Betancourt Nutrition Test-HP

Betancourt Nutrition Test-HP

Any matadors out there fancy taking on this raging bull?

tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Guys who like to try for higher T the natural way but like Betancourt Test-HP's low price tag. But is it worth it? Cheaper doesn't always mean better.
I am busy - summarize it for me

There's the starts of a truly quality T booster here. With just a few more ingredients added and a rethink on how many servings you should take, this could be among the best out there.

Read this review to find out what it gets right and where it goes wrong.

Our Supplement Rating
  • Ingredients :
  • Price :
  • Trust :
  • Testimonials :
  • Company :
  • Overall Score: 7.6/10
  • Positive

    • Strong doses of a few good T boosters
    • Good levels of Vitamin B6 to block estrogen
    • Reasonably priced
    • Well reviewed
  • Negative

    • Uses a proprietary blend for some ingredients
    • Missing some key components
    • Poor serving schedule

Betancourt Nutrition Test-HP Review

Reviewing natural T boosters, you see your fair share of bull written on labels. Happily in the case of Betancourt Nutrition’s Test-HP the bull is part of the logo instead of part of the formula.

We’re use to hearing supplements promise;

  • Raised free & overall T
  • Help maintain muscle mass
  • Lower body fat
  • Promote vitality

The difference is, casting our eye over the label, it looks like this product might actually have the recipe to make real improvements.

So can Betancourt Nutrition in on our top spot currently held by Testofuel? Let’s take a proper look and see.

Test HP

A proper look is always tough though anywhere you’ve got a proprietary blend. This is a loophole employed by some companies so they don’t have to share the exact amounts of each ingredient. Just the names and the blend’s overall volume.

We really hate proprietary blends. The manufacturer’s make out it’s to preserve their ‘secret formula’ but it’s actually done to cover up weak links in the formula, or obscure the fact it’s mostly composed of cheap filler ingredients whilst the expensive headliners are there in trace amounts.

Sure enough there’s a 920mg blend in Test-HP. Does it get away with it?

How Does Betancourt Nutrition Booster Work?

At a Glance

  • Vitamin D3 to boost T
  • Vitamin B6 to limit estrogen and B12 to support energy
  • Fenugreek to balance blood glucose levels
  • Stinging nettle to raise free T
  • Rhodiola Rosea to increase stamina

There’s plenty we want to get our teeth into there but first let’s deal with those scores.

The Scores

The Scores
Ingredients
7/10

There’s a lot to like about Test-HP. Their Vitamin D3 is spot on and there’s a great amount of B6 is great. Add that to a solid amount of fenugreek and it’s off to a really strong start. Stinging nettle is also useful, it’s just a pity we don’t know the exact amount. The same goes for Rhodiola Rosea, MF-7 and the others components in the blend. All have promise but we need that crucial info.

The real problem is what is what it doesn’t give us. Several minerals we look for are missing as well as D-Aspartic Acid, which is up there with D3 in terms of importance. The serving schedule could be much better as well.

Price
8/10

Under $30 is reasonable for a T booster, especially one with as much to offer as Test-HP. If you’re on a budget and are looking to put on some muscle this is a real contender.

We didn’t score it higher because good as it is, it’s not the finished article and it’s still a lot of money to be paying on a monthly basis.

There are better options out there for just a little more cash

Testimonials
7/10

The testimonial section on the Betancourt website is a selection of users, giving just their names and a written paragraph.

Obviously there are many positives and some of the paragraphs are pretty extensive, but in an ideal world we want more detail. Full names, before and after photos etc, videos are always good. These are not much more in depth than reviews left by customers on retail sites. That said, most of those are positive too.

Trustworthiness
8/10

The website goes into a lot of detail about how all their products are GMP approved, so no worries on safety.

There are also no ingredients in there that are likely to give you problems. The only real issues are the use of a proprietary blend to conceal dosages and the handful of components Test-HD is short of.

Company
8/10

Florida based supplement company Betancourt was founded in 2002. Since then they have gone on to become a solidly established brand in the U.S with a wide range of products. These include amino acids, fat burners, creatine and pre-workouts.

Their site looks really professional and contains loads of info. The only drawbacks are the company’s fondness for proprietary blends and the fact that they don’t ship overseas.

How Do I Take It?

Users take one serving of 3 caps a day.

First red flag to the bull here. One serving is simply not enough to get the most out of a booster, especially one as good as this. Because of the way your body metabolises these kind of supplements, regular top ups are needed throughout the day to make sure active ingredients don’t fade.

They absolutely will fade off with just serving. 3 or 4 spread out evenly is the ideal you’re looking for.

Any Betancourt Nutrition Booster Side Effects?

Allowing for individual allergies we don’t see much to worry about on the side effects front. None have been reported in our searches.

Where Can I Get It?

A month’s supply of Bentacourt Test-HD will currently set you back just under $29 from Bodybuilding.com

Ingredients – In Detail

vitamin-d3-thumb

Vitamin D3

Sometimes called the sunshine vitamin as we get our main supply from the sun, it’s known that high enough amounts can stimulate an increase in T. You can’t always rely on good weather so supplementing is a great idea but if you’re after more male hormone, you’ll need over 3000IUs a day.

