Animal Stak

Animal Stak

Worthy of adding to your Stak?

tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Anyone deawn in by Animal Stak's 'safe steroid' sales pitch. Here we examine how succesful that is and what you're likely to pay for it.
I am busy - summarize it for me

Animal Stak is strong on bravado but pretty weak on results. There's the foundations of a good booster here but that's padded out with proprietary blends full of pretty off topic ingredients. Nice packaging though.

Our Supplement Rating
  • Ingredients :
  • Price :
  • Trust :
  • Testimonials :
  • Company :
  • Overall Score: 5.6/10
  • Positive

    • Contains a few good T boosting ingredients
    • Reasonably priced
    • From a well established company
  • Negative

    • Multiple proprietary blends
    • Users debunked tribulus
    • Some weird ingredient choices
    • Problems with dosages
    • Poor serving schedule

Animal Stak Review

Do you put the hour in working out, but feel short changed when it comes to muscle mass?  The issue might be that your testosterone not firing on all cylinders. It’s frustrating, but before going to that shifty guy out the back of the gym, you could try a natural booster like Animal Stak.

Made by Universal Nutrition this brand aims to give that missing edge safely.  Everything about the packaging and marketing is trying to say, ‘risk-free steroid.’  You’re even advised to cycle it, 3 weeks on, 1 week off.

Animal Stak

In reality, it’s not going to have the kind of extreme affects you get from steroids.  But if it can boost T, raise energy, stimulate growth hormone and aid recover like it claims, most of us would take that.

Annoyingly there’s a few proprietary blends here, meaning no individual doses for a lot of ingredients.  This is such a pointless gimmick, which makes it hard to do a complete review, but we’ll go ahead and try and get a sense of quality anyway.

How Does It Work?

At a Glance

  • Vitamin B6 to control estrogen
  • ZMA and (supposedly) tribulus  to boost T
  • Longjack  to help libido
  • Arginine to increase blood flow
  • Nettle root to raise free T
  • Fenugreek to support T
  • L-Carnitine to promote energy

We’ll explore these choices in more detail after we’ve had a look at those overall scores

The Scores

The Scores
Ingredients
4/10

This formula start of quite strong with useful ingredients like vitamin B6, zinc and magnesium, but quickly goes downhill.  There are so many proprietary blends here that even the few good choices, in among the weird ones, aren’t that great as we don’t know if there’s an active dose or not.  Proprietary blends are usually to cover up flaws in the recipe and that looks like the case here.

Price
5/10

Just over $30 is not the most expensive for a booster and you do get a lot of ingredients crammed into Animal Stak.  However, like we always say it’s about value for money and we just can’t see that here.  If you’re going to be shelling out this kind of money on a monthly basis, you’re far better pay for the best.

Trustworthiness
5/10

Animal Stak isn’t dangerous – despite what they’d like you to think – but there are still problems.  All those pointless proprietary blends covering up odd ingredient choices that really do nothing for your T.  Plus trying to suggest that a natural product can get the same results as dangerous steroids is pretty shady.

Testimonials
6/10

No official testimonials to speak of so you’re relying on retail site reviews.  To be fair most of these are positive but don’t go into nearly enough individual detail.  A few are even disappointed with results and without some depth in the feedback it’s tough to feel confident about purchasing.

Company
8/10

Universal Nutrition have been around for nearly 40 years and have a huge range of supplements to their name.  They make it their main aim to produce the strongest natural products on the market and their slick presentation does a solid job of convincing you of that.  Just a shame they are so big into proprietary blends and the formulas don’t always square with the research.

How Do I Take It?

Users take one serving a day of Animal Stak.

That’s an alarm bell for us right away.  One serving to sustain top T for an entire busy day?  Doubtful.  There’s a reason the best boosters settle on 3-4 servings per day.  That keeps all active components routinely topped up and working.

This formula wasn’t the best to begin with and the serving schedule doesn’t help.

 Side Effects?

There’s little chance of serious side effects, but with so many doses hidden it’s impossible to rule out problems completely.

Milk Thistle and Fenugreek can upset some in rare cases.

Where Can I Get Animal Stak?

Customers can get Animal Stak from Bodybuilding.com for $32.90.

Animal Stak Ingredients – In Detail

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is a smart start as it is useful for lowering the production and influence of estrogen.  Levels of the female hormone exist in guys too and if they get too high our T suffers.  10.5mg is a solid dose to help tip the balance back the right way.

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


Magnesium

Strong choice here too.  The overall level of your testosterone isn’t always the amount your body can use.  A protein called Sex Hormone Binding Globulin can tie itself to as much 60% of your T and make it useless.  Enough magnesium lowers SHBG activity and frees up more T.  450mg is plenty too.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0731708508005955


Zinc

Another quality mineral for male hormone.  Low levels of T and zinc are often linked because zinc provides so many building blocks T needs.  Luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and growth hormone all rely on healthy amounts.  Too much zinc causes side effects, but 30mg is in line with our daily tolerance.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16648789


Vitamin D3

Another quality mineral for male hormone.  Low levels of T and zinc are often linked because zinc provides so many building blocks T needs.  Luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and growth hormone all rely on healthy amounts.  Too much zinc causes side effects, but 30mg is in line with our daily tolerance.

