An Article on Tribulus

[soldierdavis]

Was glancing through some of the older threads and seen a bunch of pct containing tribulus so i was browsing the web and found this article on it and thought you guys might like to read it.




What is Tribulus?
Other Names: Puncture vine
Tribulus terrestris is a herb that has been used in the traditional medicine of China and India for centuries.

In the mid-1990s, tribulus terrestris became known in North America after Eastern European Olympic athletes said that taking tribulus helped their performance.

The active compounds in tribulus are called steroidal saponins. Two types, called furostanol glycosides and spirostanol glycosides, appear to be involved with the effects of tribulus. These saponins are found primarily in the leaf.

Why Do People Use Tribulus?
Tribulus is most often used for infertility, erectile dysfunction, and low libido. In the last decade, it has become popular to improve sports performance.


Tribulus has been marketed these conditions because research performed in Bulgaria and Russia indicates that tribulus increases levels of the hormones testosterone (by increasing luteinizing hormone), DHEA, and estrogen. The design of these research studies, however, has been questioned.

A more recent study found that four weeks of tribulus supplements (at 10 to 20 milligrams per kg of body weight daily) had no effect on male sex hormones testosterone, androstenedione, or luteinizing hormone compared to people who did not take tribulus.

Erectile Dysfunction
Preliminary animal studies found that tribulus heightened sexual behavior and increased intracavernous pressure. This was attributed to increases in testosterone. There haven't been any well-designed human studies to confirm these early findings.

Body Composition and Exercise Performance
Although tribulus has become popular as a sports performance aid, one small but well-designed study found it has no effect on body composition or exercise performance. Fifteen subjects were randomly assigned to tribulus (3.21 mg per kg body weight daily) or a placebo.


After eight weeks with resistance training, there were no changes in body weight, percentage fat, dietary intake, or mood in either group. What was surprising was that muscle endurance actually improved more in the placebo group. Muscle endurance (determined by the maximum number of repetitions at 100 to 200% of body weight) increased for the bench and leg presses in the placebo group. The tribulus group experienced an increase in leg press strength only.

Dosage
Tribulus terrestris is often taken at a dose between 85 to 250 mg three times daily, with meals.

Safety
Pregnant or nursing women should not use tribulus.

An increase in breast size (called gynaecomastia) in a young male weight trainer was reported after he took a herbal tablet containing tribulus.

People with hormone-dependent conditions, such as breast or prostate cancer, should not use tribulus.

Tribulus terrestris has a toxic effect in sheep. It has been found to cause a chronic, progressive, irreversible disorder in the dopamine circuits of the nigrostriatal complex in the brain, resulting in impaired muscle function and weakness in the hindquarters, eventually leading to death.

Sources
Antonio J et al. "The effects of Tribulus terrestris on body composition and exercise performance in resistance-trained males". International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism. 10.2 (2000):208-15.

Bourke CA. "A novel nigrostriatal dopaminergic disorder in sheep affected by Tribulus terrestris staggers". Research in Veterinary Science. 43.3 (1987):347-50.

Gauthaman K et al. "Sexual effects of puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris) extract (protodioscin): an evaluation using a rat model". Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 9.2 (2003):237-65.

Gauthaman K et al. "Aphrodisiac properties of Tribulus Terrestris extract (Protodioscin) in normal and castrated rats". Life Sciences. 71.12 (2002):1385-96.

Jameel JK et al. Gynaecomastia and the plant product "Tribulis terrestris". Breast. 13.5 (2004):428-30.

J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Oct 3;101(1-3):319-23. Links Neychev VK and Mitev VI. The aphrodisiac herb Tribulus terrestris does not influence the androgen production in young men. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 101.1-3 (2005):319-23.

Phillips OA et al. "Antihypertensive and vasodilator effects of methanolic and aqueous extracts of Tribulus terrestris in rats". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 104.3 (2006):351-5.

[yohimbe]

I've never had much luck with tribulus-whether this is because the otc shit you get only has a fraction of the claimed amount in or it just doesn't work I'm not sure

[breakthrough]

From all I've read on it, my personal opinion is that it's real good at raising placebo effects.

