Fenugreek Raised Total Testosterone by 12 Percent in 120 Men Over 43 and Left Free Testosterone Untouched in 138 Men Who Trained. The Trial That Doubled Free Testosterone Doubled It on Placebo Too, and the Strength Gains Never Needed the Hormone.
Fenugreek is the ingredient a testosterone booster reaches for when it wants a trial to cite. D-aspartic acid has one positive study. Tribulus has none in healthy men. Ashwagandha has four placebo-controlled trials that measured testosterone. Fenugreek has nine, with a combined enrolment of about 700 men, and the largest of them found a rise. That is a real evidence base and it repays close reading, because the trials do not agree with each other about which fraction of testosterone moves, the placebo groups keep producing rises of their own, and the strength and body composition results, which are the most consistent findings in the literature, appear in trials where testosterone did not change at all. This article walks through each placebo-controlled trial that measured testosterone in men taking a standardized fenugreek seed extract, in order of publication, then looks at the 2026 meta-analysis that pooled them, the funding behind them, the dihydrotestosterone result that complicates the story, and what the evidence adds up to for a man over 40 deciding whether to spend money on it.
Key Takeaways: What the Fenugreek Evidence Actually Shows
Fenugreek seed extract raised total testosterone relative to placebo in about half of the randomized, placebo-controlled trials that measured it in men, and the largest single rise was 44 ng/dL. Rao and colleagues in 2016 gave 120 healthy men aged 43 to 70 a 600 mg daily dose of Testofen for 12 weeks and reported total testosterone rising from 354 to 398 ng/dL, a 12.4 percent increase, with calculated free testosterone rising 9.5 percent. Rao, Mallard and Grant in 2020 randomized 138 men aged 25 to 47 to 600 mg, 300 mg or placebo alongside eight weeks of calisthenics and found total testosterone rose 1.3 nmol/L at 600 mg, about 7.6 percent, and did not move at 300 mg or on placebo, while free testosterone stayed at 0.32 nmol/L in every arm. Free testosterone is the fraction fenugreek is marketed on, and it is the fraction the trials cannot agree about: Wankhede and colleagues in 2016 saw it nearly double in 55 young men who lifted for eight weeks, from 17.8 to 35.3 ng/dL, but the placebo group rose from 21.3 to 31.7 ng/dL over the same period, and Poole and colleagues in 2010 saw free testosterone fall slightly on fenugreek while rising on placebo. Lee-Ødegård and colleagues in 2024 tested 600, 1,200 and 1,800 mg of Trigozim against placebo in 95 men aged 40 to 80 and found plasma testosterone rose 13 percent on fenugreek and 9 percent on placebo, a difference that did not reach significance, with no difference in how the men felt. A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Frontiers in Nutrition pooled 637 men and found a standardized mean difference of 0.25 for total testosterone, a small effect, and 0.08 for free testosterone, no effect, and rated the certainty of both findings very low. Eight of the thirteen studies in that review involved the manufacturer of the extract tested, and none was rated at low risk of bias. Strength and body fat improved with fenugreek in three of four training trials, and in two of those three the hormone did not change, so whatever fenugreek does for the bench press it does not appear to do through testosterone.
Nine Placebo-Controlled Trials, About 700 Men, Four Positive Results on Total Testosterone
Number of men randomized in each double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a standardized fenugreek seed extract that measured testosterone, coloured green where total testosterone rose relative to placebo and grey where it did not or where total testosterone was not the reported outcome. Wilborn 2010 reported a rise of 0.97 ng/mL on fenugreek against a fall of 2.10 ng/mL on placebo in 30 trained men. Poole 2010 measured free rather than total testosterone and found it fell slightly on fenugreek. Steels 2011 found testosterone unchanged within the reference range. Wankhede 2016 found total testosterone rose 11.8 percent on Fenu-FG and 8.7 percent on placebo, not significant, with the significant result confined to free testosterone. Rao 2016 reported a rise from 354 to 398 ng/dL in men aged 43 to 70. Guo 2018 in 40 athletes contributed a positive result to the 2026 pooled estimate. Rao 2020 found a 1.3 nmol/L rise at 600 mg and none at 300 mg. The Rao 2020 prostate trial did not find a rise, and removing it strengthened the pooled estimate. Lee-Ødegård 2024 found a 13 percent rise on fenugreek against 9 percent on placebo, not significant. The 2017 Maheshwari series in 50 men is not shown because it had no placebo group. Eight of the thirteen studies in the 2026 review involved the manufacturer of the extract tested.
