Tongkat Ali: The Youth Promoting Herb
by Chris Kilham
Two years ago almost nobody in the United States had heard of tongkat ali. Today the herb is becoming increasingly well-known as a sex aid, an athletic performance enhancer and as an overall youth-promoting agent.
Tongkat ali is the popular folk name for Eurycoma longifolia, a medium-size, slender rain forest tree. The name tongkat ali means “Ali’s walking stick” and is native to Malaysia, lower Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. The root is employed as a traditional remedy for the treatment of malaria, high blood pressure, fevers, fatigue, loss of sexual desire and impotence. Tongkat ali enjoys a history of use dating back at least to the 1700s, and today a growing body of serious science is corroborating its uses. In Malaysia, tongkat ali is a national treasure, the object of a sexual potency craze and an ingredient found in more than 300 products, from root chips to herbal syrups, capsules and popular soft drinks.
At present, tongkat ali is harvested in the wild. As this traditional plant remedy becomes more popular, supplies of tongkat ali in the wild will inevitably decrease. To preserve the natural environment, and to protect remaining wild specimens of tongkat ali, Malaysia will need to establish large plantations of this tree. At present, one of the country’s largest palm oil producers is establishing a large plantation of tongkat ali and the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) is also working on the cultivation of this valuable tree.
The Testosterone Breakthrough
Tongkat ali root contains numerous beneficial compounds including potent protective antioxidants which inhibit cellular aging. Other phytochemicals in tongkat ali are antiviral, antimalarial and anticancerous. What excites most people about tongkat ali is that the root significantly boosts sex drive and function in men and women by increasing testosterone. Agents identified as glycoproteins are now proven to be the sex-promoting ingredients in the plant. This discovery, and years of painstaking research, is the work of Dr. Johari Saad, who is known as the King of Tongkat Ali. A scientist, inventor, engineer and former professor at the University of Malaysia, Dr. Johari has conducted the definitive animal research on tongkat ali and developed a novel and proprietary method of extracting the beneficial compounds from the root.
“In our studies, we looked at what was happening with animals when we gave them a water soluble extract of tongkat ali,” he explained to me. “It basically came down to four categories, increased testosterone, increased energy, inhibition of SHBG, which is sex hormone binding globulin, and increased muscle mass.” Dr. Johari’s four discoveries are highly significant and have greatly advanced knowledge of the biological effects of this plant.
When given tongkat ali extract, animals copulate three to four times more frequently than normal. This is due, as it turns out, to a significant increase in testosterone. In fact, testosterone levels in animals given tongkat ali increase an unprecedented three to four times on average. While results in animals are not always duplicated in people, I later discovered that the same testosteroneboosting effect does in fact occur in human studies.
Increasing testosterone is the key factor in increasing sex drive. Testosterone is the most important of the male sex hormones, known as androgens, produced in the gonads. Testosterone plays a key role in the development and maturity of male sex organs. The hormone promotes secondary sex characteristics, including the appearance of facial hair, enlargement of the larynx (producing a deeper voice), sexual desire and sexual behavior. Testosterone also stimulates metabolism, promotes lipolysis (burning of fat), increases the formation of red blood cells and accelerates muscle growth. But testosterone is not just a sex booster for men. Women also produce testosterone, about 5 to 10 percent the amount produced in men. In women, this vital hormone also stimulates sex drive and produces heightened sensitivity of erogenous zones.
Testosterone doesn’t stay with us. From age 30 or so, blood levels of this hormone decline at a rate of about 2 percent per year. By age 45, a man may have only 60 percent of the testosterone he had at age 25. By age 50, the level is around 55 percent. The level will vary from one person to another. Exercise helps to maintain a higher level of testosterone, while smoking and excess alcohol consumption contribute to lower levels. As testosterone decreases in the body, muscle tone, energy and sex drive all begin to decline. The same decline in testosterone occurs in women, though the amounts of testosterone involved are lower than in men. In both sexes, sex drive, function, fat metabolism and energy decline into middle age.
