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The following article is a post made by Anthony Roberts on Aug 27th, 2010 entitled "Bulbine Natalensis raises testosterone, lowers estrogen"...
Bulbine Natelnsis is the active ingredient in Anabolic Designs Bullk, which has seen people make impressive gains.
There are few herbs that actually boost testosterone, fewer that really lower estrogen, but none that do both exceptionally well – except Bulbine Natalensis. The rodent data suggests a testosterone boost of 347% compared to baseline, while lowering estrogen by 35%. And all of this is achieved at a dose of 50mgs/kg (rat dose), which translates very well to a low human dose, which would easily fit in a single daily serving. I should know…because I’ve been taking it for the past several months, and using it to boost my testosterone and lower my estrogen – with zero side effects!
Do the math…how many herbal estrogen reducers can lower it by 35%? How many herbal test boosters can raise testosterone by more than double? If Bulbine Natalensis only worked half as well as the study indicates, then we’d still have a blockbuster ingredient.
But nobody’s using it yet…and here’s the story…
In 2007 I formulated a totally unique nutritional supplement that contained Fadogia Agrestis, a Nigerian herb; the research showed that it could double testosterone levels. This modicum of success earned me a two-year sentence in the nutritional industry, where I designed three more products for two different companies (Protein Factory and Custom Capsule), before earning time off for good behavior. I pulled my own product off the market, and currently earn nothing from anything related to supplement design/formulation. I haven’t gotten paid for designing a supplement in several years. Period.
By 2008 I had been doing some research and discovered an herb called Bulbine Natalensis. I looked online and saw that nobody was using it… which was odd because it seemed really great. The numbers were all there…a huge test boost with a nice reduction in estrogen. By 2009, some people had actually posted the Bulbine abstract on Bodybuilding.com, but since they were only posting the free abstract, none of the relevant numbers were included (i.e. the actual %- testosterone boost, or the estrogen reduction).
While Fadogia has been shown in rodent studies to increase testosterone by 100% (doubling your natural test levels!), Bulbine Natalensis clocks in at 247% (i.e. you will end up with a total of 347% of your original level). It works more than twice as well as Fadogia, at half the dose. Oh, and it is several times more effective than Massularia Acuminata…but the dose is far lower (you can take 20x less). Unlike those other herbs, Bulbine doesn’t just boost testosterone, it lowers estrogen.
If you like Massularia or Fadogia, then you’re going to fall in love with Bulbine - it was studied by the same scientist, using the same protocol, with the same parameters; the only difference is that Bulbine kicks the sh!t out of them.
Because I write for a South African magazine (Muscle Evolution), and Bulbine is a South Herb, Ifigured that I could easily get my hands on some. Well…that wasn’t the case. I contacted several South African suppliers, and nobody had it. I contacted several Chinese suppliers, and although they claimed to have it, when I tested the samples it turned out to be something else (don’t ask).
The reason I wasn’t seeing Bulbine in any supplements was that nobody could get the damn stuff! I later found out that the conditions for growing the herb are ideal in South Africa, while it’s fairly difficult to grow elsewhere. In South Africa it has a folk reputation as a libido booster and fertility enhancer, and this seems to be well supported by the research.
Even though it was an exciting ingredient, I gave up on the idea by the end of 2008; totally removed it from my thoughts and carried on with my other projects.
In late 2009 I was contacted by Daniel Clough from At Large Nutrition. He was toying with the idea of adding a testosterone booster to his product line, so I started researching and formulating a product for him. I ended up purchasing a lot of scientific data, and pouring through the research. A lot of ingredients are good, but you need to take several grams of them per day – far too much to reasonably put in a capsule with other ingredients. D-Aspartic Acid comes to mind, as does Massularia Acuminata.
If I’ve been highly negative about testosterone boosters lately, it’s because I’ve used Bulbine Natalensis. Oh, and let’s not forget that I’m not on the monthly payroll of any supplement companies, and my plans to sell this stuff have already fallen through (more than once). I just thought my blog readers would be interested in my experience, and I’m sure there’s more than enough companies out there who will want to pick up the ball and run with my idea. I have no additional information to “sell” and I’m not soliciting companies to hire me…this is just a rundown of my experience.