Lucky Betancourt Test-HD goes with the Vitamin D Council’s recent advice and includes 5000IUs then isn’t it?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21154195


vitamin-b6-thumb

Vitamin B6

Most boosters serious about controlling estrogen as well as raising T will make room for vitamin B6. It lowers production of the female hormone, clearing the way for T, and reduces the influence of what’s already in your system.

Test-HD makes plenty of space for this vitamin including a whopping 35mg!

http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/endo-32-1-97


Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12

No direct help for T here but studies show not enough B12 can lead to low energy and fatigue so it pays to keep levels up.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3262813/


fenugreek-thumb

Testofen

A brand name for what is essentially fenugreek. This is another strong choice as it’s long been considered a libido booster. Better than that though it also stimulates the androgens testosterone relies on and helps balance blood sugars. Balanced blood sugar leads to well regulated insulin meaning no negative knock on for T production.

Testofen is listed as have 600mg with 50% of that being active ingredient. That’s 300mg, still a very solid showing

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16379570


nettle-root-thumb

Stinging Nettle

Nettle is a great choice. The beta sitosterol in nettle is effective at lowering your Sex Hormone Binding Globulin count. This is a protein that attaches to T, stopping it being used properly. Less SHBG spells more free T.

We’re into the blend so no exact amounts but there’s only 4 ingredients in it sharing just over 900mg, there’s still a chance of a good amount. No reason why we shouldn’t know for sure though.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7702715


Rhodiola Rosea Extract

Does nothing for your T directly but studies do show it lowers the heart’s response to exercise allowing you to extend workouts. Dose is key though and we don’t have it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23443221


fenugreek-thumb

Fenugreek

Another decent choice because fenugreek increases libido (maybe not what you want while you’re trying to sleep), stimulates androgens and balances blood sugar. Balancing your blood sugars are important because this regulates insulin levels, stopping them from negatively affecting T.

However, as we’ve already covered, TestoFen is essentially fenugreek so this just means … even more fenugreek. How much we can’t be sure of course because they have obscured it in their blend.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16379570


Phosphatidylserine

A chemical found in soy and cabbage which is important to the makeup of cell membranes. Research shows it may reduce fatigue during exercise but only at levels of 600mg, which represents nearly 2/3rds this entire blend. We just don’t know if we’ve got that here.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503954/


7-Methoxyflavone

Like vitamin B6 this ingredient can help lower estrogen. In too high a dose though your libido can suffer because of it. We don’t have an amount so we can’t be sure that won’t be a problem. This is an example of how boosters are let down by a proprietary blend.


Anything Missing?

There are no massive problems with what’s in Betancourt Test-HD, the issue is really what’s not there.

Key T boosters like D-Aspartic Acid, zinc, and magnesium are all missing. Most of these are musts in the best brands.

Overall

With a good few really strong ingredient choices for a reasonable price it looked like Betancourt-HP might be charging straight for our muscle building supplement top spot.

But missing ingredients and a poor serving schedule let Testofuel matador out the way of the the bull and keep its edge on the competition. But at under $30 it’s still a strong budget option.

Studies Quoted in the Review

  1. Pilz, S et al. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on testosterone levels in men.  Medical University of Graz, Austria (2011)
  2. Bliskind & Bliskind Inactivation of testosterone propionate in the liver during vitamin B complex deficiency. Alteration of the estrogen-androgen equilibrium (1945)
  3. Marjolein Huijts, Annelien Duits, Julie Staals, Robert J. van Oostenbrugge Association of Vitamin B12 Deficiency with Fatigue and Depression after Lacunar Stroke Department of Neurology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2012)
  4. Kochhar A, Nagi M. Effect of supplementation of traditional medicinal plants on blood glucose in non-insulin-dependent diabetics: a pilot study  Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India (2005)
  5. Gansser D, Spiteller G. Plant constituents interfering with human sex hormone-binding globulin. Evaluation of a test method and its application to Urtica dioica root extracts. Lehrstuhl Organische Chemie I, Universität Bayreuth, Bundesrepublik, Deutschland (1995)
  6. Noreen EE, Buckley JG, Lewis SL, Brandauer J, Stuempfle KJ.The effects of an acute dose of Rhodiola rosea on endurance exercise performance. Department of Health Sciences, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA (2013)
  7. Michael A Starks, Stacy L Starks, Michael Kingsley, Martin Purpura, Ralf Jäger The effects of phosphatidylserine on endocrine response to moderate intensity exercise The University of Mississippi, 215 Turner, University, MS 38655, USA (2008)
  8. Nga Ta1, Thomas Walle Aromatase inhibition by bioavailable methylated flavones Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Medical University of South Carolina (2007)

tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Guys who like to try for higher T the natural way but like Betancourt Test-HP's low price tag. But is it worth it? Cheaper doesn't always mean better.
I am busy - summarize it for me

There's the starts of a truly quality T booster here. With just a few more ingredients added and a rethink on how many servings you should take, this could be among the best out there.

Read this review to find out what it gets right and where it goes wrong.

Our Supplement Rating
  • Ingredients :
  • Price :
  • Trust :
  • Testimonials :
  • Company :
  • Overall Score: 7.6/10

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