One of the questions that many health researchers have pondered is what if you could boost your testosterone levels to more youthful levels? With tongkat ali extract you can. And that makes tongkat ali a true fountain of youth. Dr. Johari also found that tongkat ali extract inhibits sex hormone binding globulin. By inhibiting this agent, more free testosterone remains in the blood. This additional testosterone stems the aging process, improving energy and sexual function, helping to reduce body fat and reducing risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. Consuming a properly made extract of tongkat ali increases testosterone significantly in both animals and humans.
 | | Chris Kilham in Malaysia holding a root of the tongkat ali. Tongkat ali is a national treasure and is harvested in the wild. To preserve the natural environment, and to protect remaining wild specimens of tongkat ali, Malaysia will need to establish large plantations of this tree. |
ATP and Lean Muscle
In studies tongkat ali extract also greatly increases ATP production. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is the basic unit of energy in the body, responsible for keeping us alive and going. By increasing ATP, overall energy and vitality are increased. Most people want more energy and tongkat ali provides it, without hyperstimulation, jittery nerves or insomnia. Promoting human energy production is a valuable enough health benefit by itself to make tongkat ali an enduring superstar of medicinal plants. People want energy more than just about any other functional attribute.
Endocrinologists have known for a long time that testosterone increases the body’s ratio of lean muscle mass to fat. In both animals and humans, tongkat ali extract increases muscle mass. In a study of men, half of the subjects ingested tongkat ali extract and half did not. In an eight-week physical training program the men who consumed tongkat ali extract experienced greater gains in muscle mass and strength than those who did not. This demonstrates the powerful anabolic properties of tongkat ali. Instead of turning to the use of dangerous and potentially lethal steroids, perhaps more athletes will opt for tongkat ali. In Malaysia, many professional field hockey players use tongkat ali extract as an androgen and swear to its performance-enhancing effects.
The Extract Secret
Dr. Johari has solved a problem with tongkat ali extraction: “One of the things we found is that when organic solvents are used to extract tongkat ali, you get a number of toxic compounds, especially the quassinoids, in the extract.” To get around this problem, Dr. Johari began to experiment with a water extract. Using water, pressure, a very speci.c range of temperature and freeze drying, he was able to develop a proprietary tongkat ali extract with a very low quassinoid level and high amounts of the active glycoproteins. That extract has been used in all the animal and human studies that have been conducted on tongkat ali. In the United States, Dr. Johari’s proprietary tongkat ali extract goes by the name LJ100. I asked him how much LJ100 tongkat ali extract people should take. “We have found that men need about 100 mg (milligrams) of extract per day, while women need about 50 mg,” he said.
Tongkat Ali and Sexuality
Dr. Ismail Tamby directs the Human Reproduction Specialist Center in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Dr. Tamby is one of the foremost experts on reproductive health in Southeast Asia. He works with men and women in all cases of sexual dysfunction, reproductive disorders and fertility problems. He is also the leading medical expert on the effects of tongkat ali root extract on human subjects. In his work with men, Dr. Tamby has found that use of tongkat ali extract significantly increases testosterone production. He said, “I was very skeptical at first about this type of thing, using some plant to change hormone levels. But I did some work with it and tongkat ali turned out to be highly potent. In our studies, we found that tongkat ali extract increased the serum level of testosterone considerably.” I asked Dr. Tamby if the men in his study experienced renewed sexual vitality or heightened sexual desire. “Oh, yes, most definitely,” he said. “The men found that tongkat ali boosted their sex drive quite a lot. I think that for low libido, tongkat ali extract is very valuable. I have seen this result for myself and can say that this plant really works.”
Dr. Tamby conducted the PADAM study in which he investigated partial androgen de.ciency in males. He selected 30 adult males of various ages, assessed their testosterone levels and then gave them 100 mg of tongkat ali extract daily. The testosterone levels of all the subjects rose, from somewhat to a lot, depending on age. Dr. Tamby’s study resulted in a 91 percent improvement in libido, a reported 73 percent improvement in sexual function and an 82 percent psychological improvement relative to sex among the men who participated in the study. His work shows that while the level of testosterone in the blood decreases with age, tongkat ali can reelevate the level of this important sex hormone.
Using Tongkat Ali
Dr. Johari, Dr. Tamby and other experts involved with this plant recommend around 100 milligrams of FDAE (freezedried aqueous extract, or LJ100) tongkat ali daily for men, and around 50 milligrams for women, to boost testosterone, enhance sexual function, increase ATP production and improve lean muscle mass.
Though tongkat ali extract is by no means a cure-all, it does offer a solution to some of the vexing problems of aging. Demonstrating a high level of safety, tongkat ali delivers youthenhancing effects. For this reason, its increased use in dietary supplements seems guaranteed.
Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter and the author of 13 books. He is explorer In residence at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he teaches ethnobotany.
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