What is fenugreek and why would it affect testosterone?
Fenugreek is the dried seed of Trigonella foenum-graecum, a legume in the same family as chickpeas and peanuts, and the reason it might change testosterone is that the seed contains furostanol saponins, chiefly protodioscin, that in laboratory and animal work appear to inhibit two enzymes that break testosterone down and to loosen its binding to the carrier protein that keeps most of it inactive. The seeds have been used across India, North Africa and the Mediterranean for centuries as a spice, a remedy for blood sugar, a digestive aid and a milk stimulant for nursing mothers. The saponin content is what commercial extracts are standardized on, and each brand uses a different marker. Testofen, made by Gencor Pacific, is standardized to 50 percent of a saponin glycoside fraction the company calls fenusides. Fenu-FG, from Indus Biotech, is a purified glycoside fraction. Furosap, from Cepham, is standardized to 20 percent protodioscin. Torabolic, an earlier Indus product, was standardized to 70 percent of a mannose polymer called trigimannose. Trigozim, tested in the 2024 Norwegian trial, is a seed extract combined with vitamins and minerals. The testosterone mechanism most often cited comes from a 2010 study that described fenugreek as a purported inhibitor of aromatase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to estradiol, and 5-alpha-reductase, the enzyme that converts it to dihydrotestosterone; if both were blocked, more testosterone would remain as testosterone. A second proposed route is that saponins displace testosterone from sex hormone-binding globulin, which would raise the free fraction without changing the total. The trials described below test both ideas, and the second one in particular does not survive contact with the data.
Nine Placebo-Controlled Trials, About 700 Men, Four Positive Results on Total Testosterone
Number of men randomized in each double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a standardized fenugreek seed extract that measured testosterone, coloured green where total testosterone rose relative to placebo and grey where it did not or where total testosterone was not the reported outcome. Wilborn 2010 reported a rise of 0.97 ng/mL on fenugreek against a fall of 2.10 ng/mL on placebo in 30 trained men. Poole 2010 measured free rather than total testosterone and found it fell slightly on fenugreek. Steels 2011 found testosterone unchanged within the reference range. Wankhede 2016 found total testosterone rose 11.8 percent on Fenu-FG and 8.7 percent on placebo, not significant, with the significant result confined to free testosterone. Rao 2016 reported a rise from 354 to 398 ng/dL in men aged 43 to 70. Guo 2018 in 40 athletes contributed a positive result to the 2026 pooled estimate. Rao 2020 found a 1.3 nmol/L rise at 600 mg and none at 300 mg. The Rao 2020 prostate trial did not find a rise, and removing it strengthened the pooled estimate. Lee-Ødegård 2024 found a 13 percent rise on fenugreek against 9 percent on placebo, not significant. The 2017 Maheshwari series in 50 men is not shown because it had no placebo group. Eight of the thirteen studies in the 2026 review involved the manufacturer of the extract tested.
Which randomized trials measured testosterone in men taking fenugreek?
