Bulk Supplements pricing and returns
Each capsule of Bulk Supplements Longjack contains a 500mg dose, with the company recommending that you take two capsules per serving. For most people, 1,000mg is probably excessive, meaning you can take just one capsule per serving and still expect to see some kind of results. And, considering the already low price of this tongkat ali, being able to cut the serving size in half without sacrificing efficacy just makes it that much better of a deal.
Of course, you can get an even better deal by reaching for Bulk Supplements’ tongkat ali powder, which comes in packages of up to 1kg.
Here’s what the pricing looks like:
At $44.06, the 1kg bag brings the cost per gram of tongkat ali down to $0.04. Of course, if you only take 200mg daily, it would take you nearly 14 years to consume all of it, and it would likely lose some of its potency by then. The most reasonable high quantity of tongkat ali powder on this list is probably the 100g bag, which would last you around 18 months and bring the cost per gram down to $0.16.
Like Innerbody, Bulk Supplements offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is just long enough to potentially see some results before deciding whether the substance is right for you.
Tongkat ali vs. ashwagandha
We’ve spent a lot of time reviewing the literature investigating tongkat ali and a similar botanical ingredient called ashwagandha. Both are well-regarded for their abilities to increase testosterone and other aspects of male wellness, and both have research behind them indicating that they can ameliorate stress and anxiety.
So, which one should you take?
Well, the good news is that they don’t appear to be mutually exclusive of one another. You can take both together. It’s up to you whether to seek out a standalone ashwagandha supplement or try to find a single product that combines tongkat ali and ashwagandha.
Innerbody’s Testosterone Support actually combines them alongside nine other ingredients, and it does so using clinically relevant doses of both. It contains 400mg of tongkat ali and 600mg of a branded, standardized ashwagandha extract called KSM-66.
If you absolutely had to take one and not the other, we’d probably steer you toward ashwagandha at this time, as it boasts a little more research, especially into the anti-anxiety potential.13 14 That said, if you were more concerned with sexual health symptoms (ED, testosterone, libido), tongkat ali may be slightly superior. That’s even more true if you have any thyroid issues or take medication to manage your thyroid hormone levels, as ashwagandha may influence those.15
For most people consuming doses recommended on the bottle (typically 100-500mg), tongkat ali should be perfectly safe. Studies looking into these dose ranges only seem to report occasional adverse GI effects, which are extremely common among dietary supplements.
Larger doses of tongkat ali have been associated with more serious effects, including the potential to damage DNA in the GI tract. However, a close examination of the relevant study reveals several important caveats:3
In more responsible doses that have shown efficacy in studies, we often see few to no adverse effects reported. One study on Physta’s potential immunomodulation used a 200mg daily dose for four weeks and reported that “the frequency of reported [adverse events] did not statistically differ between the [tongkat ali] and [placebo] groups.”16 There’s even a study looking into tongkat ali-infused coffee, like the one available from Akarali, that indicates no adverse effects at doses below 14g. For reference, the serving size for Akarali’s coffee is 3.3g.17
Ultimately, this all paints a picture in which there are some theoretical risks associated with tongkat ali at very high doses, but those doses are far higher than the amount you’d need to experience the effects of a tongkat ali supplement.
Best single-ingredient tongkat ali supplement
Photo by Innerbody Research
Nootropics Depot manufactures a wide assortment of supplements, including a pair of tongkat ali options that are standardized extracts. These aren’t patented or branded extracts the way Akarali’s Physta is, but they are made by Nootropics Depot, and we haven’t found a comparably strong alternative to its 10% formulation.
The two available tongkat ali strengths from Nootropics Depot are 2% and 10% eurycomanone. Again, eurycomanone is thought to be one of the more important constituent parts of tongkat ali, responsible for the lion’s share of its positive effects. What’s less clear from the research we’ve reviewed is whether or not it can also be credited with any potential side effects. If it can, that 10% formulation may have a higher incidence of GI upset. But if it’s not the case, then a 10% concentration in a smaller overall dose could actually mitigate side effects.
