Alpha Boost Reviews
When it comes down to it, testosterone is one of the most essential bio-products a mans body can produce. It provides better muscle growth, greater strength, quicker recovery, higher bone density… the list goes on. It’s unfortunate then to learn that from the age of 25 it’s all downhill, typically dropping by about 1% every year. This is a natural process and just a part of getting older, but can unfortunately cause health issues in men once levels start to drop too low.
There’s a natural solution however, as many testosterone boosters such as Alpha boost exist to help combat this process and restore testosterone production to its former glory days. With that in mind, do we recommend Alpha Boost as a great option in this saturated market? Well, to be plain about it, no we don’t. The use of fad ingredients such as Horny Goat Weed that have very weak supporting evidence, as well as hiding their formula behind a proprietary blend leave a lot to be desired from this testosterone booster.
If you’re looking for increased testosterone levels then instead we’d recommend Testofuel. By our estimations it’s the best that’s on the market right now and is leagues ahead fo Alpha boost. For one thing, they’re open and honest about their formula, listing each individual ingredient alongside its dosage. Beyond that it’s filled to the brim with some of the most potent natural ingredients, all of which have a plethora of clinical data backing their ability to increase testosterone, energy levels and libido. Don’t just take it from us, take a look for yourself by clicking the link below.
Browse Testofuel Ingredients Here
Ingredients Breakdown
Calcium 44.28mg
We’re all aware of calcium, at least to some degree. It’s found mostly in dairy products and helps contribute to healthy teeth and bones. How does this help with testosterone levels? Well, there’s limited evidence that suggests calcium supplementation can increase testosterone levels under the specific conditions following exercise. Now, testosterone will naturally increase as a consequence to physical activity regardless, but we did find a study that observed this effect was increased in the group supplementing calcium [1].
Unfortunately you’re unlikely to see a similar boost from the calcium Alpha Boost has provided, as the clinical trial provided the participants with 35mg calcium/kg of body weight. The average body weight of an American is 80kg, meaning for similar results to be achieved there would have to be more calcium in Alpha Boost that all of its ingredients combined, with a whopping 2,800mg.
Alpha Boost Blend 1484mg
Proprietary blends are unfortunately the cause of most of the issues regarding public perception of natural supplements. We say this because trust is a big factor here, and a lot of people just do not trust these products to do what they say. Proprietary blends are to blame for a lot of this as they allow brands to basically lie and get away with it, with claims of ingredients being clinically proven to be effective, without actually providing the tested and proven dose. This allows subpar products to masquerade as much better than they really are, and unfortunately brings everyone else down with them.
There’s a bit of a hack for consumers however, as companies are still required to list their ingredients in descending order of volume, meaning the top ingredients will be taking the most space. You can use this information to infer which ingredients are properly dosed and which aren’t, giving you a decent chance at figuring out if a product is legitimate or not.
Horny Goat Weed
Though it may sound like something a spotty teenager came up with, unable to contain his laughter, it’s thought to have caught this name after a goat herder noticed his flock became sexually stimulated after eating the plant. Also known as Barrenwort, it was a popular plant used in traditional Chinese medicine for rheumatic issues, as well as being thought of as an aphrodisiac.
The evidence for these use cases are lacking however, with some invtro studies and animal studies that somewhat suggest its efficacy, but no human trials. These studies revealed the active ingredient as Icariin, with an in vitro study observing the potential to mimic some properties of testosterone [2]. Essentially speaking, without high quality human testing in order to determine it’s potential side effects as well as exactly what it does to the body, it’s not worth talking about, and you’ll find the quality testosterone boosters don’t bother with this gimmick ingredient. Being at the top of the list means this formula is mostly horny goat weed, which lines up with the typical dosage being around 800-1,000mg.
Tongkat Ali
Hailing from Malaysia, this medicinal plant was first documented in 1820, though it’s thought that it’s been used by the locals since the 1100’s. It was used for general wellness back then, whereas nowadays thanks to modern testing we’ve been able to determine exactly how this plant affects us. This mostly takes the form of stress relief, as there’s a decent amount of evidence supporting that, such as a study we found in which a 16% decrease in the stress hormone cortisol was observed following just 200mg of supplementation with Tongkat Ali [3].
An interesting thing to note about cortisol is it’s interactions with testosterone, as each effect one another as a sort of see-saw effect. As cortisol rises, your body will produce less testosterone, and as testosterone rises, your body will produce less cortisol. This makes Tongkat Ali a fantastic choice for testosterone boosting supplements, and at number two in the list 200mg is definitely achievable, though we can’t be 100%.
