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Blepharis edulis: an unlikely testosterone booster
Extracts of the Indian plant Blepharis edulis have started to pop up in Western webstores. The sports supplement Anabolic Elite, manufactured by BPI, contains them, but we're afraid that their added value is about zero.
Anabolic Elite
If you are to believe the supplement industry's ads you'd be amazed at what one capsule of Anabolic Elite a day will do for you. Anabolic Elite is a 'super concentrated anabolic' that will give you an 'increase in strength', and 'increase in mass' and ultimately a 'bigger, harder, more chiselled physique'. [musclegrowthexpert.com]
Blepharis edulis
You won't find anything about Blepharis edulis on PubMed, but in scientific journals that are so obscure that PubMed doesn't even index them youll find an in-vitro study which showed that Blepharis edulis relaxes the involuntary muscles in the respiratory airway. [AJSC Vol. 1. No. 1. March 2012. 33-45.]
In fact, Ayurvedic practitioners use Blepharis edulis as a medicine for asthma and for respiratory problems in people with colds. But the primary use of extracts from the leaves and seeds of the plant is as a libido enhancer – and it is that aspect that was investigated in an animal study that researchers at the NRI Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in India published in 2009, also in an unknown scientific journal. [International Journal of ChemTech Research Vol.1, No.3, pp 769-776, July-Sept 2009.]
The researchers made an extract of the seeds of Blepharis edulis, which they gave to male mice for seven days. The mice were given 100, 250 or 500 mg extract per kg bodyweight every day. For a man weighing 85 kg that amounts to about 800, 2100 or 4200 mg per day.
An important active ingredient in the extracts was probably blepharin [structural formula shown above].
The mice in a control group were given nothing [Control]. Mice in other control groups were given sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra [STD], or a psychoactive dose of alcohol [ALC].
Testosterone
The highest dose of Blepharis edulis boosted the testosterone concentration in the mice's blood, as did the sildenafil.
When the researchers brought the mice in contact with sexually receptive females, the mice that had been given Blepharis edulis mounted the females more often and paired with them more often too.
Conclusion
Nevertheless the findings of the Indian animal study do little to suggest that Blepharis edulis contributes much to the effectiveness of Anabolic Elite. You'd need more than 4 g extract to boost the testosterone level even just a little. The recommended daily dose of Anabolic Elite provides 350 mg of a
'proprietary blend' of five extracts – one of which is Blepharis edulis...
Source:
International Journal of ChemTech Research; Jul 2009, Vol. 1, Issue 3, p. 769.
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