Testosterone is perhaps the most important hormone in the male body.
To the recreational bodybuilder or athlete, it’s an essential component for building and preserving muscle mass and strength – as well as being useful for a variety of other benefits.
What is worrying, however, is how quickly testosterone levels can decline with age.
This can be detrimental to your progress in the gym and cause low sex drive, fatigue, and a whole bunch of other mental and physical health issues.
The good news is, with the appropriate supplementation you can restore your testosterone levels and prevent any decline.
To make it easy for you, we’ve searched the Australasian market to find you the best testosterone-boosting supplements available in 2017, just like we did in 2016.
Before we run through these, let’s take a closer look at testosterone, its history in Australasia, and the different methods we can use to optimise our own levels.
Why Do Testosterone Levels Decline?
There are a lot of factors that can c0ntribute to a decline in testosterone levels. These range from exposure to various chemicals, the use of certain prescription drugs, testicular injuries, and even illnesses such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, or HIV (1).
The most major contributing factor that unfortunately we can’t avoid, is ageing.
For most of us, testosterone levels peak in our 20s, but begin to steadily decline once we reach about 30 years old. This decline accelerates as you get even older, eventually settling at a mere third of peak levels by the age of 80.
Since this decline begins somewhat gradually, many men don’t take note of the symptoms until as late as their 50s. By then, however, there has often been a substantial impact on their systems.
Testosterone plays a role in almost every major organ in the body, as well as the bones. One notable statistic is that the most common cause of osteoporosis in men is low testosterone levels (2).
Normal levels of testosterone measure up at about 300-1000 nanograms per decilitre. The issue is, many men don’t catch that they have low testosterone levels until they’re all the way down to 100-200 nanograms; at this point, the negative effects have already been setting in for some time.
What are the Symptoms of Low Testosterone?
Since the function of a majority of organs in the body are linked to testosterone, abnormally low levels of the hormone are often accompanied by a range of issues.
These can include:
- Loss of muscle mass
- Loss of strength
- Lowered libido
- Erectile dysfunction
- Difficulty concentrating
- Hair loss
- Wrinkling of skin
- Increases in body fat
Testosterone-Boosters for Building Muscle
Although they’re most beneficial to those with low-testosterone, most other men can also benefit from test-boosting supplements. They’ve proven very popular in the athlete and weight-lifting population due to their ability to improve physical performance and image.
Naturally increasing your testosterone levels to the high-normal range can result in notable strength and size gains, regardless of your starting levels.
Although supplement marketing is often exaggerative and should be taken with a grain of salt, it’s true that using a testosterone-booster can help you improve all aspects of your physical and mental health, as well as body composition.
Testosterone Prescriptions in Australasia
In recent years, there has been a huge increase in testosterone prescriptions in Australia. This increase has been so large, that a scheme as introduced by the government to get it under control.
The new rules dictate that before prescribing testosterone treatment, general practitioners are now required to consult with an endocrinologist, urologist or member of the Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine.
The eligibility threshold has also been lowered by a whole 25%, making a large proportion of men now ineligible for treatment.
New Zealand also has similar strict guidelines with regards to prescribing testosterone.
Unfortunately these rules leave many men who have suboptimal testosterone levels without help, even though they may need it.
Natural test-boosting supplements may be their only available option.
BEST TESTOSTERONE BOOSTERS IN 2017
Here our 2017 top test-boosting supplements in Australia and New Zealand – no matter what your goals or reasons are for wanting to increase your testosterone, these two will be sure to get you there!
# 1st Place: Prime Male
Prime Male is our number one test-booster for 2017.
It’s a 12-ingredient complex, designed for men over 30 years old.
What makes Prime Male perform so well is its stellar ingredient profile. This includes smart and effective choices of ingredients, as well as great combinations and doses.
The formula is designed to address 3 main factors to boost and protect testosterone levels:
- Luteinizing hormone: This is the hormone with the most impact on the production of testosterone. The main ingredient in Prime Male is a well-absorbed form of D-Aspartic Acid – a well-known compound for increasing luteinizing hormone, and subsequently testosterone. While regular D-AA has been shown to improve testosterone levels by up to 42% in just a matter of days (3), the Calcium-Chelate form is even more effective.
- Sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG: This substance binds to testosterone and “deactivates” it, making it useless for providing the benefits we want. Magnesium, nettle root, and boron all work to neutralise SHBG, leaving more active testosterone in your body to do its job.
- Oestrogen and prolactin: These female sex hormones can lower testosterone levels in men when their levels are too high. Both luteolin and boron reduce oestrogen levels and their interference with testosterone.
Boron is super-effective in this regard, and has been shown to reduce oestrogen levels by up to 39% in men (4).
On top of these, Prime Male also includes:
- Zinc citrate – a very well-absorbed form of zinc, which increases testosterone and boosts libido. Vitamin B6 helps to improve this absorption even further.
- Mucuna Pruriens – a type of bean that contains high levels of L-Dopa. This compound is super-effective at boosting testosterone and mood in infertile men, and is included in a highly concentrated extract.
- Korean Red Ginseng – known for its libido-increasing properties. It may also raise testosterone.
- Vitamin D3 has been linked to increased testosterone levels. Vitamin K2 improves its absorption, as well as increasing testosterone itself.
- BioPerine® is an extract from black pepper, which helps to increase the absorption of the other ingredients.
Big Thumbs Up:
Prime Male does extremely well in providing adequate doses of each ingredient – a feat that many supplement companies fail to do. This is especially true for those that include 10+ ingredients, and it’s impressive that Prime Male did so well with 12 of them.
Extra Marks:
They’ve made sure to use the most bioavailable forms of each ingredient, for example the calcium citrate version of D-AA, zinc citrate rather than a cheap oxide-form, and more.
Added Bonus: It also supports libido, prostate health, mood, and energy.
Where to Buy:
Buy it on their official site, www.primemale.com. They offer international shipping.
2nd Place: TestoFuel
TestoFuel aims to naturally boost your testosterone to accomplish 5 main things:
- Build muscle
- Increase strength
- Improve mood and motivation levels
- Lose body fat
- Increase sex drive
All of these things can be accomplished via increases in your testosterone levels.
Thumbs Up For:
Including a similar range of effective ingredients to Prime Male. This includes D-AA, Ginseng, the zinc/magnesium/B6 combo, and vitamins D3 and K2.
These are all quite potent, and should carry TestoFuel and long way.
Thumbs Down For:
Although they are great ingredients regardless, TestoFuel doesn’t do so well at neither including the best-absorbed forms of them, or using a substantial dose.
Prime Male does better in this regard, some examples being superior forms of D-Aspartic acid and vitamin B6, and a better dose of zinc.
One somewhat questionable ingredient in TestoFuel is Fenugreek.
Fenugreek is difficult to trust since the majority of its studies have been facilitated by the fenugreek suppliers themselves. Even if it is indeed effective, the research shouldn’t be completely taken at face value.
It does have the potential to be a great ingredient if the research turns out to be true – we just don’t trust it yet.
Best For:
It’s a safe second-option with a decent ingredient profile, which will definitely facilitate solid results.
Where to Buy:
Grab it from their official website www.testofuel.com. International shipping is available.