[yohimbe]

Originally Posted by breakthrough

From all I've read on it, my personal opinion is that it's real good at raising placebo effects.

[powerman]

Trib is Another Scam...IMO

[Replicator]

Bump all the above
rep

[badstone]

It definitely works in my PCT and will run it with every PCT. My nuts are back in 1/2 the time everytime Ive used it. What works for some does not work for others though.

[badstone]

Originally Posted by soldierdavis88

Was glancing through some of the older threads and seen a bunch of pct containing tribulus so i was browsing the web and found this article on it and thought you guys might like to read it.




What is Tribulus?
Other Names: Puncture vine
Tribulus terrestris is a herb that has been used in the traditional medicine of China and India for centuries.

In the mid-1990s, tribulus terrestris became known in North America after Eastern European Olympic athletes said that taking tribulus helped their performance.

The active compounds in tribulus are called steroidal saponins. Two types, called furostanol glycosides and spirostanol glycosides, appear to be involved with the effects of tribulus. These saponins are found primarily in the leaf.

Why Do People Use Tribulus?
Tribulus is most often used for infertility, erectile dysfunction, and low libido. In the last decade, it has become popular to improve sports performance.


Tribulus has been marketed these conditions because research performed in Bulgaria and Russia indicates that tribulus increases levels of the hormones testosterone (by increasing luteinizing hormone), DHEA, and estrogen. The design of these research studies, however, has been questioned.

A more recent study found that four weeks of tribulus supplements (at 10 to 20 milligrams per kg of body weight daily) had no effect on male sex hormones testosterone, androstenedione, or luteinizing hormone compared to people who did not take tribulus.

Erectile Dysfunction
Preliminary animal studies found that tribulus heightened sexual behavior and increased intracavernous pressure. This was attributed to increases in testosterone. There haven't been any well-designed human studies to confirm these early findings.

Body Composition and Exercise Performance
Although tribulus has become popular as a sports performance aid, one small but well-designed study found it has no effect on body composition or exercise performance. Fifteen subjects were randomly assigned to tribulus (3.21 mg per kg body weight daily) or a placebo.


After eight weeks with resistance training, there were no changes in body weight, percentage fat, dietary intake, or mood in either group. What was surprising was that muscle endurance actually improved more in the placebo group. Muscle endurance (determined by the maximum number of repetitions at 100 to 200% of body weight) increased for the bench and leg presses in the placebo group. The tribulus group experienced an increase in leg press strength only.

Dosage
Tribulus terrestris is often taken at a dose between 85 to 250 mg three times daily, with meals.

Safety
Pregnant or nursing women should not use tribulus.

An increase in breast size (called gynaecomastia) in a young male weight trainer was reported after he took a herbal tablet containing tribulus.

People with hormone-dependent conditions, such as breast or prostate cancer, should not use tribulus.

Tribulus terrestris has a toxic effect in sheep. It has been found to cause a chronic, progressive, irreversible disorder in the dopamine circuits of the nigrostriatal complex in the brain, resulting in impaired muscle function and weakness in the hindquarters, eventually leading to death.

Sources
Antonio J et al. "The effects of Tribulus terrestris on body composition and exercise performance in resistance-trained males". International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism. 10.2 (2000):208-15.

Bourke CA. "A novel nigrostriatal dopaminergic disorder in sheep affected by Tribulus terrestris staggers". Research in Veterinary Science. 43.3 (1987):347-50.

Gauthaman K et al. "Sexual effects of puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris) extract (protodioscin): an evaluation using a rat model". Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 9.2 (2003):237-65.

Gauthaman K et al. "Aphrodisiac properties of Tribulus Terrestris extract (Protodioscin) in normal and castrated rats". Life Sciences. 71.12 (2002):1385-96.

Jameel JK et al. Gynaecomastia and the plant product "Tribulis terrestris". Breast. 13.5 (2004):428-30.

