Keep an eye on this one.
If you want all the benefits of higher testosterone with none of the risks, natural is the way to go.
That’s why we’re always excited to hear reports about a potential T booster which comes out of the ground rather than out of the lab.
Working their way through samples of 30 herbs to determine if there was any affect on androgens, a team from the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine were particularly interested in Trichosanthes kirilowii.
Trichosanthes kirilowii is a herb that’s long been used in Asian traditional medicine, usually to treat coughs, fevers or muscle aches. This latest research though shows it is able to bind to androgen receptors, which triggers the same actions as T on our body.
Anything that allows us contol the production of androgens, either stimulating or supressing them, has a possibility of being turned into a treatment for conditions related to them. In this case the goal was to find new ways of treating benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) otherwise known as an enlarged prostate.
By the age of 55, 2 in 10 men will experience BPH, and by the time your 80 that figure will be as high as 9 in 10. Though sometimes symptomless, problems start when the prostate grows so large it presses on the urethera narrowing it and causing serious problems with urination.
There are already a number of treatments for BPH, including medication and surgery, but these can often have unwanted side effects, such as reducd or impaired sexual function. So the search is always on for a new way to tackle it without affecting the sufferers quality of life in other ways.
Trichosanthes kirilowii is now in the running to be part of that new approach.
Of course if this natural herb can harness adrogens that means somewhere down the road it could be used as a safe way to raise your body’s own T to help performance as well as staying healthy.
Steady on lads. Before you go charging into your local garden centre, grabbing and chowing down on anything that even looks or sounds like Trichosanthes kirilowii, researchers say they need time to explore findings further.
The herb contains 9 compunds, some of which appear to have opposing influences on the androgen receptor. More clinical work is needed to figure out exactly if and how it can benefit us.
For example, while it may have stimulated androgens – which BPH is stimulated by – in this case, earlier rat studies suggest it may be an effective treatment for the condition because it limits androgens.
Of the 30 samples the team looked at Asarum sieboldii, Sanguisorba officinalis, and Xanthium were others that stood out. They were found to trigger the growth of prostatic cancer cells.
These cells are also fuelled by androgens, so it shows they also stimulate the male hormone.
However investigations found that only Trichosanthes kirilowii was able to bind to the androgen receptor, meaning it is the only extract that can have an active influence on the body and therefore used theraputically.
So probably best not get to excited yet, but as Trichosanthes kirilowii keeps growing so does the clinical interest in it as a natural means of healthily balancing T.
We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops and get back to you with any updates.
See the study in full here: Trichosanthes kirilowii Exerts Androgenic Activity via Regulation of PSA and KLK2 in 22Rv1 Prostate Cancer Cells,”