T E S T O S T E R O N E J U N K I E

After reviewing testosterone boosters for many years, I thought I should attempt to produce my own homemade supplement to understand if it is simple to do and whether it is worth the time and effort.

LAST UPDATED: May 2019 by Ben.

Homemade Test Booster Supplement

It is a probably a question that many have asked themselves.

“Can I make my own testosterone booster?”

I mean, how hard can it be?

For a long time I have been using a wide variety of supplements and have often looked at the nutrient profile and have thought to myself that it must be simple enough to buy the contents to produce something homemade.

Then, with the raw ingredients I believed I could make my own version, at home, for less money.

So, that’s exactly what I did…

Research

As you may know, I do a lot of research regarding ingredients and nutrients.

I trawl through numerous studies that are available to see what evidence there is regarding their effectiveness and safety.

These evidence based reviews of products are the foundations of this site. I try lots of different supplements, however, I look at the science behind the ingredient profile to understand how each one works.

As a result, I chose eight ingredients that have evidence from reputable and reliable sources which can demonstrate their effectiveness at stimulating testosterone production and contributing to an optimal hormone level.

Theoretically I could produce my own homemade testosterone booster that could be cheaper and better than many others on the market.

However, one thing was certain. I did not just want to copy another product that is already on sale that I am aware of.

Because, well, that would be cheating.

Homemade Testosterone Booster Video

Homemade Ingredient Profile

So, I decided on the eight total ingredients that I would like to be included in my homemade test booster, plus researched what doses would be optimal.

This totaled a daily dose of 3836mg.

As you maybe aware, this is much higher and much more than many testosterone boosters on the market.

However, I ensured that the doses I included mirrored those that proved to be successful in the studies.

Having too little would not be beneficial, and in some cases, too much of certain ingredients can have a reverse effect.

This meant no shortcuts or shortcomings. I wanted to produce a useful and beneficial homemade supplement that can beat those from big brands.

Here’s the list of the eight ingredients that I included:

Mucuna Pruriens

There is another name for mucuna pruriens and that is velvet bean, slightly more accurate as this is actually a bean with a high protein content.

However, you wouldn’t want to touch this bean and eat it outright as it is very itchy. This is normally processed to a fine powder, which is what I have acquired.

You may wonder why I have chosen mucuna pruriens.

Firstly, there is evidence that states mucuna increased testosterone levels and semen quality for men who are infertile. This study consisted of 160 men. [1]

Mucuna also contains L-DOPA which lowers the levels of prolactin, in turn this minimizes the suppression of testosterone secretion. [2]

If that wasn’t enough, mucuna also decreased stress and improved overall feelings of well-being in studies. [3]

Ashwagandha

Ashwagndha is often used for its anti-anxiety properties that can contribute to reducing stress, insomnia and depression. [4]

In fact, it is able to reduce cortisol levels far greater than many other supplements. This is important because cortisol has a negative effect on testosterone level production. [5] [6]

There is evidence that it can theoretically treat cancer, it has demonstrated its abilities in the lab with cultured cancer cells and even on animals, however, as of yet there is not concrete evidence for use in humans. [7]

Even with this short description you can see why I was keen to include it, because, trust me, there’s loads more this herb can do to improve health.

But, lets discuss the evidence outlining its testosterone benefits further…

A daily dose of 600mg massively increased the 1 repetition max strength for the bench press of the male participants by up to 20kg, it also increased their leg press compared to placebo as also their testosterone levels. [8]

Zinc

This mineral is great for coating metals to prevent corrosion. However, there are uses that are a little more relevant to building muscle and strength.

Let’s just firstly note that many countries in the world have populations deficient in zinc. This can lead to diseases and an increased rate of mortality. [9]

Obviously this is something I personally want to avoid and have included zinc, but there’s more to zinc than preventing disease and protecting metals from the elements.

That’s because low levels of zinc are associated with hypogonadism. [10]

Hypogonadism is not to be confused with the andropause.

Andropaase is the natural decline of testosterone production most males will experience as they age past 40. [11]

Hypogonadism is when a person of any age has unusually low testosterone levels than what is to be expected.

This could be due to very little levels of testosterone being secreted or non at all.

Abnormal levels of the male sex hormone can have a detrimental impact on the sufferers quality of life [12]

Apart from the global zinc deficiency, those athletes who are sweating through exercise also need to replenish zinc as the mineral is excreted through sweat.