Nine randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials have measured testosterone in men taking a standardized fenugreek seed extract, with a combined enrolment of about 700 men, and one uncontrolled series in 50 men reported the hormone as well. In order of publication: Wilborn, Taylor, Poole and colleagues in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2010 gave 30 resistance-trained college-age men 500 mg a day of a fenugreek extract or placebo for eight weeks. Poole and colleagues in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2010 gave 49 resistance-trained men 500 mg a day of Torabolic or placebo for eight weeks. Steels, Rao and Vitetta in Phytotherapy Research in 2011 gave 60 healthy men aged 25 to 52 600 mg a day of Testofen with magnesium, zinc and vitamin B6, or placebo, for six weeks. Wankhede, Mohan and Thakurdesai in the Journal of Sport and Health Science in 2016 gave 60 men aged 18 to 35 600 mg a day of Fenu-FG or placebo through eight weeks of supervised lifting. Rao, Steels, Inder, Abraham and Vitetta in The Aging Male in 2016 gave 120 healthy men aged 43 to 70 600 mg a day of Testofen or placebo for 12 weeks. Guo and colleagues in 2018 gave 40 male athletes 500 mg a day of Furosap or placebo for 12 weeks. Rao, Mallard and Grant in Translational Sports Medicine in 2020 gave 138 men aged 25 to 47 600 mg or 300 mg of Testofen or placebo through eight weeks of calisthenics. A separate Rao trial in 2020 gave 100 men with benign prostate enlargement 600 mg of Testofen or placebo for 12 weeks. Lee-Ødegård and colleagues in PLOS One in 2024 gave 100 men aged 40 to 80 placebo or 600, 1,200 or 1,800 mg a day of Trigozim for 12 weeks. The uncontrolled series is Maheshwari and colleagues in the International Journal of Medical Sciences in 2017, who gave 50 men aged 35 to 65 500 mg a day of Furosap for 12 weeks with no placebo arm; its headline that free testosterone improved by up to 46 percent in 90 percent of participants is the number most often quoted in marketing and is the one number here that has no comparison group behind it.
What did the 2016 trial in men aged 43 to 70 find?
The Rao 2016 trial found that 600 mg a day of Testofen raised total testosterone from 354 to 398 ng/dL over 12 weeks in healthy men aged 43 to 70, a 12.4 percent rise, with calculated free testosterone rising from 241 to 264 pmol/L, and the authors reported both changes as small but significantly greater than placebo. This is the trial most relevant to a man over 40 because it is the only fenugreek trial to enrol that age group, it is the largest to report a positive total testosterone result, and it made symptoms rather than hormones the primary outcome. One hundred and twenty men were randomized. The primary outcome was the Aging Males' Symptoms questionnaire, a 17-item scale of tiredness, irritability, sleep, joint pain, libido and erectile complaints, and the score fell more on Testofen than on placebo across the whole scale and on its somatic and sexual sub-scales. On the Derogatis sexual function self-report, the Testofen group improved in total score and in the arousal and drive sub-domains. Both groups started the trial reporting about one morning erection a week; by week 12 the Testofen group reported two to three a week and the placebo group was unchanged. Both groups started at one or two episodes of sexual activity a month; only the Testofen group had moved to about once a week by the end. DHEA-S, androstenedione, estradiol, sex hormone-binding globulin and prolactin did not change in either group. The trial was funded by Gencor Pacific, which makes Testofen, and the lead author, Amanda Rao, has led three of the four Testofen trials. A 44 ng/dL rise in a man starting at 354 is a real biochemical change and it leaves him inside the same reference range he started in; the symptom and sexual function results are the part of this trial that would matter to the men in it, and they are self-reported scores in a trial whose product had a taste and smell the placebo may not have matched.
Two Hormones Moved in the Older Men. Five Did Not.
Percent change from baseline over 12 weeks in the Testofen arm of the Rao 2016 trial, published in The Aging Male, in which 120 healthy men aged 43 to 70 took 600 mg a day of Testofen or placebo. Total testosterone rose from 354 to 398 ng/dL, a 12.4 percent increase, and calculated free testosterone from 241 to 264 pmol/L, a 9.5 percent increase; the authors reported both as small but significantly greater than the change on placebo. DHEA-S, androstenedione, estradiol, sex hormone-binding globulin and prolactin did not change in either group and are plotted at zero. The primary outcome was the Aging Males' Symptoms questionnaire, which fell more on Testofen than on placebo; morning erections rose from about one a week to two or three, and sexual activity from once or twice a month to about weekly, on Testofen only. The trial was funded by Gencor Pacific, the maker of Testofen. A 44 ng/dL rise from a starting point of 354 is about the size of the difference between a morning and an afternoon blood draw and leaves a man in the reference range he started in.