J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Oct 3;101(1-3):319-23. Links Neychev VK and Mitev VI. The aphrodisiac herb Tribulus terrestris does not influence the androgen production in young men. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 101.1-3 (2005):319-23.

Phillips OA et al. "Antihypertensive and vasodilator effects of methanolic and aqueous extracts of Tribulus terrestris in rats". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 104.3 (2006):351-5.

I posted this a couple of years ago....

[admin]

Apparently there is a new tribulus that has actual lab test that show it it works. I forget the exact name of it. There are a ton of different types of tribulus.
Found this article, not sure where it's originally from though:

Tribulus terrestris has no hormonal effects
The claims made by Tribulus terrestris supplements sellers are unfounded. Physiologists at the Universidade Federal do Parana in Brazil come to this conclusion in an animal study that will be published soon in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. In experiments that they did, tribulus had no hormonal effects on rats.

In countries around the Mediterranean, herbal healers traditionally use extracts of the plant Tribulus terrestris as a remedy for infertility and impotence problems. Modern scientific studies have also confirmed the efficacy of tribulus for these complaints. In addition, however, the supplements industry started selling the same tribulus as a sports supplement, claiming that tribulus raises testosterone levels. One theory that supplements companies use to support their claims is that natural steroid compounds in tribulus are converted into DHEA or another testosterone prohormone.

The Brazilians decided to see whether this theory holds water. They gave the tribulus supplement Androsten, produced by the Brazilian supplements company Herbarium, to rats for a period of 28 days in doses of 11, 42 and 110 mg per kg bodyweight. The lowest dose is equivalent to the usual dose used by humans. Other groups of rats were given a daily 5 mg dose of DHEA per kg bodyweight, about ten times the amount that supplements companies advise humans to take, or 0.25 mg/kg testosterone propionate or 0.1 mg/kg ethinyl estradiol. The researchers administered all the hormones, dissolved in rapeseed oil, orally.

The tribulus extracts had no androgenic effect on castrated rats. The animals’ prostates did not grow as a result of being given tribulus. The testosterone propionate supplement, however, did have a growth-enhancing effect on the prostate.

When the researchers examined the faeces of the rats in the tribulus groups and compared them with those of the rats that had been given DHEA, they found that the faeces of the latter group contained more metabolites of male sex hormones. The faeces of the rats in the tribulus groups contained the same amounts of androgens as the faeces of the rats that had not had any supplements. So the theory that compounds in Tribulus terrestris are converted into DHEA or related steroid hormones does not hold water.

In female rats whose ovaries had been removed the tribulus extracts also had no hormonal effects, the Brazilians discovered when they compared cells from the uteruses of rats in the different groups.

A high dose of tribulus – but not the highest dose – did raise the testosterone level of the non-castrated rats, but the effect was not significant.

"Tribulus terrestris is not able to stimulate endocrine sensitive tissues such as the prostate, seminal vesicles, uterus and vagina in Wistar rats, indicating lack of androgenic and estrogenic activity in vivo", the researchers conclude. "We also showed an unchanged level of circulating androgens." The fertility of the rats was improved by the tribulus though.

It was already known that the manufacturers’ claims for tribulus supplements are not true. In 2008, doping hunters at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland reported that they had not been able to find any hormonal effects in tribulus users. Three years before, Bulgarian researchers had discovered that healthy men do not produce more testosterone as a result of taking Tribulus terrestris, [J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Oct 3;101(1-3):319-23.] and five years before that, sports scientists at the University of Nebraska reported that power athletes had nothing to gain from taking tribulus. [Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2000 Jun;10(2):208-15.]

[Jimbo]

I Tried the same stuff that the Bulgarians used it was sourced from a certain location they say its not all the same & theres works,but i never noticed any thing myself
I may try it again for PCT if it does what badstone says

[neveroutgunned80]

GNC sells an off market brand called Bulgarian Tribulus, I've used it off and on for over 5 yrs. its 100% leget. I take it for pct and cycle it when im off cycle. you can literally tell the difference day to day if you forget to take it.