In fact, it helps raise all the healthy male androgens men need
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This one herb is the best at naturally raising testosterone in men
Cistanche deserticola and C. tubulosa are 2 similar species of desert plant indiginous to China.
Both have been used for centuries in ancient medicine for “invigorating the Yang,” i.e. the masculine principle, and are considered nearly equivalent.
If you have faith in herbalism, Cistanche could be worth taking for this reason alone.
But there’s another reason too: Cistanche’s effect has been confirmed scientifically.
Extracts of Cistanche and the molecule echinacoside, its active agent, have both been shown to increase luteinizing hormone and testosterone.
The former effect likely precedes the latter because luteinizing hormone is a classically known stimulator of testicular Leydig cells, which produce androgens.
“It is a well known Chinese materia medica for the treatment of kidney deficiency, infertility, and chronic constipation that was first described in Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic as a top grade medicine followed by several classical works, such as Bencao Jingshu, Bencao Huiyan, and Yue Hua Zi Bencao. Cistanches Herba is a remedy of over 2000 years old in China which is for tonifying the kidney and invigorating the Yang, next to ginseng in rank.” ―Wang, 2015
And as we all know, testicular Leydig cells produce the majority of the body’s testosterone.
Androgens are also produced in the adrenals in smaller amounts — but for that it’s better to take ashwagandha, which has a steroidal 21-hydroxylase inhibitor.
In addition to Cistanche and ashwagandha, there’s another herb called Eucommia ulmoides, which has an androgen analogue.
Also useful is maca, an Andean root recently shown to influence the enzyme 17β-HSD in the direction towards increased testosterone production (Cheng, 2020).
So with no less than 4 herbs known to increase androgens through as many mechanisms, there should be no reason to resort to buying illicit steroids or non-OTC testosterone propionate USP.
“According to the Compendium of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Gang Mu, by Li Shizhen), Cistanche has been documented with semen protection effect.” ―Jiang, 2016
This is because, with so many pathways for increasing testosterone acting independently, an increase in testosterone is certain to occur for anybody taking all 4 herbs.
So where is the evidence I speak of? Well, some is right here:
As one of the classic androgenic herbs, and one that appears numerous times in ancient Chinese literature, it should be no surprise that Cistanche has been studied scientifically…
…and no less surprising that it’s been studied by the Chinese.
“Cistanche Hoffmg. et Link (Orobanchaceae) is a genus of medicinal plant that has been used in China and other eastern Asian countries since the fifteenth century for the treatment of disease conditions such as impotence, seminal emission…[ect.]” ―Wang, 2015
The research group composed of Drs. Wang, Yang, Zhang, Deng, Chen, and Kirby fed three groups of rats 3 different doses of hydroalcoholic Cistanche tubulosa extract for 20 days.
Upon completion of the feeding period, the rats were sacrificed and their blood collected.
The researchers reported a dose-dependent increase in progesterone and testosterone, yet an inverted U-shaped one with the MEDIUM dose showing the highest value.
Since nothing happens by accident, they then checked to see if the steroidogenic enzymes in the testicles were upregulated.
As expected, they reported linear dose-dependent increases in the 2 steroidogenic enzymes, CYP11A1 and CYP17A1.
They also found a steeper increase in the catabolic enzyme CYP3A4, which breaks down steroids for elimination…
…thus explaining why the highest dose rats had slightly less testosterone than the medium dose rats.
That is to say, more androgens were synthesized with the high Cistanche group, but proportionately more were destroyed.
So how exactly does this occur? And what in Cistanche tubulosa is responsible for the effect?
Well no less than 5 studies show that Cistanche tubulosa, Cistanche deserticola, or its active agent echinacoside increase luteinizing hormone.
Luteinizing hormone is a protein hormone released by the pituitary gland and has been shown, many times over, to increase steroidogenic enzymes in the testes.
The synthesis of luteinizing hormone is also well known to be decreased by androgens in a negative feedback manner (e.g. Sulcová, 2000), so for this reason you’d be forced to assume that it occurs first.
In other words, the release of luteinizing hormone absolutely MUST come before the increase in androgens to make logical sense.
As stated earlier, there are many studies showing these effects; the following is perhaps the best:
This study proves that echinacoside is responsible.
It also confirms the study shown above and is completely independent, despite the 2 lead authors having the same last name.
Believe it or not, this study was actually conducted by a different Dr. Wang (Qixin vs. Tian).
And speaking of Wang, this study had also measured penile firmness response in rats.
This happened to be improved by the semi-purified Cistanche extract consisting of the 3 phenylated glycosides — acteoside, tubuloside, and echinacoside.
All of the rats were first given hydrocortisone to induce sexual dysfunction and then given Cistanche extract, which was predominantly echinacoside, and every measured parameter was improved.
They had confirmed the same increases of testosterone and CYP11A1 found in the previous study, but also those of luteinizing hormone and 3β-HSD.
This induction of steroidogenic enzymes by Cistanche is totally consistent with 3 other studies showing increases in CYP11A1, 3β‑HSD, 17β-HSD, CYP17A1 and StAR by the herb (Jiang, 2016; Jiang, 2018, Kong, 2018).
These same 3 studies also found increases in both testosterone and luteinizing hormone, and a fourth reported an increase in the latter (Gu, 2016).
So the picture that emerges is quite clear and consistent: echinacoside is the active agent in Cistanche spp.
And it increases androgens by first increasing the release of luteinizing hormone from the pituitary.
Cistanche appears to be the most reliable herb to increase testosterone.
This much is clear, yet so far there’s been little elucidation about the precise target of echinacoside.
The 2 receptors echinacoside has been shown to activate, TrkA and the ghrelin receptor, aren’t known to increase luteinizing hormone.
Regardless, these studies demonstrate that echinacoside does in fact activate certain protein hormone receptors.
This would in fact be a most likely mechanism considering the echinacoside’s size and the types of biomolecules already known to increase luteinizing hormone.
Just a few peptide hormone receptors shown to release either luteinizing hormone or gonadotropin-stimulating hormone are KISS-1, activin-A, and oxytocin.
“However, the underlying mechanism by which phenylethanol glycosides from C. tubulosa regulates testicular steroids has not been elucidated to date.” ―Wang, 2020
Echinacoside probably activates the receptor of one one of these hormones, though its identity has never been reported and has probably never even been examined.
Despite the uncertainty about its complete mechanism of action, echinacoside nonetheless very reliably increases luteinizing hormone and testosterone.
This has been proven many times over, and I’ve seen no conflicting data.
So the verdict is in: Cistanche is an effective androgenic herb that’s practically non-toxic, as demonstrated by toxicity studies and the fact it’s used for over 500 years.
Androgens generally decline with age, so supplementation needs to increase accordingly to maintain youthful levels.
In addition to Cistanche, a few other herbs have been shown to be helpful in this capacity including: maca, ashwagandha, and Eucommia longifolia.
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