Does fenugreek raise free testosterone?
No, not reliably: the four placebo-controlled trials that report free testosterone show it nearly doubling in one, falling in one and not moving in two, and the 2026 meta-analysis of five trials and 334 men found a pooled standardized mean difference of 0.08 with a confidence interval running from minus 0.48 to plus 0.63. Free testosterone is the fraction fenugreek is sold on, because the proposed mechanism is that saponins displace testosterone from sex hormone-binding globulin. The Wankhede 2016 trial is the source of the doubling claim. In 29 men aged 18 to 35 who completed eight weeks on 600 mg of Fenu-FG while lifting four days a week, free testosterone rose from 17.8 to 35.3 ng/dL. In the 26 men on placebo doing the same programme, it rose from 21.3 to 31.7 ng/dL. The between-group difference reached statistical significance, but the placebo group's 49 percent rise shows how much of the change came from the training, the season, or the assay, and total testosterone in the same trial rose 11.8 percent on fenugreek and 8.7 percent on placebo, which was not significant. Poole 2010, in 49 resistance-trained men on 500 mg of Torabolic, found free testosterone went from 40 to 36 ng/mL on fenugreek and from 57 to 67 on placebo, a difference the authors reported as significant in the wrong direction and dismissed as clinically meaningless. Rao 2020, in 98 exercising men who completed the trial, found free testosterone at 0.32 nmol/L before and after 600 mg of Testofen, 0.35 and 0.34 at 300 mg, and 0.31 and 0.30 on placebo, with sex hormone-binding globulin rising slightly at 600 mg rather than falling. Lee-Ødegård 2024 found the free testosterone index rose 16.3 percent across all fenugreek doses and 11.3 percent on placebo, with a p-value of 0.059. If fenugreek worked by freeing testosterone from its carrier protein, the free fraction would rise while the total stayed flat and SHBG would fall. The trials show the opposite pattern, a small rise in total with no consistent change in free and no fall in SHBG, which points away from the displacement mechanism and toward a modest effect on production or clearance, if there is an effect at all.
The Fraction Fenugreek Is Sold On Goes Up, Down and Nowhere
Percent change from baseline in free testosterone on fenugreek versus placebo across the four placebo-controlled trials that reported it. Poole 2010, in 49 resistance-trained men on 500 mg a day of Torabolic for eight weeks, found free testosterone went from 40 to 36 ng/mL on fenugreek and from 57 to 67 on placebo. Wankhede 2016, in 55 men aged 18 to 35 who completed eight weeks on 600 mg a day of Fenu-FG while lifting, found it rose from 17.8 to 35.3 ng/dL on fenugreek and from 21.3 to 31.7 on placebo, a between-group difference that reached significance and a placebo rise of almost 50 percent. Rao 2020, in 98 men who completed eight weeks of calisthenics, found free testosterone at 0.32 nmol/L before and after 600 mg of Testofen and 0.31 and 0.30 on placebo. Lee-Ødegård 2024 reported the free testosterone index, which rose 16.3 percent across all doses and 11.3 percent on placebo, p 0.059. The 2026 meta-analysis pooled five trials and 334 men and found a standardized mean difference of 0.08 with a confidence interval from minus 0.48 to plus 0.63. If fenugreek freed testosterone from its binding protein, this chart would show a consistent rise and sex hormone-binding globulin would fall; neither happens.
- Fenugreek
- Placebo
What did the 2024 dose-ranging trial find?
