase in the level of testosterone, but sometimes scientists did not notice an increase and sometimes the level of testosterone decreased. However, anabolic steroids of plant origin from Tribulus Terrestris increased oral testosterone levels in castrated mice by 25%, indicating the possibility of converting


 these compounds into testosterone. Contemporary scientific research has conclusively demonstrated that the following specific plant steroids exhibit anabolic activity, as well as relatively larger groups of these compounds: furostanols, ecdysteroids, brassinosteroids, ginsenosides, butyric acid, ursolic acid and tomatidine.


In their search for safe steroids, scientists have devised a procedure for determining the so-called anabolic androgenic index. It is the ratio of the anabolic effect of a particular compound to the potency of the androgenic activity. The stronger the anabolic action, the weaker the androgen and therefore the safer the steroid, since it does not threaten the male prostate and does not give the woman a beard. The


 anabolic androgenic index is usually determined so that one group of castrated rats receives an anabolic steroid test and the other testosterone. After the examination is completed, the mass of the levator muscle is compared with the additional weight of the male sex glands - seminal vesicles, epithelial glands and prostate. The testosterone-exposed group served as a reference. The greater the muscle weight and the smaller the glands, the greater the benefit of the anabolic-androgen index. A similar procedure was used to test for natural plant steroids.



Fenugreek, a safe steroid

Indian scientists from Bharati University, led by Urmel Aswar, had the idea to test the anabolic-androgenic index of fenugreek in 2010. The choice fell on this plant because the heroes of antiquity consumed it to increase their potency. Today athletes also consume it. At the end of the experiment, it was found that the levator muscle mass as well as the total muscle mass of the castrated mice also increased. Both the testosterone group and the furostanol group, ie the group that used fenugreek steroids. The conclusion reached was that Furostanols were purely anabolic steroids and devoid of androgenic activity.




In the same year, a study was conducted and showed that in a group of rodents given furostanol, there was a significant decrease in blood sugar levels and an increase in the number of insulin-producing pancreatic cells, as well as an increase in the activity of testosterone-producing enzymes in the testes. The levels of testosterone in the blood also increased. What is the difference between the two studies? The second group of animals had testicles, which is why furostanol increased testosterone levels.


 


The study by Chris Paul's team at the University of Texas expanded these findings. Scientists gave 49 men who exercised 500 mg of standard fenugreek extract or a placebo. The study lasted 8 weeks. At the end of the trial, they reported a significant increase in the fenugreek-exposed group compared to the placebo group in terms of athletic strength, increased muscle mass, and decreased levels of adipose tissue.


 

The effect of tribulus on muscle

Tribulus is a plant used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine in India. It has tonic, sedative and diuretic properties. In the West, tribulus is considered one of the components of products that enhance sexual potency, as it maintains a male erection. In the 1970s, in the twentieth century, American bodybuilder Jeffrey Peterman hypothesized that tribulus also increases testosterone levels and stimulates muscle growth.



In 2008, Gauthaman became interested in the second herbal product, especially rich in furostanol - Tribulus. After intravenous administration of 7.5 mg of the extract per kg of body weight to monkeys, a 52% increase in testosterone levels and 29% in DHEA levels was observed. When administered orally for 8 weeks, the extract significantly increased testosterone levels in rabbits, but especially the value of


 the DHT metabolite. An experiment on castrated mice was particularly interesting. Rodents without testicles were divided into two groups, one receiving an injection of testosterone (10 mg/kg) every 2 weeks for 8 weeks and the other receiving a Tribulus extract 5 mg per kg of body mass per day during the same period. The injections increased testosterone levels in the animals' blood by 51% and the extract by 25%. The authors attribute these exceptional effects of the protodioscin extract to the substance considered to be the most active herbal steroid of the group of furostan derivatives.



It should be noted that the research on the effect of tribulus on testosterone, with the participation of volunteers, was initiated by the Bulgarians. In a 1981 study, Zharkova analyzed a study from the 1970s on infertile couples, in which administration of tribulus extract significantly increased the level of testosterone and luteotropin (LH) in men, stimulating the synthesis of testosterone in the testicles.


 

Fairly recent information on tribulus was presented by Sellandi in 2012. The author administered the plant extract to volunteers aged 21 to 50 years for 60 days. The average increase in the level of testosterone was just over 16%.




It must be remembered that not all studies confirm the effectiveness of tribulus. However, based on the demonstration of the increase in testosterone levels in the human body, it can be said that the plant is an effective testosterone booster.


Fenugreek and Tribulus - a mixture in favor of testosterone

As a conclusion of these studies, it should be noted that if there are two plants in the testosterone booster formula, the supplement will be effective. Although it does not raise testosterone to astronomical levels, it will cause a decent anabolic effect anyway. This will increase muscle mass and reduce fatty tissue.



It is good to remember that steroids are fat soluble and that the intestinal flora converts plant steroids into compounds with higher anabolic activity. How can someone who exercises use this knowledge? The meals in which you take the testosterone booster capsules should be rich in healthy fats, such as vegetable fats, then you will get the best effect and supply the body with a larger dose of testosterone. For a safe diet, one capsule of lecithin should be taken with a glass of yogurt or kefir.

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