Holy Basil: Phyto-TESTOSTERONE, Progesterone and thyro-mimetic ?
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Tulsi / holy basil only increased progesterone by about 20% in female rats . It didn't lower testosterone or increase estrogen.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30908416/ -
In male rats however it seems to be very androgenic .
It increased the testosterone level of every single rat above the capable measurement limit of 1500 ng/dl ! Lol
It seems to behave like exogenous testosterone in some ways: they had lowered sperm count and LH and FSH (feedback mechanism). So we should maybe be cautious long term us, but pro progesterone and testosterone?... I'm intrigued .
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3059441/ -
In this study in male lambs it was very androgenic again.
It increased testosterone by about 80% and lowered cortisol by about 90%. A drastic increase in the T/C ratio !
But this time it even increased sperm count health and testicle size.
Not sure why it was different here maybe it's a dosage issue. Maybe it has to do with the different digestive system of lambs.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10850854/
- It gets even better.
Basil almost doubled T3, almost tripled T4 and reduced TSH from 13 to 0.22 in this study in rabbits.
Effect of Ocimum Sanctum on Serum Concentration of Thyroid Hormones
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Lowered stress and cortisol in humans
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36185698 -
Tulsi also contains ursolic acid which has its own benefits : anti-serotonin and estrogen and pro dopamine.
https://bioenergetic.forum/topic/1797/ursolic-acid-anti-serotonin-anti-estrogen-pro-dopamine-and-more
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Interpretation:
If you look at study 2. , you might conclude that holy basil contains some exogenous androgen in high amounts that increases blood testosterone to such an extent that it suppresses their pituitary hormonal output as a feedback mechanism and decreases their sperm count, similarly to exogenous testosterone.
But if that was the case, we would see a strong virilazation in study 1 and the females rats testosterone would be through the roof as well. But we don't see that, only progesterone increased.
Study 3 begs to differ as well. We see no signs of shut down whatsoever here. All measures of sperm health increased.
So it's hard to say what holy basil exactly does, only one way to find out
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@Mauritio Very interesting Mauritio. Always a good read when you post something. I have a bottle of holy basil laying around, maybe I will try. Will report then ofcourse.
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@Joop3000 you're welcome . Looking forward to your testimony.
I'm surprised it's not talked about more often ! -
In this study even very small doses of basil were able to almost double testosterone. They gave rats 2 and 4 mg /kg of a basil powder, which translates to just 25 and 50mg for a human. Surprisingly 25 mg was even slightly superior in terms of testosterone-enhancement.
I don't know if they used holy basil in this study. They just refer to it as basil. But it seems that different kinds and especially different dosages are effective, as the other studies I posted used much higher doses.
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Very interesting studies, would love to see some human studies
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@Mauritio the problem is if you go down this path, you end up taking 20 supplements and herbs
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@AnxiousMess I agree
Number 5 actually is a human study.That being said, I would also love to see some human studies on its effect on hormones . But for now it seems safe enough to play around with for a while.
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I have been drinking tulsi (holy basil) tea on and off for years. It has a calming and stress-relieving effect. Maybe not instantly with one cup. But if I was in a chronic high stress state and drank multiple cups a day for a week or so, it made me continuously more relaxed.
Also tried capsules, but funnily enough I didn't get the same effect as with tea, although I'd think the extract in the capsules is more potent.
It's also a natural anti-histamine.
Edit:
If someone tries the tea, the quality of the different products is pretty hit-and-miss. The flavor can also be pretty different. A few bad products look like someone has picked dirty weeds from the side of the road and put them in a bag. I have had the best experience with tea bags from 'Lebensbaum', but I don't know if that's available in other parts of the world. On iherb you can find multiple products in capsule form.