The 2024 Norwegian trial found that plasma testosterone rose 13 percent from baseline in men taking fenugreek and 9 percent in men taking placebo, and that the only measure on which fenugreek beat placebo was testosterone in saliva. Lee-Ødegård and colleagues randomized 100 men aged 40 to 80, median age about 52, to placebo or 600, 1,200 or 1,800 mg a day of Trigozim for 12 weeks, sampling blood and saliva at baseline and at weeks 2, 6 and 12; 95 men completed. This is the only fenugreek trial with more than one dose above 300 mg and the only one to measure testosterone in saliva, which contains only the unbound hormone. Plasma total testosterone rose 13.0 percent across the combined fenugreek arms, which was significant against baseline and not against the 9.0 percent rise on placebo, with a p-value of 0.122. The free testosterone index rose 16.3 percent against 11.3 percent on placebo, p 0.059. No individual dose separated from placebo on either blood measure. Salivary testosterone rose 31.1 percent across fenugreek arms and the difference from placebo, reported as 37.2 percent, was significant at p 0.042, with the 1,800 mg arm up 19.6 percent. Sex hormone-binding globulin did not change. The men were asked about erections, fitness, vitality, sexual desire and sexual enjoyment, and there were no differences between groups on any of them. The 1,800 mg group lost 1.1 kg. The trial was financed by PurOmega, which markets the product, and the authors disclosed stock and employment at the laboratory that ran the assays. The honest reading is that a placebo group of men over 40 gained 9 percent in plasma testosterone over 12 weeks of being enrolled in a trial, that fenugreek added a few points to that which the trial was not powered to detect, and that the saliva finding is a single positive secondary outcome in a trial with several negative ones.
The Placebo Group Gained 9 Percent. Fenugreek Beat It Only in Saliva.
Percent change from baseline over 12 weeks in the Lee-Ødegård 2024 trial, published in PLOS One, in which 100 men aged 40 to 80 were randomized to placebo or 600, 1,200 or 1,800 mg a day of Trigozim fenugreek extract, with 95 completing. Bars show all fenugreek doses combined against placebo. Plasma total testosterone rose 13.0 percent on fenugreek and 9.0 percent on placebo, p 0.122. The free testosterone index rose 16.3 percent against 11.3 percent, p 0.059. Salivary testosterone, which contains only unbound hormone, rose 31.1 percent on fenugreek, and the between-group difference of 37.2 percent was significant at p 0.042; the placebo value shown is derived from that reported difference and is approximate. No individual dose separated from placebo on either blood measure. Sex hormone-binding globulin did not change. The men reported no differences from placebo in erections, vitality, fitness, sexual desire or sexual enjoyment. The 1,800 mg arm lost 1.1 kg. The trial was financed by PurOmega, which markets the product, and its authors disclosed stock and employment at the laboratory that ran the assays.
- Trigozim, all doses
- Placebo
Does fenugreek make men stronger or leaner?
Three of the four trials that paired fenugreek with a supervised training programme found larger strength gains or larger fat loss than placebo, and in two of those three testosterone did not change, so the strength effect does not depend on the hormone effect. Poole 2010 is the strongest result. Forty-nine resistance-trained men, mean age 20 to 21, did eight weeks of supervised lifting on 500 mg of Torabolic or placebo. Leg press one-repetition maximum rose 84.6 kg on fenugreek against 48.0 kg on placebo. Bench press rose 9.1 kg against 4.3 kg. Body fat fell 2.3 percentage points against 0.4. Free testosterone in the same men fell slightly on fenugreek and rose on placebo. Wilborn 2010, in 30 trained men on 500 mg for eight weeks, found body fat fell 1.77 percentage points against 0.55 on placebo and reported a total testosterone rise of 0.97 ng/mL on fenugreek against a fall of 2.10 ng/mL on placebo, a between-group difference driven mostly by the placebo group going down. Rao 2020, in 98 men who completed eight weeks of calisthenics, found leg press rose 20.7 kg at 600 mg, 26.2 kg at 300 mg and 10.7 kg on placebo, with both fenugreek arms significantly ahead of placebo and the lower dose ahead of the higher; bench press rose 5.1, 3.3 and 4.1 kg with no between-group difference; the 600 mg group lost 1.2 kg of body weight and moved from 77.1 to 78.7 percent lean mass by DXA, and it was the only arm with a testosterone rise. Wankhede 2016 is the exception: in 55 young men, leg press rose 7.0 kg on Fenu-FG and 12.1 kg on placebo, bench press one-repetition maximum barely moved in either group, and the fenugreek advantage was confined to repetitions to failure and a fall in body fat from 6.3 to 4.6 percent in men who were already at 6 percent body fat by the trial's measurement. The 2026 meta-analysis pooled the training trials and found a mean difference of 4.86 kg in bench press and 1.37 percentage points of body fat in favour of fenugreek. Those are modest, consistent effects over eight weeks in young trained men. Whether they hold in a 50-year-old is not something any fenugreek trial has tested, because every training trial enrolled men under 48.