Saw Palmetto Extract
Native to the south-east of the United States, Saw Palmetto found it’s use as a treatment for many things in it’s early days, though it was mainly thought to be an effective treatment for disorders of both male and female reproductive organs, as well as various other diseases.
Through modern testing we’ve discovered that Saw Palmetto can increase testosterone levels, but the way in which it does this could put a lot of people off. Our body uses testosterone for a great many things, but sometimes it needs to convert testosterone into something else in order to fulfil a specific goal, such as dihydrotestosterone which is responsible for prostate growth, as well as body, facial, and pubic hair growth [4]. This is where Saw Palmetto comes into play, as it inhibits this conversion in the body, increasing testosterone.
This is also where dosing needs to come into question, as at this point the vast majority of the formula has been taken up by the first two ingredients. If you’re an optimist, you’d say there’s about 400mg left to play with, in which case there is enough space to dose saw palmetto properly, but in reality how these products typically go is they highly dose one cheap ingredient and pepper in tiny doses of the rest to save money. Though we can’t say this is what alpha boost is doing for sure, remember that the typical dosage of horny goat weed in the testosterone boosters that list it is 1,000mg.
Orchic Substance
Does anyone remember that fake rumour that taurine was made from Bull sperm? Orchic substance here is made from cow testicles. It’s sold as a source of testosterone, and for sure if you ate cow testicles, you would be eating testosterone to some degree. What you’ve got to ask however is what is the human digestive system going to do with ingested testosterone? Will it really just add it to your testosterone reserves?
Unfortunately, we actually don’t have an answer for you, but what we can tell you is that testosterone is actually created from cholesterol within the body, but having high levels of cholesterol doesn’t mean more testosterone is produced because our brains influence that too strongly. With that in mind, it’s unlikely orchic substance would act differently, though again we can’t be 100% without any clinical data.
Wild Yam Extract
Not typically known for their medicinal properties, scientists uncovered a plant steroid known as diosgenin and quickly discovered they could use it to make steroid hormones such as progesterone, cortisone, dehydroepiandrosteron and estrogen, but not testosterone funnily enough. Some advocates for it claim yeah digesting diosgenin, your body can use it to turn it into these steroids, but studies have shown these claims to be false [5].
Even with that being the case, why is something that people only falsely claim can increase estrogen in a testosterone booster? The inclusion is a complete mystery, and even more so when you consider there are still some ingredients lower in the list that do have some clinical evidence behind them.
Sarsaparilla
Mostly used to make a soft drink, it was once used almost exclusively as a medicine, treating conditions such as arthritis, psoriases, and syphilis. We won’t waste too much time here however, as there is simply no clinical evidence to speak of whatsoever that links sarsaparilla with increased testosterone.
Nettle Root Extract
Back to quality ingredients here, but being second from the bottom doesn’t bode well for Nettle Root Extract here. How it works is it’s an inhibitor of aromatase, which converts testosterone into estrogen within the body. naturally, the less testosterone gets converted, the more there is for the body to use. So despite it not directly impacting testosterone synthesis, it does have positive effects on overall free testosterone within the body.
It’s typically dosed between 200 and 500mg, so we’re very unlikely to see that sort of dosage this far down.
Boron
Being effective from 5mg, Boron is one of the few ingredients here that may actually be dosed effectively. This nutrient is quite available in many foods so deficiency is quite rare, but it’s still likely you’re not getting optimal levels of it, and considering how it’s used to regulate sexual hormones, optimal levels can make a big difference.
Specifically, it helps reduce levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) within the blood, which would typically bind to free testosterone, rendering it useless. This can be seen in the evidence backing it, as the reduction of SHBG is very similar to the increase in testosterone found [6]
Verdict
A poor showing unfortunately for Alpha Boost, being nothing more than a selection of poorly chosen, gimmicky ingredients with little to no clinical evidence backing them up. Besides boron and tongkat ali, there’s nothing really going on here.
Instead we highly recommend checking out testofuel, one of our current favourites on the market at the minute, showing even the skeptics that natural supplements have the potential to be fantastic products. You can’t really blame the skepticism though when, at face value, Alpha boost makes all the same claims. Unless you’re an expert you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them, but with clinically proven ingredients such as D-aspartic acid, ginseng and maca root, all dosed effectively, Testofuel will give you what you’ve been looking for this whole time.
References
1 – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19099204/
2 – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26531010/
3 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669033/
4 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557634/