Here’s how the two concentrations compare:
As you can see, Nootropics Depot delivers its more concentrated formula in a lower overall dose (100mg versus 200mg). That makes for smaller capsules and fewer of the ingredients that aren’t eurycomanone (90mg versus 196mg).
Can tongkat ali treat ED?
Can tongkat ali treat ED?
Tongkat ali can’t “cure” ED, per se, but it can help treat underlying causes of ED, like anxiety or low testosterone.30 5 And eliminating an underlying cause of ED is about as close to a cure as you can get.
Is tongkat ali the same as ginseng?
Is tongkat ali the same as ginseng?
Tongkat ali is sometimes called Malaysian ginseng, but it’s not actually a part of the ginseng family. The respective effects of tongkat ali and ginseng, while purportedly similar in traditional medicine’s anecdotal reporting, are very different within the scientific literature.
Innerbody Testosterone Support
Best complex T-boosting formula
Photo by Innerbody Research
Many people seek out a tongkat ali supplement to support male sexual wellness. If this describes you, then you should consider a supplement that combines tongkat ali with other well-regarded testosterone-boosting ingredients. There’s no shortage of mixed-ingredient testosterone boosters out there. We’ve covered them at great lengths for years and maintain a thorough guide to the best testosterone boosters. But during that time, we were frustrated by a gap in the market that we ultimately decided to fill with a product that provides the best ingredient bill we could imagine within reasonable cost parameters.
The result is Innerbody Testosterone Support, a combination of 11 ingredients, all present at doses that meet or exceed those used in successful studies. Here’s a quick look at the ingredients, with links to studies that can show you why we included them in the formula:
When it comes to testosterone, fenugreek and ashwagandha are the other two most important botanicals in this formula, alongside tongkat ali. But we included maca for its ability to help men with erectile performance and libido. Both zinc and vitamin D have a long-studied association with testosterone levels in men, as well.
If you’ve never tried any kind of supplement to address low T or similar men’s sexual wellness concerns, you might want to start out with an individual-ingredient approach by taking another tongkat ali in this guide. But if you’ve already tried one or more, or you want to skip that step and throw a larger ingredient bill at the problem, we believe Innerbody Testosterone Support is the best such choice for most men.
Nootropics Depot pricing and returns
Nootropics Depot doesn’t offer subscriptions on either of its tongkat ali supplements, but you can buy a higher-count bottle to save money per dose. Here’s how it works out for each concentration:
Since we’ve come to put a fair amount of stock in eurycomanone concentration, we’d recommend the 10% formulation to anyone with the capital to invest in it. The fact that you get free shipping at the 120-capsule level is rather important here, as Nootropics Depot has the highest shipping costs in our guide. Its lowest rate is $10.20, which is high enough to take the 60-count 10% option from $39.99 to $50.19, for a per-dose price increase from $0.67 up to $0.84.
Unfortunately for anyone who’s unsure tongkat ali will work for them, Nootropics Depot doesn’t offer any kind of money-back guarantee, and it doesn’t accept returns on opened products. That’s in pretty stark contrast to Innerbody and Bulk Supplements, both of which let you try a product for 30 days. We’ve seen some evidence that longjack can have an effect in as little as four weeks, so that 30-day mark may be enough to know whether it works for you.16
Best patented extract
Photo by Innerbody Research
Even in our first round of research review, we noticed the frequency with which Physta was specified as the type of tongkat ali used in numerous studies. This is something that undeniably sets it apart from other tongkat ali supplements, and it should put Physta at the top of the list for anyone who needs to see a brand name in the scientific research before reaching for a given supplement. We’ve been impressed by the research that Physta has been subjected to over the years (26 studies over two decades), though we aren’t wholly convinced that its standardization process puts it head and shoulders above similar products.