Stronger Legs in Three Trials. More Testosterone in One.
Gain in leg press one-repetition maximum, in kilograms, on fenugreek versus placebo in the three supervised training trials that reported it. Poole 2010 gave 49 resistance-trained men 500 mg a day of Torabolic for eight weeks and reported leg press gains of 84.6 kg against 48.0 kg and bench press gains of 9.1 kg against 4.3 kg, with body fat falling 2.3 percentage points against 0.4, while free testosterone fell slightly on fenugreek and rose on placebo. Rao 2020 gave 138 men aged 25 to 47 600 mg, 300 mg or placebo through eight weeks of calisthenics and found leg press rose 20.7 kg, 26.2 kg and 10.7 kg respectively, with both fenugreek arms ahead of placebo and the lower dose ahead of the higher; only the 600 mg arm showed a testosterone rise. Wankhede 2016 gave 60 men aged 18 to 35 600 mg of Fenu-FG through eight weeks of lifting and found the placebo group gained more on leg press, 12.1 kg against 7.0 kg, with the fenugreek advantage confined to repetitions to failure and body fat. The 2026 meta-analysis pooled a 4.86 kg advantage in bench press and a 1.37 percentage point advantage in body fat for fenugreek. Every training trial enrolled men under 48, all were funded by the extract manufacturer, and the strength results arrive with or without a change in the hormone.
- Fenugreek
- Placebo
Does fenugreek lower DHT?
Probably slightly, in one trial: Poole 2010 found dihydrotestosterone fell from 1,263 to 1,144 pg/mL over eight weeks on fenugreek and rose from 1,187 to 1,258 on placebo, a between-group interaction with a p-value of 0.033, while Wilborn 2010 found no change in DHT and no fenugreek trial since has reported it. The 5-alpha-reductase hypothesis matters because it cuts both ways. If fenugreek blocks conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, a small rise in total testosterone is the expected result, and a 9 percent fall in DHT alongside it is consistent with that. But dihydrotestosterone is the androgen that drives libido, erectile tissue and prostate growth more potently than testosterone itself, and a supplement sold for sexual function that lowers the most potent sexual androgen is at least a paradox. The clinical 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, finasteride and dutasteride, lower DHT by 70 to 90 percent and raise total testosterone by 10 to 20 percent, and a minority of men taking them report reduced libido and erectile difficulty. A 9 percent DHT fall is nowhere near that magnitude, and the 2016 Rao trial in older men found sexual function improved rather than worsened, so no trial has shown harm from this effect. It is also the most plausible reason a 2020 Gencor-funded trial tested Testofen in 100 men with benign prostate enlargement; that trial did not find a testosterone rise, and the 2026 meta-analysis noted that removing it from the pooled estimate raised the effect on total testosterone from a standardized mean difference of 0.25 to 0.34. The DHT question deserves a dedicated trial with a modern assay and has not had one.
Stronger Legs in Three Trials. More Testosterone in One.
