At the end of 2015, I introduced my new Brain & Brawn Formula. Subjective feedback so far has been great! Now I have some objective proof as well. My blood work just came in and the results look good! Take a look:

The 12% increase in total testosterone is a decent gain for a 44-year old taking a natural product. According to Dr. William Wong, testosterone supplements work great in your 20’s, work well in your 30’s, work in 50% of people in their 40’s, and won’t work in your 50’s and beyond. At that point, you need hormone replacement therapy. Basically, you need pharmaceuticals rather than nutraceuticals for a significant increase in testosterone.

The drop in estradiol was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Estradiol is the main biologically active estrogen in males. It stems primarily from the conversion of testosterone (a process known as “aromatization”). You need some estrogen for muscle growth and libido, believe it or not, but too much can cause prostate problems and induce feminizing effects, e.g., males can develop breast tissue. This is a condition called gynecomastia, or what some people refer to as “man boobs!” Needless to say, most guys that train seriously would welcome a slight reduction in estrogen.

Growth hormone (GH) is secreted in transient pulses throughout the day. A single measurement would not be useful. One option, however, is to test for insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which measures the amount of IGF-1 in the blood, a hormone that regulates the effects of GH in the body. It’s a costly test, but it gives a good indication of GH status. In this case, the 55% increase in IGF is a good indication that GH went up significantly.

Granted, this is only a small n=1 study and there are a million factors that can influence the results, but it’s nice to see that the theory behind the “brawn” aspect of the formula may indeed hold true. Certainly, more testing is required and hopefully the results will continue to look as good on paper as the supplement makes you feel in real life.

We’ll keep studying the roots. In the meantime, go ahead and enjoy the fruit!