That standardization provides a 1.5% eurycomanone concentration, 0.5% less concentrated than Nootropics Depot’s 2% option and 8.5% less than the 10% option. Much of the research into tongkat ali assumes that eurycomanone is the primary driver of its beneficial effects, but Akarali goes a little further in its standardization efforts. It creates a consistent delivery of both eurycomanone and the plant’s other constituent parts, which, according to its website, are glycosaponins (48%), proteins (22%), and polysaccharides (30%).
For those of you with calculators at home, you might notice that 48, 22, 30, and 1.5 add up to 101.5%, so there’s clearly some wiggle room in this formula. We got clarification from Akarali on the issue, and here are the actual numbers:
Akarali deploys its Physta in a few ways. Its capsules are the most straightforward option. They each contain 200mg of Physta, a pretty standard dose compared to what we’ve seen in the research. There’s also a version marketed toward women that contains only 50mg per capsule, but we’ve seen no evidence that women would need a smaller dose than men.
In fact, many of the studies we’ve read that explicitly used Physta administered the same 100-300mg dose to men and women alike. And of the studies that used a 50mg dose, the one that was most successful combined its tongkat ali with 200mg of Labisia pumila, a similar herbal remedy with purported antioxidant properties,18 so we don’t recommend the 50mg women’s dose at this time.19
You can also get the plain tongkat ali powder, an instant coffee infused with tongkat ali, or a fizzy tongkat ali energy drink. The powder’s dose is pretty flexible, but the other two products deliver 70mg and 50mg per dose, respectively.
Photo by Innerbody Research
Longjack coffee is very popular in Southeast Asia, so we ordered some of it for ourselves to try out. Now, in the U.S., instant coffee isn’t well-regarded, at least not since the Starbucks revolution of the 1990s and the Keurig revolution of the late 2000s. But our testers have still had their fair share of instant coffee through the years (including some from Starbucks), and we wanted to see how Akarali’s stacked up. We were pleasantly surprised.
Akarali’s tongkat ali-infused coffee is immediately sweet on the tongue despite not containing any natural or artificial sweeteners or flavorings. That sweetness very quickly gives way to an intensely strong, bitter coffee flavor, but one that’s not unwelcome after the initial sweetness and that more closely resembles the bitterness of Campari or a similar liqueur. The whole thing is pretty well-balanced.
Who is tongkat ali for?
Owing to all of its potential applications, tongkat ali may be suitable for a wide variety of consumers. Perhaps most notably, it makes sense as a supplemental approach to treating various sexual disorders in men, including low testosterone and libido, fertility issues, and poor erectile performance.
It may also be a helpful component of a larger anti-anxiety effort, combined with either other botanicals and supplements or things like talk therapy or meditation.
Does tongkat ali damage DNA?
Does tongkat ali damage DNA?
A very small amount of research looking into tongkat ali’s potential risk factors identified a possible effect on DNA in the GI tract. But that research established an oblique correlation, far from any evidence of causation.3 Much more research is needed to clarify the issue, but it’s worth noting that the doses used in that research far exceed typical doses used in nutritional supplements.
What are tongkat ali’s benefits?
Tongkat ali has a fairly long list of potential benefits when you consider its uses in traditional medicine. That list gets a lot shorter when you confine your examination to the available scientific research. Still, there are apparent and noteworthy benefits of tongkat ali delivered at commercially available doses that are worth exploring. These can include:1
Most of these effects have been examined in both human and animal studies, and some researchers have even narrowed down the specific mechanisms of action behind them.
As we discussed earlier, tongkat ali comprises numerous bioactive compounds that may be responsible for its benefits, but one of its quassinoids — eurycomanone — seems to get the most attention in the research we’ve reviewed.2 That’s not to say that the plant’s steroids, glycosaponins, and other constituent parts aren’t important, only that eurycomanone is the compound for which tongkat ali manufacturers will standardize their extracts, so we take its abundance in a given supplement very seriously.