For numerous reasons, Bulbine kept coming up as the best option, but I’d already been down that road, and it led nowhere. But what’s the use of designing a product if you can’t actually source the main ingredient? So I looked at the research available and figured out what my best options would be. The next few weeks were spent sending out a wish list of about a dozen unique herbs to various suppliers.
Just for a laugh, I put Bulbine Natalensis on the bottom of each list, knowing that nobody would have it. Almost immediately two things happened: 1.) I found a reliable supplier and paid for a sample and 2.) Daniel phoned me to say that the project was on indefinite hold. I had jumped the gun pretty badly, and through complete fault of my own, invested quite a bit of time and money into an idea that had never been officially green-lighted.
I was now stuck with a bunch of expensive medical studies ($30 each!), several months of wasted research, and 377 grams of Bulbine Natalensis on the way to my office. Even getting the 377 grams was difficult, as it required over 8 kilograms of raw material to be harvested, which was dried and powdered, and ended up as about a third of a kilogram. Now it was on the way – finally! – and I had no use for it. The South African supplier I stumbled upon had never sold the stuff before, didn’t have it on their price list (still doesn’t), and probably couldn’t imagine what the hell an American wanted with it.
I contacted some friends in the supplement industry, who wished me good luck, and told me that they weren’t interested. I was rejected by one of the largest companies currently being sold in GNC, and one of the smallest companies on the Internet. I contacted some more friends and was given the same answer. I had no promises from anyone, no contracts, and nothing promised to me at all. A few people were interested here and there, but nothing ever panned out, and I never earned a cent from this idea.
But I was still curious to see if it actually worked. I’d already invested quite a bit of money, and written it off as a loss. The least I could do is follow the project through to the end and test it on myself. There was still a lot of work to do, and I needed to determine the appropriate dose.
Bulbine Natalensis follows something called an “inverted-U” dose response curve. Imagine the letter “U,” but imagine it upside down. That’s how the dose response of this herb would appear on paper. If you take a certain amount (the dose), it raises testosterone (the response)– to a point. Once you hit the peak dose, the more you take, the lower your testosterone will go. Although it sounds odd, we see this effect with a surprisingly large number of drugs.
Bulbine Natelnsis is the active ingredient in Anabolic Designs Bullk, which has seen people make impressive gains.
There are few herbs that actually boost testosterone, fewer that really lower estrogen, but none that do both exceptionally well – except Bulbine Natalensis. The rodent data suggests a testosterone boost of 347% compared to baseline, while lowering estrogen by 35%. And all of this is achieved at a dose of 50mgs/kg (rat dose), which translates very well to a low human dose, which would easily fit in a single daily serving. I should know…because I’ve been taking it for the past several months, and using it to boost my testosterone and lower my estrogen – with zero side effects!
Do the math…how many herbal estrogen reducers can lower it by 35%? How many herbal test boosters can raise testosterone by more than double? If Bulbine Natalensis only worked half as well as the study indicates, then we’d still have a blockbuster ingredient.
But nobody’s using it yet…and here’s the story…
In 2007 I formulated a totally unique nutritional supplement that contained Fadogia Agrestis, a Nigerian herb; the research showed that it could double testosterone levels. This modicum of success earned me a two-year sentence in the nutritional industry, where I designed three more products for two different companies (Protein Factory and Custom Capsule), before earning time off for good behavior. I pulled my own product off the market, and currently earn nothing from anything related to supplement design/formulation. I haven’t gotten paid for designing a supplement in several years. Period.
By 2008 I had been doing some research and discovered an herb called Bulbine Natalensis. I looked online and saw that nobody was using it… which was odd because it seemed really great. The numbers were all there…a huge test boost with a nice reduction in estrogen. By 2009, some people had actually posted the Bulbine abstract on Bodybuilding.com, but since they were only posting the free abstract, none of the relevant numbers were included (i.e. the actual %- testosterone boost, or the estrogen reduction).
While Fadogia has been shown in rodent studies to increase testosterone by 100% (doubling your natural test levels!), Bulbine Natalensis clocks in at 247% (i.e. you will end up with a total of 347% of your original level). It works more than twice as well as Fadogia, at half the dose. Oh, and it is several times more effective than Massularia Acuminata…but the dose is far lower (you can take 20x less). Unlike those other herbs, Bulbine doesn’t just boost testosterone, it lowers estrogen.
