The local name of Eurycoma longifolia is Tongkat Ali or Ali’s walking stick or Ali’s umbrella. The name originated in Malaysia due to its looks of a tall and slender shrub. The shrub is found in a few other southeastern countries of Indonesia and Thailand. However, it became popular only after Malaysians used it for medical purposes. Now, there is quite a few research going on the capacity of a shrub and rechecking the original purposes it was used in humans for years.
Tongkat Ali is consumed as a supplement in the form of the beverage by making tea from its extracts and capsule, which is the easiest way of consumption. The typical consumption is estimated to be 100mg for the extracts from the bark or roots of a shrub. Scientists have estimated to consume up to around 300mgs a day, for few days in a week. Here are the benefits Longjack can cause in men.
- Testosterone and Other Hormones’ Secretion
The quassinoids and alkaloids, the rich extract of the plant have a tendency to boost various energy and body activities when consumed. The most evident of them for the ancients is the ability to secrete more of every male hormone. Testosterone being one of the essential hormones in the male body goes down during the Andropause phase (around 50 years of age) can be recovered to an extent with Tongkat Ali.
- Sexual Desire
Not only during the andropause phase, males even in his thirties can improvise his sexual life with the help of longjack. The shrub has a tendency to increase the overall semen quality in terms of count, quality, and motility all of which boost the sexual drive, which is also proven in Malaysian research carried in 2002.
- Treatment for Malaria
One of the ancient usages of the Eurycoma longifolia extracts is to cure malaria and continuous fever. It is said to act on the diseases, but that benefit is totally neglected due to more capable options in the market. The researchers too have neglected this capability due to already flooded options for malaria available.
- Develops Lean Muscles
The increased hormone secretion leads to better functioning of the body and high metabolism even at the rest state burning several calories. This is even better when the workout of a small duration is done. A test conducted on a group of males for a period of one week resulted in 5% additional growth in muscle mass and fat burning than those who did not consume the herb.
- Anti-Aging
Another ancient use case of Tongkat Ali in Southeast Asia, which is not much explored by modern scientists. Some ancient reference says the shrub is capable of not just recovering the testosterone levels and sexual desire, but also rejuvenates the body by boosting hormone secretion, thereby, slowing down the aging process.
- Athletic Performance
The drug helping with anti-aging and sexual desire is said to improve athletic performance but research reported not much improvement when conducted on a control test group.
- Arthritis
The disease common with aging and weaker body is said to recover with the intake of Longjack. That antioxidants help relieve the body of pain and ease joint movements providing a temporary absence of arthritis.
- Erectile Dysfunction
The continual consumption of extracts of the shrub is said to push the limits of a body and have an erection regardless of stress factors due to high sexual desire and proper testosterone secretion.
Though most of the benefits are not backed by proof or lack enough test cases, most of these benefits were the key purposes of using Tongkat Ali in herbal, ayurvedic and other alternative medicines as referred to in the pages of the history books.
References:https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1132/eurycoma-longifolia