Studies demonstrate that athletes who supplement with zinc can preserve testosterone levels which can then improve physical performance. [13]

Therefore, zinc is an obvious choice for me to include in a testosterone booster, especially as I now do more intensive circuits and cardio exercise with the Army that gets me perspiring.

Vitamin A

I dare say I am fairly unique in adding vitamin A to my homemade testosterone booster supplement.

Why is this?

There is not a great deal of information or evidence that supports vitamin A contributing to testosterone levels. However, if you dig a little deeper, you can find some studies. Generally speaking, it does seem a little overlooked.

Commonly known to nurture good eye and skin health vitamin A also has other influences.

Research has demonstrated that in tests, a complete deficiency of vitamin A leads to testicular atrophy and a reduction of serum testosterone levels. [14]

Levels of dietary vitamin A being consumed and its effect on hormones is documented in a study involving 155 pairs of male twins, whereby it is further confirmed that there is a correlation between testosterone and vitamin A intake. [15]

A further, and significant discovery of the relevance of vitamin A has on hormone levels is a study that found boys who were suffering from delayed puberty.

It was established that nutritional supplementation of vitamin A (along with iron) was just as appropriate at stimulating pubertal maturation as hormonal therapy. [16]

As such, with these points in mind, vitamin A is wrongly overlooked but an addition that I deem highly suitable.

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is a libido enhancer, this is a good attribute to have in a supplement. However, I do not want a product that would mimic some aspects of an increased level of testosterone. [17]

I want to have a product that actually can stimulate hormone production.

Considering the scientific research and the results available, it seems necessary to include fenugreek in my homemade test booster.

There is evidence supporting a daily dose of 500mg for 2 months. This resulted in decreased body fat, increased testosterone and physical performance improvements. [18]

D-Aspartic Acid (DAA)

You have to be careful when supplementing with D-Aspartic Acid, because too much can reduce levels of testosterone, so never take 6g daily.

And, there are some reports of DAA not having an effect on testosterone levels at all. So you may wonder why I have included it and why my decision is justified.

However, there is a clinical trial whereby testosterone levels were increased significantly after 12 days of supplementation. [19]

DAA has a positive effect on sperm quality and fertility in both men and women. For infertile men the effects of DAA on testosterone levels are far greater than fertile men and those already in training. [20]

Nettle Leaf

Including stinging nettle may seem like a sure way of causing nothing but irritation and a reminder to running through fields as a child with shorts on.

Yet, once processed for consumption it shows great promise in helping to maintain a healthy hormonal balance by, in at least one case being able to increase testosterone. [21]

This could be achieved by nettle preventing the formation of complex estrogens which can have a negative effect on testosterone, this form of treatment to inhibit aromatase has been proven effective to combat low testosterone. [22]

Furthermore, nettle is considered an anti-inflammatory (inflammation is associated with lessening testosterone levels as we age [23]) which can also have a positive impact of joint pain and sinus relief. [24]

This is important to me as I find my left knee is starting to ache from time to time and sinuses always need clearing in the morning or before I go running.

Vitamin D3

The sunshine vitamin has many benefits and uses to improve your overall health.

Hence why I have included vitamin D3 in my nutrient profile, another reason is that it is winter and while the skies have been predominantly clear, the biting wind is sharp and cold.

This means sun exposure is limited.

And, exposure to the sunshine means we synthesize vitamin D.

However, if we cannot get enough sunshine for whatever reason a supplement can be taken instead.

Taking a vitamin D3 supplement has been proven to increase testosterone levels when administered in doses of just over 3000iu. [25]

In addition to this, because my activity levels are high throughout the week I am keen on including D3 because there is evidence stating that this vitamin can help reduce bone fractures and potentially improve power output while improving recovery times. [26] [27]

Military Drug Testing

What?!

Yes, military. You may wonder what the hell I am talking about.

However, the military do not approve of certain substances.

Therefore, I had to be careful not to include anything in my homemade supplement that would throw up a fail on a compulsory drug test.

This meant I had to look through the available information to see where the Army stands on dietary supplements.

The most obvious place was the Informed Sport website as this lists all of the supplements that are certified and tested independently to ensure they are not contaminated or tainted by any banned substances.

Unfortunately there isn’t a list of prohibited or authorized ingredients/raw materials available that I could check.

So, the next port of call was to look for the Ministry of Defence’s stance on drug testing.

This comes in the form of the JSP 835: Alcohol and Substance Misuse and Testing information. [28]

This policy guidance and information document outlines everything to do with reasons behind misuse, how to test, repercussions, administration through to management.