Let’s take a closer look at tongkat ali’s potential benefits to see what the research says:
One of the most common reasons men seek out tongkat ali is to increase their testosterone levels. It’s also a big part of the supplement’s marketing from various brands, and the science backs it up. A study in men with late-onset hypogonadism found significant improvements in Aging Males’ Symptom (AMS) scores after one month of taking 200mg of tongkat ali per day.5 Another study went so far as to suggest tongkat ali as a substitute for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).6 And a third study saw increases in total testosterone, free testosterone, and muscular force among male participants aged 57-72 years.7
A systematic review from 2022 concluded that “although more research is required before its use in clinical practice, [tongkat ali] may represent a safe and promising therapeutic option, particularly in hypogonadal men.”8
Research in rats points to a reduction in aromatase activity in the presence of eurycomanone, which ultimately inhibits the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. High concentrations of eurycomanone have also exhibited phosphodiesterase (PDE)-inhibiting effects not unlike those caused by Viagra and Cialis (albeit to a much lesser extent).2
Tied to tongkat ali’s apparent testosterone-boosting potential is its role in male fertility. Numerous studies have looked at longjack’s ability to increase sperm counts in both rats and humans, often with positive effects. One 12-week study using 300mg of Physta saw significant improvements in Seminal Fluid Analysis, with increases in both semen volume and sperm motility.9 A similar study in rats used a human equivalent dose of about 115mg on subjects that either were or were not treated with estradiol to harm sperm production.10 Tongkat ali inhibited the effects of the high estradiol dose and dramatically increased sperm count and motility in rats that weren’t exposed to a high estradiol dose.
Just as testosterone and spermatogenesis may be interrelated effects of tongkat ali, there also appears to be an increase in sexual desire and erectile performance among study participants. Some of this could directly be attributed to increases in testosterone for men who experience libido or erectile issues related to hypogonadism. But other mechanisms of action may be at play, as well.
As we said, at least one study has observed PDE-inhibiting effects from tongkat ali in mice. PDE5 is the specific PDE enzyme group that drugs like Viagra and Cialis target to allow men with erectile dysfunction (ED) to achieve an erection.2 Another study we’ve mentioned, the one that saw increases in seminal volume and sperm motility, also saw improvements in self-reported libido and erectile performance measures.9
Less research exists into tongkat ali’s anxiolytic effects, but there are noteworthy studies in both animals and humans. Human participants in one study reported reductions in tension, anger, and confusion, which all correlated with reductions in salivary cortisol.30 However, there were some competing interests for two of that study’s four authors, which may have introduced bias.
An older study in rats from 1999 equated the effects of tongkat ali to those provided by the prescription anti-anxiety medication diazepam.31
These studies don’t begin to approach the quantity or quality of those looking into a similar botanical — ashwagandha, which we’ll explore below — but they do show promise.
Cytotoxicity typically refers to a substance's ability to kill cells, with researchers looking specifically for compounds that can target cancer cells. Numerous in vitro studies have shown cytotoxic effects from tongkat ali on cells associated with ovarian, liver, skin, and breast cancers, among others.1 But this research is in its infancy, and we don’t recommend tongkat ali as a cancer preventive or treatment.
Researchers have also looked into tongkat ali’s influence on inflammation and rheumatism, ulcers, and osteoporosis, as well as its potential as an antimicrobial agent.1 At this time, these efforts aren’t robust enough to recommend tongkat ali along these lines, but it may prove beneficial here in future research.
Activate and hold the button to confirm that you’re human. Thank You!
Photo by Innerbody Research
Whether you’re searching for a natural remedy to enhance sexual performance, raise testosterone levels, or reduce stress, you may have heard about tongkat ali, also known as longjack. There’s certainly some clinical evidence to support the idea that this botanical ingredient could make a difference.1
But you can get tongkat ali/longjack from an endless parade of manufacturers out there, some of whom claim to use special patented extracts that are more potent or consistent than others. We wanted to cut through all the noise, look at the science, try these supplements ourselves, and let you know which ones might be worth your time and effort.
If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at what we found — what’s best for you really depends on your budget and goals:
