MyoTEST Review: San’s Testosterone Booster
“Yes, you heard right. MyoTest is a unique combination of anabolic & never-before-marketed compounds that have been demonstrated to safely INCREASE NATURAL TESTOSTERONE LEVELS, while managing estrogen, and further using this dreaded enemy to your advantage.* Remember to get the most out of spiked testosterone levels you also need to control estrogen. Fortunately…with MyoTest you’ve got this and four other exciting mechanisms covered.”
Funny…maybe it’s due to my recollections of Biochemistry 101A and 101B, but I have a hard time thinking of physiological mechanisms as “exciting”. But that’s ad-speak for ya. At any rate, it’s pretty obvious from the above that SAN MyoTEST is a “natural” (i.e., non-hormonal) testosterone-booster. According to the company, it’s designed to enhance normal testosterone production, as well as decrease its conversion to estrogen.
Can MyoTEST deliver on its promises? As always, it depends on the ingredients. Let’s take a look under the hood to see what makes it run.
Serving Size: 3 Capsules
Zinc (As Zinc Monomethionine) 6mg 40%
LH-Boosting, Pro-Sexual & CYP-450 Mediated Support Matrix: 600mg
(Quercetin-96%, Epimedium Standardized For 30% Icariins, Cnidium Monnieri Standardized For 40% Osthole)
Aromatase Eradicator & Testosterone Trigger: 490mg
(Resveratrol-45%, Indole-3-Carbinol, Bioperine®, Zinc Monomethionine)SHBG Blocking & Free Test Amplifier: 300mg
(3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran 97% [Urtica Dioica])
I’ll say one thing for the formula upfront: it’s reasonably simple. Unlike many “clown car supplements“, SAN hasn’t padded the label with a loooong list of compounds in an attempt to impress—and overwhelm—potential customers. Instead, there are only 9 basic ingredients. Here’s the breakdown…
Quercetin: This is one of the most common flavonoid compounds in the diet. Found in apples, tea, onions and buckwheat (among other plant foods), quercetin is a potent antioxidant and phytoestrogen that is thought to contribute to the disease-preventing effects of diets high in fruits and vegetables. In-vitro and animal studies have demonstrated that quercetin can increase the bioavailability of certain drugs taken with it; although whether this effect is significant in humans at the dose provided in MyoTEST is unknown.
Epimedium: The genus Epimedium contains a number of species that are collectively known as “horny goat weed.”
The primary active compound, icariin, is a phosphodiesterase (PDE5) inhibitor, which means it may act as a sort of “herbal Viagra” to increase penile blood flow and facilitate an erection.
While there is some evidence that it can also act as a “testosterone mimetic” at high doses in rats, there is no data to show it has any effect on testosterone in humans.
Anecdotally, certain standardized extracts of horny goat weed get good ratings from most users for their aphrodisiac effects. While this is an “n=1” observation, my husband rather likes the stuff, too. 😉
Cnidium monnieri: Cnidium seeds—or “She Chuang Zi”—are used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat skin disorders and boost libido (which is why Cnidium extracts are found in various “male enhancement” products). Several bioactive coumarins have been identified in Cnidium, but osthol (or osthole) is the best known and characterized.
Osthole appears to be orally bioavailable and has some interesting properties…for example, it may improve bone strength, inhibit tumor growth, reduce allergic reactions and have antioxidant/hepatoprotective effects. It also appears to increase testosterone and nitric oxide levels in (rat) penile tissue, and—like Epimedium—may act as a phosophodiesterase inhibitor as well. Unfortunately, there are no human studies, nor any clue about what constitutes an active, oral dose in humans to achieve any of these effects.
Resveratrol: Red grapes and wine are the best-known sources of resveratrol, although supplemental sources are mostly derived from Japanese knotweed. Among other functions, resveratrol is an aromatase inhibitor and has been shown to increase sperm production and testosterone levels in rats and mice.
Does resveratrol have similar effects in humans? Once again, this is unknown: there are no clinical studies looking at the effects of resveratrol supplementation on human sex hormones—only studies in cell cultures and rodents. Resveratrol certainly looks like a promising supplement on a number of levels, but far more research needs to be done.
Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C): I3C is a phytochemical found in cruciferous vegetables (i.e., cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale). It’s the precursor to diindolylmethane (DIM)—to which it is rapidly metabolized in-vivo. DIM has been investigated as a possible therapeutic agent for breast cancer, due to its effects on estrogen metabolism. DIM increases the proportion of inactive (C-2 hydroxylated) metabolites relative to active, potentially carcinogenic (C-16 hydroxylated) ones. This ability to modulate estrogen metabolism is the reason some bodybuilders recommend using I3C/DIM to reduce/treat gynecomastia (“bitch tits”).
On the flip side, noted author and researcher Thomas Incledon has advised against the use of I3C, since it’s an endocrine disruptor that reduced testosterone in mice. However, the doses used were quite high (250–750 mg/kg)—even in human equivalent terms—thus, I think it’s unlikely that significant testosterone suppression would be seen in humans taking lower doses.
And what’s a reasonable human dose? Studies in women suggest 300mg/day is required to significantly alter the urinary ratio of C-2 to C-16 metabolites.
Bioperine: Bioperine® is a standardized black pepper (piperine) extract produced by the Sabinsa Corporation. Bioperine/piperine has been shown to increase the absorption of certain nutrients taken with it.
Zinc Monomethionine: This is a chelated form of zinc used in ZMA. Zinc has important antioxidant, immune and anti-inflammatory activities. More importantly (at least from a bodybuilding perspective), zinc plays a role in normal reproductive and sexual functions for both men and women.
3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran: -(-)3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran is a lignan isolated from “Stinging Nettle” (Urtica dioica)—an herb used as an alternative treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In-vitro research has shown it can bind tightly to sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), so theoretically, it has the potential to increase bioavailable (free) testosterone. There are no human—or even animal—studies, however, so at this point, the ability of oral -(-)3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran to enhance free testosterone is purely speculative.
So, taking all of the above into consideration, the putative effects of MyoTEST can be summed up as follows:
- viagra-like libido enhancement (Cnidium, Epimedium)
- modest aromatase inhibition (resveratrol)
- modest decrease in harmful estrogen metabolites (I3C)
- increase in test/free testosterone (zinc, resveratrol, -(-)3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran, Cnidium?)
- improved bioavailability (quercetin, Bioperine)
- improved antioxidant capacity (resveratrol, quercetin, zinc)
Problem is, the proof for some of these effects is rather soft. While the ad statement quoted above…
“MyoTEST is a unique combination of anabolic compounds that have been demonstrated to safely increase natural test levels…”
…appears to be more-or-less true, the company conveniently “forgot” to mention that most of the above compounds have not been “demonstrated to safely increase natural test levels” in human beings…which is a rather important omission, methinks. Nor has SAN provided any proof that the formula—taken as directed—actually works as claimed. The assumption is that the above compounds will work synergistically, but that may not necessarily be the case.
In the absence of hard data, we’ll have to speculate.
Personally, I doubt that using MyoTEST will send testosterone levels (or the weights in the gym) through the roof. Nonetheless, it contains some potentially useful ingredients that—at the very least—are beneficial from a health/wellness point of view. Based on what we DO know about the ingredients, I’d say that MyoTEST could be good for a modest bump in libido and free test, as well as some extra protection from free radicals. More than that probably isn’t in the cards, although—considering the history of natural testosterone boosters—MyoTEST is about as good as it gets.
SAN MyoTEST is available at Bodybuilding.com!
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