Reading through this document I came across a slightly confusing couple of paragraphs regarding anabolic steroid use.

Whereby it states that the use of anabolic steroids that are not prescribed is in breach of the policy.

 ‘…totally unacceptable…’

Yet, the next paragraph moves on to state that it is:

‘…forbidden to possess,
otherwise than in the course of duty, any anabolic steroid…’

What does that mean exactly? I am not a lawyer, but that sounds like you can use anabolic steroids that are not prescribed if you are on operations.

I would like that clarifying if anyone is able to, because it seems ambiguous to my untrained eye. Unless I am completely wrong.

Importantly and perhaps more relevantly there is also a section regarding dietary supplements.

The Ministry of Defense’s concerns regarding supplements are the risks of contamination by manufacturers that do not rigorously check their products, or purposefully contaminate them to ensure positive results for the user.

For instance a product may promise huge muscular gains but know the included ingredients cannot fulfill these promises.

As such, they may contain prohormones that are not listed on the ingredient profile.

The reader is referred back to the HFL Sports Science’s Informed Sport screening programme that was set up in conjunction with the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) to advise which products on the market are safe to use.

Again, this doesn’t really help me.

Therefore, I looked for guidance from the UKAD prohibited list of substances to check against my chosen nutrients. [29]

Thankfully, my list of chosen ingredients do not appear on that list.

As such, based on this research I proceeded with the task in hand feeling fairly confident that if randomly tested this would not throw a fail.

–

With these doses and nutrients in mind, I also needed a delivery method…

Delivery Method: Capsules

Okay, so the delivery method was going to be capsules.

There was little choice in the matter if I am being honest for the homemade supplement chemist.

I could have chosen to just spoon the powder in my mouth and washed it down with water, or mixed with water. Yet, as with the smell, the taste would have been bad and it is better to consume the supplement in doses over the course of the day.

Capsules would also contribute to a slight delay and gradually let your body digest and process the nutrients rather than receiving a big hit all at once as can be experienced with soluble vitamins.

This can also help reduce waste of any ingredients that the body could not process at the time.

The problem, as I would later find out, is:

How do I fill the capsules, and how many would I need?

Sizes

In addition to this, were you aware how many sizes of capsule there are? I certainly wasn’t…

There’s information available that illustrates how much weight of the powder/supplement can fit in to each size depending on the density.

I wanted to use what I would considered to be a regular sized capsule which is categorized as ’00’.

This is the size for the majority of supplements that I have used are, and any other medicines in my experience.

It seems that ’00’ offers a good combination of carrying ability and ease to swallow.

With the ’00’ capsule being able to hold/carry 950mg when filled to a high density I surmised that four of these capsule would fulfill my daily dose need.

Being a general meat eating philistine I plumped for the gelatin capsules.

Buying Process

So, where do you buy raw ingredients for producing your own homemade supplement?

To be honest, I am not entirely sure. There could be lots of places, but generally speaking I found it quite difficult.

I eventually found the required raw ingredients either on eBay or Amazon, but I thought there would be other outlets available who would readily supply me with my raw nutrient needs.

Considering a daily dose is less than four gram of the combined nutrients it became apparent that I would only need small packets of each ingredient.

My guess is that the market for raw materials in small batches is pretty low with only manufacturers requiring much larger orders. Not schmucks trying to recreate Breaking Bad in their kitchen.

As I have said, this was quite difficult to source, with many of the vitamins I needed already in a manufactured pill format. I almost had to reconsider my nutrient profile and get back to the drawing board.

However, eventually I found the required products and spent nearly £55/$73 on everything.  Not a bad price considering the total amount of ingredients and potential supply.

I also purchased a batch of 200 capsules. Theoretically enough for fifty days if I was to have 4 capsules per day.

Eventually all of the packages arrived at my door, in dribs and drabs.

Homemade Manufacturing

Yes, so let’s move on the the homemade supplement manufacturing process.

My factory and processing plant was a combination of:

• the kitchen
• a set of small weighing scales
• a credit card sized plastic card
• a bit of paper
• small spoon that you would use to administer cough syrup to a child

This was definitely not a FDA/GMP approved facility. Nor could I confirm that there are no traces of nuts.

As you will see in the video, I have had no prior experience of making my own supplements. None at all.

I had not prepared anything accept making sure the kitchen work surface was sanitized, wiped down and the dried.

All I had were the unopened packages and my aforementioned apparatus.

