With the average testosterone levels of men in the US on the decline and low testosterone on the rise, now effecting between 10-40% of men [1], it's not surprising that more and more of us are looking to find out how to increase testosterone levels without steroids or TRT. To make matters worse, a lot of the symptoms of low testosterone can in fact lower testosterone levels. With poor sleep, high stress and weight gain all compounding the effects of a reduction in test levels. And considering these and all of the other the negatives attached to low testosterone levels it's not particularly surprising that this has been a topic of particular interest for scientists and the general population alike. There's a lot of mixed information out there, but there are some categorically proven ways which most of us can exploit to raise testosterone.
There's a couple of vitamins that are completely essential for maintaining healthy testosterone levels and considering how common deficiencies of these are we've got a good place to start, and that doesn't mean that you need to tackle every element of your diet, although eating well overall is generally a benefit maintaining healthy testosterone levels.
Zinc
Zinc supplementation is for a lot of men the big one. Even a minor zinc deficiency can cause low testosterone levels, meaning that it doesn't need to be a fully clinical deficiency to have an effect, it actually effects around 12% of the US population, meaning that this is a relatively cost effective way to boost testosterone levels without breaking the bank. It's quite often combined with magnesium supplementation and vitamin d. It should be noted that extra zinc won't do anything to raise testosterone levels if you already get enough. [2]
Vitamin D
Around half of the US population is deficient in vitamin D, and it seems that even in health men, vitamin d supplementation can raise testosterone, but it's even more effective in those with both vitamin d deficiency and testosterone deficiency with some studies showing up to 46% increases in testosterone levels. [3] So, yes that does mean spending more time outdoors and getting more sun exposure can boost testosterone naturally.
Magnesium
Marginal magnesium deficiency effects around 20% of the population with full deficiency being closer to 3%, whilst a minor deficiency would only have a minimal effect on testosterone levels, supplementing is general still beneficial. [4] Magnesium supplementation can also have a benefit on several secondary issues that can cause testosterone decreases such as sleep quality and cortisol (stress hormone reduction).
Potassium
Potassium also seems to have an impact on maintaining healthy T levels although, it's somewhat less proven in humans, it makes sense with what we know about it's impact on testicular health. [5]
Calcium
Generally speaking calcium has been shown to boost the effects of weight training on increases to testosterone levels. [6] The catch is that calcium is a relatively large molecule so it can be a bit awkward to supplement, with a lot of supplements using calcium carbonate which can't be taken on an empty stomach, or calcium citrate, which actually has a relatively low amount of calcium per milligram. As such it's generally easier to drink a class of milk every now and again. Although supplementing is recommended for vegans concerned about their testosterone levels.
Boron
Boron is particularly interesting, whilst it's not the most commonly thought about mineral, it only takes 5-10mg to have a notable effect on testosterone levels depending on which study you look at. [7]
Amino Acids
D Aspartic Acid - is the most well known of the amino acids for boosting testosterone levels, the reason it's often supplemented is that it plays an essential part in the production of testosterone. There've been multiple studies showing that supplementing it increases testosterone levels in both sedentary and men who are currently undergoing an active training regimen. [8]
D Aspartic Acid - is the most well known of the amino acids for boosting testosterone levels, the reason it's often supplemented is that it plays an essential part in the production of testosterone. There've been multiple studies showing that supplementing it increases testosterone levels in both sedentary and men who are currently undergoing an active training regimen. [8]
Ashwaganda - Ashwagandha has been shown to raise testosterone levels in double blind trials, [9] it's also been shown to reduce cortisol build up and improve sleep, which like magnesium means that you'll benefit from other improvements that can raise test production.
Panax Ginseng - Ginseng has been proven to raise testosterone levels for the short term, although does seem to have diminishing returns over time. It does also have to be Panax Ginseng, not American Ginseng as they don't contain the same active ingredients. [10]
Luteolin - Whilst this isn't technically a herb, it does come from plants, it's a flavonoid. What it does, is that is actually suppresses estrogen, meaning it can raise free testosterone levels. Free testosterone levels is the amount of testosterone that can be used by your body and isn't being counteracted by estrogen in your system. [11]
Fenugreek - Fenugreek has been shown to raise both serum and free testosterone levels in multiple clinical studies. [12]
One of the best things you can do to improve testosterone levels is to make sure you get enough sleep. More than 70% of Americans won't get enough sleep at some point in their lives and without a good nights sleep the body can't flush cortisol, or balance hormones correctly.
That means going to bed at a reasonable time, practicing good sleep hygine and using a sleep aid if needed.
Working out does increase testosterone levels, however, there's a lot of mixed research here. Testosterone levels do raise during exercise and there are improvements in the long term after resistance training, but there are quite dramatic variances based on age, weight, height overall health etc. Some studies suggest high intensity interval training can be more effective in the very short term, but this seems negated by increased muscle mass for the long term. It does seem to be overall consistent that having more muscle mass does seem to increase testosterone levels naturally, but not as dramatically as losing excess body fat (to a point, being underweight also tanks testosterone production). Which brings us nicely onto our next point.
Most Americans are overweight, to maintain healthy testosterone levels and produce testosterone effectively you need to be in a healthy weight bracket, but when we say this we mean a healthy body fat percentage more so than simply a healthy BMI. Being too lean, sub 10% body fat, will actually lower testosterone levels and even impact sexual function.
Whilst this one is easier said than done, stress can cause low testosterone and testosterone deficiency can cause stress. This can be a vicious cycle and difficult to break. There are a lot of things that you can do to reduce stress. Everything from working on your environment through to stress supplements.
For a lot of people this will be the easiest way to increase testosterone, it could also help deal with weight gain and be doubly effective. However, society doesn't always make it too easy. There's also a large difference between the occasional beer or glass of wine and a night of binging. Even rarely engaging in "heavy acute" alcohol consumption can tank testosterone levels for the long term, because even small amounts of alcohol in the following weeks retoxify the liver [13] leading to prolonged negative effects. However in small doses it has very little negative effect and mild intake of alcohol has actually been associated with higher overall serum testosterone levels in correlative studies. [14] That means you can have a couple of pints a week and be fine, but any huge night of partying is going to lead to decreased testosterone levels.
Whilst there are a multitude of claims around testosterone boosting foods out there, very few make a great deal of a difference beyond their vitamin and mineral content, that said eating things that help you stay a healthy weight and get the right micronutrients is going to help you naturally produce testosterone. A couple of good examples are fish, green veg, shellfish and avocados all have their uses. For example, Avocados are a good natural source of boron, and shellfish contain zinc which we covered in the supplements section. There are even some studies that suggest that flavonoids in cocoa can increase testosterone naturally. [15]
Make sure you get the right testosterone supplement for you.
Check Best List 1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5422691/
2 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8875519/
3 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21154195/
4 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5786912/
5 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8756540/
6 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19099204/
7 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712861/
8 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5340133/
9 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6438434/
10 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7352699/
11 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7139932/
12 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32048383/
13 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12711931/
14 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4093992/
15 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7139932/