It’s important to know how a supplement may or may not be affecting our bodies. Even when something does what it’s supposed to, is it doing something else, too? For instance, there was a craze of diet pills, commonly referred to as Fen-Phen. The craze was well-earned: these diet pills really worked! Unfortunately, it also caused a lot of other dangerous side effects.
In this article I’ll break down any side effects from popular T-Boosters. Since there are so many products on the market, I’ll take this one ingredient at a time, covering most popular and common things found in T-Boosters.
How Do T-Boosters Work?
Before we get into what the side effects might be, let’s cover a little bit about how T-Boosters actually do what they say they do. We’ve covered some of the very best T-Boosters on the market, and here I’ll just summarize some key points.
D-Aspartic Acid is thought to create a “negative feedback loop” in the HGP axis, wherein the Hypothalamus, Gonads, and Pituitary.
Ginseng is thought to help increase Nitric Oxide (NO) in the blood, which stimulates the behavior of muscle fibers, including triggering more testosterone.
Magnesium and Zinc are important to testosterone production. Though the mechanisms aren’t fully understood, the correlations are among the strongest in all of science.
L-Arginine and L-Theanine are natural amino acids that play a pivotal role in the actual production of testosterone in the testes.
Ashwagandha Root is a powerful mood improving supplement. What does that have to do with T-Boosters? The stress hormone cortisol and the growth hormone testosterone have an inverse relationship–when one goes up the other goes down.
You may have noticed a few ingredient missing off of the list. This isn’t to discriminate. Only that these are the ingredients with the strongest known correlations to the actual testosterone increases.
Other Factors
Many of the studies that I’ve looked at over the years stress that while short term increases in testosterone are pretty clear, they can be reduced by some factors, or sustained by others. It’s important if we want our T-Boosters to be effective that we do our parts, as well.
What Can Help a T-Booster
Diet
If we take a T-Booster but keep eating high-fat, high-sugar foods, this can trigger our cortisol response. This will absolutely kill our production of testosterone. Meanwhile, when we keep our diet lean and relatively sugar-free, we keep our muscles fueled.
Keeping Sedentary
We’d all like a magic pill, but the facts are the facts. When we stay sedentary–long hours on the couch, days on end at our desks–we are actually programming our bodies to ratchet down testosterone production. Meanwhile, the more exercise we get the better. Nearly every scientific report I’ve ever read indicates that the groups with more exercise during supplementation, the better the results.
Attitude
Wait, did we read that right? Yes, we did. Like I mentioned in the Ashwagandha Root bullet point, above, when we reduce our stress levels, we clear our hormonal pathways for more and better testosterone production. Meditation, yoga, and even simple breathing exercises can improve our physical health dramatically.
Which Ingredients Have Side Effects?
I generally don’t like to speak in absolutes. But the really, very good news with all of the ingredients I’ve listed above, there are no side effects reported in any of the numerous scientific studies.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that there is a difference between “clinical side effects” and hospital records. For instance, the Mayo Clinic has reported that ginseng may cause headaches and insomnia; or that L-Arginine may cause nausea. What explains this difference?
Clinical Side Effects
During a study for a drug or supplement, the number of participants involved is usually less than a hundred. Researchers will test the product for up to a few months, and constantly monitor for any side effects–self-reported ones like mood or sleeplessness, and biometric ones, like increased heart rates.
Hospital Websites
Unlike a tightly controlled clinical trial, a hospital with a national presence, and access to literally millions of medical records, can make correlations that a small clinical trial simply cannot.
What Does it All Mean?
Truthfully, if you look hard enough, you can find side effects for everything from too much water to too little chocolate. The fact is, over tens of millions of people taking supplements, someone is bound to have a headache here or a loss of appetite there. These don’t amount to side effects that most people need to worry about.
Conclusion
In general, all of the most common and effective ingredients found in T-Boosters are safe. This is good news for anyone who wants to find an edge in their health, performance, or to fight the effects of aging.
While these ingredients are safe, it is still important to monitor your own body. If you begin taking a supplement and notice anything awry, stop taking the supplement and speak with your physician right away. And of course, speaking with your doctor before you begin a new diet, exercise, or supplement routine is always a good idea.
FAQs
For many people, yes, they do. But it’s important to find a quality product that works specifically for you. Check out our supplements tab for in-depth head-to-head comparisons of the very best supplements on the market.
They can, but women especially should consult their doctors first. Some perimenopausal women can benefit from increases in testosterone, but for others it can disrupt menstruation, conception, and other hormone related bodily functions.
Results may vary… and I know how frustrating that answer can be. Some people respond to ingredients like D-Aspartic Acid in a matter of weeks; other people take up to two months to see results from their T-Booster. Thankfully, many of the best supplement makers are confident in their products, and offer various money-back guarantees.