.gif)
Index of articles, click here
By Serge Kreutz (2010)
Some men, and women, have marvelous results from using tongkat ali to increase their testosterone levels, both in the bed and in the gym. For others, it's nothing special. The problem is usually that those who don't receive the desired results have been purchaising something off the shelves of a health food store, something with "Tongkat Ali" on the label. But they didn't take a closer look at the actual ingredients, and to how much tongkat ali the product really contained.
The active ingredients only exist in miniscule amounts in tongkat ali roots. Used in the traditional manner ( in Indonesia and Malaysia), for a usual single standard dose, one requires 50 grams of chipped root, boiled for about 5 minutes. That means: more than 10 kg of raw root per month, or even double that amount for body builders. But what is sold in health food shops and as tongkat ali health supplement often only contains less than a half gram of tongkat ali root powder per capsule. When taking such a product, one would need to swallow more than 100 capsules to get one effective dose.
Because tongkat ali root is primarly out of cellulose, the first purchase rule is: if you buy capsules, just buy tongkat ali extract, not solely tongkat ali.
When an extract is created, the active ingredients are extracted from the root, and the remaining cellulose is thrown away. Extracts can have different proportions (the amount of active ingredients that is extracted). For example, an extract that is 1:50 has 1 gram of active ingredients from 50 gram of tongkat ali root. An extract that is 1:100 gets 100 gram of root to produce 1 gram of extract, and a 1:200 extract is even more concentrated. It requires 200 gram of tongkat ali root to produce only 1 gram of extract. So, among the various tongkat ali extracts listed above, 1:200 is the most concentrated and strongest form.
But, if a bottle of capsules only says "Tongkat Ali Extract", without stating a proportion, then the extract is likely just 1:5, or maybe even just 1:2. This means that only 5, or just 2, gram of tongkat ali root were used to prepare 1 gram of extract. Hence, assuming an equal capsule size, you would require 40 capsules (or worse, 100 capsules) of such a tongkat ali extract of unspecified strength to posses as much active ingredient as you can get from just one capsule of 1:200 extract.
Therefore, the second purchase rule is: only buy an extract that states the concentration, 1:50, 1:100, or 1:200. Otherwise, your extract is probably so diluted that you're still mostly swallowing cellulose, not active ingredients. Legally speaking, even an extract of 1:2 can be named an extract. But it is almost as bad as root powder. When the extract strength is not specified, the whole extraction procedure was undertaken just so that "extract" could be written on the label of the product.
Even worse are the products that mix tongkat ali with other ingredients, such as arginine, damiana, muira puama, or minerals like zinc. Argenine, you can purchase at 20 dollars a kilo, and that suffices for something like 4000 capsules, and damiana is a grass that usually isn't extracted. Most minerals in capsule form are only pharmaceutical junk.
In conclusion, the third purchase rule is: if you desire to use tongkat ali, buy a product that is not mixed with anything else.
When taken in proper therapeutic amounts, tongkat ali extract not only helps to enhance libido (sexual desire), but also increases muscle growth in bodybuilding athletes. Both efficacies have been prooven in scientific research.
For example, the British Journal of Sports Medicine reported that the use of tongkat ali extract resulted in a 5 % increase in lean body mass within 5 weeks. The result was collected from a double-blind placebo controlled scientific trial for a treatment group, while there were no significant changes in the control group. 5 % in 5 weeks is a huge improvement, which becomes obvious if one calculates it over a course of a year (5 weeks ? 5 %; 52 weeks 50 %). The authors conclude: "The results suggest that water soluble extract of Eurycoma longifolia Jack increased fat free mass, reduced body fat, and increased muscle strength and size, and thus may have an ergogenic effect."
The abstract of the clinical trial with healthy men can be read at the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine:
http://bjsm.bmjjournals.com/
cgi/content/full/37/5/464
To check for the abstract, you will have to scroll down on the page with the above URL. The abstract that covers tongkat ali's effect on bodybuilding has the number 007.
The fourth purchase rule is: if it is possible, buy Indonesian, not Malaysian tongkat ali.
Of course, authentic tongkat ali root is expensive. In Malaysia where tongkat ali meanwhile is a protected plant, they sell a kg of root (2.2 lbs) for around 50 US dollars. In Indonesia, the prices are much lower.
A considerable amounth of Malaysian tongkat ali products have been intercepted and removed off the shelves by the authorities of several countries for containing bootleg Viagra or Cialis. Instead of buying a healthier alternative to prescription drugs, many of those who have used Malaysian tongkat ali were only fed synthetic chemicals. The synthetic chemicals weren't even made in a licensed manufacturing unit but cooked up in kitchen labs.
As if stretching with synthetic chemicals wasn't enough, Malaysian tongkat ali root also often is contaminated with lead. This is a result of the fast industrialization the country has undergone over the past decade or two, when it was one of the world's fastest growing economies. Until very recently, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were the highest buildings in the planet ( a subject of Malaysian industrial pride), and even though it has a population of only 20 million inhabitants, Malaysia has a lot of heavy industry. It even produces its own brands of trucks, cars, motorcycles; an achievement that countries of comparative size even in Europe can't catch up with.
The negative aspect of rapid industrialization: the lead content of a good number of Malaysian tongkat ali products has been discovered to range from 10.64 to 20.72 ppm (parts per million). In comparison, the Indonesian company Sumatra Pasak Bumi has published laboratory test results stating that their own tongkat ali has a lead content of only 0.08 ppm . This means that every gram of the Malaysian tongkat ali mentioned in the abstract of a scientific study (see link below) contained up to 250 times the amount of lead found in Indonesian tongkat ali.
The scientific study, which established these data, was published in the scientific journal Human & Experimental Toxicology, issue of August 2003. An abstract of the study can be read at the following URL: (flo*r)
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/
search/expand?
pub=infobike://arn/
het/2003/00000022/00000008/
art00006
Index of articles, click here
Bruce Harrielie,
Maros utca 1 Szeged,
Szeged 6721
Hungary