The Testosterone Booster Industry: A $1.5 Billion Fraud

The global testosterone-booster supplement market topped $1.5 billion in 2024, per industry trackers like Grand View Research, and is still growing. These products — sold to men for muscle building, libido, energy, and "male vitality" — are one of the supplement industry's most profitable categories and one of its least evidence-supported.

What's Actually in These Products

Common ingredients in testosterone-booster supplements include fenugreek extract, ashwagandha root, zinc, vitamin D, D-aspartic acid, Tribulus terrestris, and proprietary blends of herbs and amino acids. Most have been studied in human trials. The results are consistently underwhelming.

Balasubramanian and colleagues 2019 (J Sex Med, PMID 30770069) analyzed the top 5 best-selling testosterone boosters on Amazon at the time. Across those products they identified 19 unique active ingredients. A literature review of the 10 most common ingredients turned up 191 studies — only 19% of which used human subjects. Of the 37 human studies, only 30% reported an actual increase in testosterone, 3% reported a decrease, 46% reported no effect, and 22% were indeterminate. After filtering disingenuous Amazon reviews with ReviewMeta.com, claims of improved libido fell 91%, claims of improved strength/endurance fell 93%, and reports of "improved sports ability" fell 89%.

Ingredient by Ingredient

Fenugreek: Some trials suggest a modest reduction in the conversion of testosterone to DHT via 5-alpha reductase inhibition, which could nudge free testosterone up. Effect sizes are small and clinical relevance is unclear. Fenugreek does not raise total testosterone production.

Ashwagandha: May reduce cortisol, which can secondarily support testosterone in chronically stressed men. Effects are modest and most visible in men with elevated stress or sub-normal baseline testosterone.

D-Aspartic Acid: A small 2009 trial (Topo et al., Reprod Biol Endocrinol) showed a short-term increase. Larger, better-controlled trials including Willoughby and Leutholtz 2013 (PMID 24074738) and follow-ups have failed to replicate any testosterone-raising effect in healthy resistance-trained men.

Tribulus terrestris: Multiple RCTs — including a 5-week trial in elite rugby league players (Rogerson 2007, J Strength Cond Res) — have found no significant testosterone-raising effect. Its reputation rests on animal data and decades-old anecdote.

The Safety Angle

Beyond not working, some testosterone-booster products have been found to contain undeclared anabolic steroids on independent lab testing. The FDA maintains an updated "Tainted Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements" database (Tainted Sexual Enhancement and Bodybuilding categories). Choosing a supplement does not give you the purity controls of an FDA-approved pharmaceutical. Anyone with symptoms suggestive of low testosterone should ask their primary-care doctor for a morning total-testosterone blood test before spending on these products.