The Process

My idea was to weigh each individual ingredient for a single daily and then pile it all up together.

Once the ingredients were weighed and together in a pile, the process of mixing begun.

One thing to note, or maybe two things to note.

1. My cheap weighing scales were terrible. They barely registered the amounts required in milligrams, or kept needing to be reset so I cannot confidently say I got the exact amounts.

2. The total amount of combined nutrients resulted in a much larger amount of powder than I imagined.  

The second item to note did bring with it a problem.

It was clear that the ingredients would not fit within the allocated four capsules…

This was probably due to all of the air churned and mixed within the very fine powder which was processed as if I was cutting cocaine for street resale.

Another way of looking at it was like mixing sand and cement but no water.

The end result was a tan colored, fine powder that had a slight odd odor to it.

Filling the capsules

My initial thought was that I would fill the capsules by rolling up some paper and funneling the powder in to each vessel.

This did not work particularly well too much of the content would cling to the inside of paper and clog the narrowest point of the funnel.

My next and slightly more successful method was to slide the capsule through the pile and up to a hard surface. I did this with both ends of the capsule and then pushed them together to form the finished product.

In then end, I had nine full capsules. Yes, nine. However, I am quite certain that the density was not particularly high.

End Result – My First Homemade Supplement

So the end result was nine tan colored capsules that contained about 3836mg of the total eight ingredients selected by myself based upon evidenced research and past personal experiences.

How was the homemade experience?

Difficult.

This was the first time I had ever tried to produce my own supplement. So, I bear that in mind.

However, sourcing the raw ingredients was fairly difficult, as was weighing, measuring and filling the capsules with the blend of nutrients.

On the whole, it took me about one hour to produce just one daily dose.

Could I make any improvements?

I am certain that if I was to repeat the process I would work out the required amount per each ingredients and mix it all together in one large batch.

Then, I would fill all of the capsules so that I would finish with a months supply in one go.

Will I do this again?

No. Watch the video.

It is a massive pain in the ass.

Additionally, because you are buying batches of ingredients from differing sources you cannot pick and choose the amounts that you need for your own batch of product.

This means that it is difficult to track your outlay and costs.

This is particularly true as I didn’t have a way of densely filling the capsules, so that means extra outlay on more capsules than I really would need.

Plus, actually the time, inconvenience and difficulty is not worth it when you can buy a ready made testosterone booster for not a massive difference in price compared to when you are buying ingredients in small batches.

It seems large scale manufacturing really has this covered in terms of costs and efficiency.

• Manufacturers can easily procure the raw materials very cheap
• Manufacturers can densely fill each capsule
• Manufacturers can quickly produce the end product

Look at it like this…

You can buy those kits whereby you produce homemade wine, gin or beer.

They look great fun, and great value.

You feel very proud with the end result, but it took time, effort, patience and then you had to find some worthy vessel to contain your end produce. This ends up being a used Pepsi bottle.

Yet, for not much extra outlay you can head to the store and get that favorite beer of yours, chilled, in cans, bottles or even a novel mini keg and tasting great.

It’s fun to try your producing your own, but rarely do you continue with it.

References

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21459537

[2] https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/neurosurgery/specialties/neuroendocrine/conditions/prolactinoma.aspx

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18955292

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19718255

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439798

[6] https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/45756303/The_testosterone-cortisol_ratio_A_hormon20160518-10626-13b8osi.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1548687950&Signature=TDKnlZ3KGeFziLODv5saPn4iFAg%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_testosterone_cortisol_ratio_A_hormon.pdf

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14575818

[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26609282

[9] https://www.who.int/publications/cra/chapters/volume1/0257-0280.pdf

[10] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fe71/8342155fef41075de234e6dbc3164b5db4c7.pdf

[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4921612/

[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3255409/

[13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16648789

[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7227300

[15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3360302

[16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15163330

[17] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21312304

[18] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21116018

[19] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774316/

[20] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19860889

[21] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25992248

[22] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24928451

[23] https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/16760639

[24] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2192379

[25] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21154195

[26] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19307517

[27] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26506852

[28] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/425401/20131101-JSP_835-V2_0-U.pdf

[29] https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/wada_2019_english_prohibited_list.pdf

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Summary

Recipe Name

Homemade testosterone booster

Author Name

Ben

Published On

2019-01-29

Preparation Time

0h10m

Cook Time

1h0m

Total Time

1hr10m

Average Rating

3 Based on 2 Review(s)