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


Tribulus Terrestris

If the dose of vitamin D was a small mistake, using Trib at all is a big one.  Thought at one time to be a great T booster, Trib has flunked nearly all clinical trials into its effect on hormones.  It does nothing apart from possibly give a slight libido boost.  We just have to cross our fingers not too much of the formula is wasted on this,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20499249


Longjack

Another ingredient that contributes mainly to sex drive.  Some studies show it can help get T back to normally if you’re clinically low.  But if you’re pushing for your peak like Animal Stak is, it can’t do much.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23243445


Fenugreek

This is better.  Not only will fenugreek help libido and stimulate androgens, it can also help to control blood sugars.  This helps to balance insulin, which if skewed can hurt T production.  Let’s just hope there’s an active dose.

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


Stinging Nettle

Stinging nettle is another good pick (not literally).  Like magnesium, the beta sitosterol in nettle helps to limit SHBG, allowing more T to flow free.

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


Arginine

Arginine can help to improve blood flow and stamina but is not without problems.  It’s doesn’t absorb into our system very well, meaning you need a lot of it to get effects.  It’s a mystery how much is here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9809945


Munica Pruriens

This is better, assuming there’s enough of it.  Velvet bean as it’s sometimes known is full of the amino acid L-Dopa.  L-Dopa not only stimulates T, but reduces cortisol, the stress hormone, helping us to put us in a better mood.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7716783


DIM

DIM is a nutrient found in green leafy veg which some studies do suggest can limit estrogen.  The problem is others have found it can also raise the female hormone which makes it a risk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11931841


L-Carnitine

DIM is a nutrient found in green leafy veg which some studies do suggest can limit estrogen.  The problem is others have found it can also raise the female hormone which makes it a risk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11382369


Ashwaghanda

This is better. Not only will fenugreek help libido and stimulate androgens, it can also help to control blood sugars. This helps to balance insulin, which if skewed can hurt T production. Let’s just hope there’s an active dose.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26609282


Anything Missing?

We’re more confused by some of what’s in there to be honest.  Besides what we’ve already talked about there are things like Milk Thistle, which has a detoxifying effect but doesn’t help T.  There’s also Alpha Lipoic Acid, which is more common to fat burners.

Back on what could be added though, D-Aspartic Acid folks?

Overall

The packaging of Animal Stak may be impressive, but this is a case of style over (definitely not a steroid) substance.

Studies Quoted in the Review

  1. Bliskind & Bliskind  Inactivation of testosterone propionate in the liver during vitamin B complex deficiency. Alteration of the estrogen-androgen equilibrium  1945
  2. Excoffon, L., Guillaume, Y. C. Magnesium effect on testosterone-SHBG association studied by a novel molecular chromatography approach  Université de Franche-Comté (2009)
  3. Kilic M, Baltaci AK, Gunay M, Gökbel H, Okudan N, Cicioglu I.The effect of exhaustion exercise on thyroid hormones and testosterone levels of elite athletes receiving oral zinc. School of Physical Education and Sports, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey (2006)
  4. Wehr, E et al. Association of vitamin D status with serum androgen levels in men  Medical University of Graz, Austria (2010)
  5. Neychev VK, Mitev VI. The aphrodisiac herb Tribulus terrestris does not influence the androgen production in young men. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical University, Bulgaria (2005)
  6. Ismail SB, Wan Mohammad WM, George A, Nik Hussain NH, Musthapa Kamal ZM, Liske E. Randomized Clinical Trial on the Use of PHYSTA Freeze-Dried Water Extract of Eurycoma longifolia for the Improvement of Quality of Life and Sexual Well-Being in Men. School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Malaysia. (2012)
  7. 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)
  8. 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)
  9. Gupta A1, Mahdi AA, Ahmad MK, Shukla KK, Bansal N, Jaiswer SP, Shankhwar SN. A proton NMR study of the effect of Mucuna pruriens on seminal plasma metabolites of infertile males. Department of Biochemistry, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow, India (2011)
  10. Hong C, Firestone GL, Bjeldanes LF. Bcl-2 family-mediated apoptotic effects of 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM) in human breast cancer cells Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California (2002)
  11. Hiatt WR, Regensteiner JG, Creager MA, Hirsch AT, Cooke JP, Olin JW, Gorbunov GN, Isner J, Lukjanov YV, Tsitsiashvili MS, Zabelskaya TF, Amato A Propionyl-L-carnitine improves exercise performance and functional status in patients with claudication. (2001)
  12. Wankhede S, Langade D, Joshi K, Sinha SR, Bhattacharyya S. Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial. Sports Medicine, SrimatiKashibaiNavale Medical College, Pune, India. (2015)
tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Anyone deawn in by Animal Stak's 'safe steroid' sales pitch. Here we examine how succesful that is and what you're likely to pay for it.
I am busy - summarize it for me

Animal Stak is strong on bravado but pretty weak on results. There's the foundations of a good booster here but that's padded out with proprietary blends full of pretty off topic ingredients. Nice packaging though.

Our Supplement Rating
  • Ingredients :
  • Price :
  • Trust :
  • Testimonials :
  • Company :
  • Overall Score: 5.6/10

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