Tongkat ali purchase rules
The active ingredients are present in Tongkat Ali root in minuscule amounts. Used in the traditional manner (in Malaysia and Indonesia), a typical single standard dose requires a full 50 grams of chipped root, boiled for about 5 minutes. That means consuming several kilograms of raw root per month, or even double that amount for bodybuilders. However, what is sold in health food stores and as a Tongkat Ali health supplement often provides less than half a gram of Tongkat Ali root powder per capsule. With such a product, one would have to swallow more than 100 capsules to get a single effective dose.
Because Tongkat Ali root is mostly cellulose, purchase rule 1 is: if you buy capsules, only buy Tongkat Ali extract, not just raw Tongkat Ali root powder.
When an extract is made, the active compounds are extracted from the root, and the remaining indigestible cellulose is discarded. Extracts can have various proportions (the amount of raw material used to produce the extract). For example, a 50:1 extract uses 50 grams of raw root to yield 1 gram of extract. A 100:1 extract uses 100 grams of root to produce 1 gram of extract, and a 200:1 extract is even more concentrated, requiring 200 grams of Tongkat Ali root to prepare just 1 gram of extract. Thus, among the various Tongkat Ali extracts cited above, a 200:1 ratio is the most concentrated form.
However, if a bottle of capsules just says “Tongkat Ali Extract” without specifying a proportion, the extract is likely only 5:1, or maybe even just 2:1. This means that only 5, or just 2, grams of Tongkat Ali root were used to obtain 1 gram of extract. Thus, assuming an equal capsule size, you would need 40 capsules (or, at worst, 100 capsules) of such an unspecified-strength extract to obtain as much active material as you get from just one capsule of a highly concentrated extract.
Therefore, purchase rule 2 is: only buy an extract that specifies the concentration, such as 50:1, 100:1, or 200:1. Otherwise, your extract is likely to be so diluted that you are still mostly swallowing cellulose, not active ingredients. Legally, even an extract of 2:1 can be called an extract, but it is almost as ineffective as raw root powder. When extract strength is not specified, the extraction process was likely undertaken only so that the word “extract” could be printed on the product label.
Even worse are products that mix Tongkat Ali with other ingredients, such as arginine, damiana, muira puama, or minerals like zinc. Arginine can be purchased in bulk for very little money, and damiana is a basic herb that typically is not extracted. Most minerals in cheap capsule forms are just pharmaceutical filler.
Thus, purchase rule 3 is: if you want to use Tongkat Ali, buy a product that is not mixed with anything else.
When consumed in proper therapeutic amounts, Tongkat Ali extract not only works to enhance libido (sexual desire) but has also been shown to support muscle growth in athletes. Both efficacies have been explored in scientific research.
For example, an abstract published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reported that the use of Tongkat Ali extract contributed to an increase in lean body mass during a strength-training program. The authors concluded: “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.”
While short-term studies show significant improvements in fat-free mass, it is important to note that biological systems do not scale linearly. A 5% increase in lean mass over a few weeks does not mean a 50% increase over a year, as muscle growth naturally plateaus. However, the initial ergogenic boost is well-documented.
Purchase rule 4 is: if ever possible, buy Thai or Indonesian, not Malaysian, Tongkat Ali.
Of course, genuine Tongkat Ali root is expensive. In Malaysia, where Tongkat Ali is now a protected plant due to overharvesting, they sell a kilogram of root (2.2 lbs) for up to 50 US dollars. Prices in Indonesia are generally much lower.
A considerable number of unregulated Malaysian Tongkat Ali products have been intercepted and taken off the shelves by the authorities of several countries for being adulterated with prescription erectile dysfunction drugs like sildenafil (Viagra) or tadalafil (Cialis). Instead of purchasing a natural herbal alternative, many consumers unknowingly ingested synthetic pharmaceutical chemicals. Worse, these synthetic chemicals were often not produced in licensed manufacturing facilities, but rather in clandestine, unregulated laboratories.
As if adulterating with synthetic chemicals were not enough, some unregulated Malaysian Tongkat Ali products have also been found to be contaminated with heavy metals like lead. This is typically the result of soil contamination, poor agricultural practices, environmental pollution, or improper processing and packaging, rather than a country's general industrial output or infrastructure.
The downside of poor agricultural and environmental regulation is that the lead content in a number of unregulated herbal products has been found to range from 10.64 to 20.72 ppm (parts per million). For comparison, reputable manufacturers that publish third-party laboratory test results show lead contents of well under 1 ppm. This means that every gram of the contaminated products contained significantly dangerous levels of heavy metals compared to properly sourced, tested Tongkat Ali.
The scientific study establishing these heavy metal data was published in the journal Human & Experimental Toxicology (Ang, 2003). Public health monitoring of herbal supplements remains crucial to avoid heavy metal toxicity.