What is Anacyclus Pyrethrum (Akarkara Root)?
Anacyclus Pyrethrum, also known as “Akarkara Root” is an ancient Indian Ayurvedic medicine and is said to promote libido, testosterone and increase erection strength.
It has recently started to gain a lot of traction in the bodybuilding community so I wanted to do a full write up on what this herb has been scientifically proven to do in human case studies.
The problem is, there are no current human case studies on it. None. Zero!
So there is no way to know if it does anything at all for testosterone, libido or if it is even safe for short or long-term human consumption.
Does Akarkara Root Increase Testosterone?
There is simply no way to say whether it does or not because there are no human case studies.
There was a promising study on rats showing an approximately two-fold increase (the researches opted not to give exact figures which is a bit odd) in both testosterone and luteinizing hormone. (1)
It also increased the weight of the rats testicles.
Akarkara Root works in rats by stimulating the hypothalamus via a class of molecules called “alkylamide”.
This is the same class of molecules seen in Maca Root which also has been shown to boost testosterone in rats but not in human studies.
The difference I see with Maca Root is that is packed with extremely healthy nutrients which nourish the endocrine system that can help aid the body in maximizing natural testosterone production.
With that said, Maca Root does not appear to directly boost testosterone by itself in humans and there isn’t much reason to suspect Akarkara Root will boost it either.
Anacyclus Pyrethrum does have one rather unique alkaloid known as “LS-MS” and it is particularly known for stimulating the hypothalamus in rats.
This same alkaloid is also found in an herb called “Spilanthes Acmella” which also showed an increase in testosterone in rats but once again there are no human case studies on it either. (2)
Does Akarkara Root Increase Libido?
Once again we have to default to the only study to date which was performed on rats.
In rats, the answer is yes.
Akarkara root increased both erections and latency time for mounting. The effects of it also appeared to last for up to 15 days after supplementation was ceased. (3)
Conclusion on Akarkara Root
Does Akarkara work in humans? Maybe but there is absolutely no way to know.
Is it safe for humans? Maybe but there is absolutely no way to know.
Find out what supplements and foods do increase T in my article Best Testosterone Boosters
References
- Androgenic and spermatogenic activity of alkylamide-rich ethanol solution extract of Anacyclus pyrethrum DC. Sharma V, Boonen J, Spiegeleer BD, Dixit VK. – Link
- Spilanthes acmella ethanolic flower extract: LC-MS alkylamide profiling and its effects on sexual behavior in male rats. Sharma V, Boonen J, Chauhan NS, Thakur M, De Spiegeleer B, Dixit VK. – Link
- Evaluation of the Anabolic, Aphrodisiac and Reproductive Activity of Anacyclus Pyrethrum DC in Male Rats Vikas Sharma, Mayank Thakur, Nagendra Singh Chauhan, Vinod Kumar Dixit – Link