If you like Massularia or Fadogia, then you’re going to fall in love with Bulbine - it was studied by the same scientist, using the same protocol, with the same parameters; the only difference is that Bulbine kicks the sh!t out of them.
Because I write for a South African magazine (Muscle Evolution), and Bulbine is a South Herb, Ifigured that I could easily get my hands on some. Well…that wasn’t the case. I contacted several South African suppliers, and nobody had it. I contacted several Chinese suppliers, and although they claimed to have it, when I tested the samples it turned out to be something else (don’t ask).
The reason I wasn’t seeing Bulbine in any supplements was that nobody could get the damn stuff! I later found out that the conditions for growing the herb are ideal in South Africa, while it’s fairly difficult to grow elsewhere. In South Africa it has a folk reputation as a libido booster and fertility enhancer, and this seems to be well supported by the research.
Even though it was an exciting ingredient, I gave up on the idea by the end of 2008; totally removed it from my thoughts and carried on with my other projects.
In late 2009 I was contacted by Daniel Clough from At Large Nutrition. He was toying with the idea of adding a testosterone booster to his product line, so I started researching and formulating a product for him. I ended up purchasing a lot of scientific data, and pouring through the research. A lot of ingredients are good, but you need to take several grams of them per day – far too much to reasonably put in a capsule with other ingredients. D-Aspartic Acid comes to mind, as does Massularia Acuminata.
If I’ve been highly negative about testosterone boosters lately, it’s because I’ve used Bulbine Natalensis. Oh, and let’s not forget that I’m not on the monthly payroll of any supplement companies, and my plans to sell this stuff have already fallen through (more than once). I just thought my blog readers would be interested in my experience, and I’m sure there’s more than enough companies out there who will want to pick up the ball and run with my idea. I have no additional information to “sell” and I’m not soliciting companies to hire me…this is just a rundown of my experience.
For numerous reasons, Bulbine kept coming up as the best option, but I’d already been down that road, and it led nowhere. But what’s the use of designing a product if you can’t actually source the main ingredient? So I looked at the research available and figured out what my best options would be. The next few weeks were spent sending out a wish list of about a dozen unique herbs to various suppliers.
Just for a laugh, I put Bulbine Natalensis on the bottom of each list, knowing that nobody would have it. Almost immediately two things happened: 1.) I found a reliable supplier and paid for a sample and 2.) Daniel phoned me to say that the project was on indefinite hold. I had jumped the gun pretty badly, and through complete fault of my own, invested quite a bit of time and money into an idea that had never been officially green-lighted.
I was now stuck with a bunch of expensive medical studies ($30 each!), several months of wasted research, and 377 grams of Bulbine Natalensis on the way to my office. Even getting the 377 grams was difficult, as it required over 8 kilograms of raw material to be harvested, which was dried and powdered, and ended up as about a third of a kilogram. Now it was on the way – finally! – and I had no use for it. The South African supplier I stumbled upon had never sold the stuff before, didn’t have it on their price list (still doesn’t), and probably couldn’t imagine what the hell an American wanted with it.
I contacted some friends in the supplement industry, who wished me good luck, and told me that they weren’t interested. I was rejected by one of the largest companies currently being sold in GNC, and one of the smallest companies on the Internet. I contacted some more friends and was given the same answer. I had no promises from anyone, no contracts, and nothing promised to me at all. A few people were interested here and there, but nothing ever panned out, and I never earned a cent from this idea.
But I was still curious to see if it actually worked. I’d already invested quite a bit of money, and written it off as a loss. The least I could do is follow the project through to the end and test it on myself. There was still a lot of work to do, and I needed to determine the appropriate dose.
Bulbine Natalensis follows something called an “inverted-U” dose response curve. Imagine the letter “U,” but imagine it upside down. That’s how the dose response of this herb would appear on paper. If you take a certain amount (the dose), it raises testosterone (the response)– to a point. Once you hit the peak dose, the more you take, the lower your testosterone will go. Although it sounds odd, we see this effect with a surprisingly large number of drugs.