Gain in leg press one-repetition maximum, in kilograms, on fenugreek versus placebo in the three supervised training trials that reported it. Poole 2010 gave 49 resistance-trained men 500 mg a day of Torabolic for eight weeks and reported leg press gains of 84.6 kg against 48.0 kg and bench press gains of 9.1 kg against 4.3 kg, with body fat falling 2.3 percentage points against 0.4, while free testosterone fell slightly on fenugreek and rose on placebo. Rao 2020 gave 138 men aged 25 to 47 600 mg, 300 mg or placebo through eight weeks of calisthenics and found leg press rose 20.7 kg, 26.2 kg and 10.7 kg respectively, with both fenugreek arms ahead of placebo and the lower dose ahead of the higher; only the 600 mg arm showed a testosterone rise. Wankhede 2016 gave 60 men aged 18 to 35 600 mg of Fenu-FG through eight weeks of lifting and found the placebo group gained more on leg press, 12.1 kg against 7.0 kg, with the fenugreek advantage confined to repetitions to failure and body fat. The 2026 meta-analysis pooled a 4.86 kg advantage in bench press and a 1.37 percentage point advantage in body fat for fenugreek. Every training trial enrolled men under 48, all were funded by the extract manufacturer, and the strength results arrive with or without a change in the hormone.
- Fenugreek
- Placebo
Does fenugreek improve libido or sexual function?
Yes, on self-report questionnaires in two of the three trials that asked, and in the earliest of those trials sexual function improved while testosterone did not change at all, which is the clearest evidence that whatever fenugreek does for libido is not routed through the hormone. Steels, Rao and Vitetta in 2011 gave 60 healthy men aged 25 to 52 600 mg a day of Testofen with magnesium, zinc and vitamin B6, or placebo, for six weeks, with the Derogatis Interview for Sexual Functioning as the primary outcome. The fenugreek group improved significantly on the sexual arousal and orgasm sub-domains and on the total score, reported better energy and muscle strength, and showed no change in mood or sleep. Serum testosterone and prolactin stayed within the reference range and did not differ from placebo. Rao 2016, in men aged 43 to 70, found the improvements in Aging Males' Symptoms score, Derogatis arousal and drive scores, morning erection frequency and sexual activity frequency described above. Lee-Ødegård 2024, in men aged 40 to 80 on three doses of a different extract, found no difference from placebo on erections, sexual desire or sexual enjoyment. The 2026 meta-analysis pooled the Derogatis results and found a mean difference of 16.97 points in favour of fenugreek, and pooled Aging Males' Symptoms scores and found a difference of 4.56 points, both favouring fenugreek, both from trials the authors rated at some concern or high risk of bias, with selection of the reported result the most common problem. Two of the three positive sexual function trials were funded by Gencor and led by the same investigator. Fenugreek seeds have a strong maple-like smell that transfers to sweat and urine within days, from the compound sotolon, and none of the published trials reports testing whether participants could tell which capsule they were taking. In a trial whose primary outcome is how a man rates his own arousal, that matters.
Two Hormones Moved in the Older Men. Five Did Not.
Percent change from baseline over 12 weeks in the Testofen arm of the Rao 2016 trial, published in The Aging Male, in which 120 healthy men aged 43 to 70 took 600 mg a day of Testofen or placebo. Total testosterone rose from 354 to 398 ng/dL, a 12.4 percent increase, and calculated free testosterone from 241 to 264 pmol/L, a 9.5 percent increase; the authors reported both as small but significantly greater than the change on placebo. DHEA-S, androstenedione, estradiol, sex hormone-binding globulin and prolactin did not change in either group and are plotted at zero. The primary outcome was the Aging Males' Symptoms questionnaire, which fell more on Testofen than on placebo; morning erections rose from about one a week to two or three, and sexual activity from once or twice a month to about weekly, on Testofen only. The trial was funded by Gencor Pacific, the maker of Testofen. A 44 ng/dL rise from a starting point of 354 is about the size of the difference between a morning and an afternoon blood draw and leaves a man in the reference range he started in.
Who paid for the trials, and does it change the reading?
Eight of the thirteen studies in the 2026 systematic review involved funding or product supply from the manufacturer of the extract tested, none of the thirteen was rated at low risk of bias, and the two largest positive trials were funded by Gencor Pacific and led by the same investigator, so the funding pattern should lower confidence in the size of the effects without erasing them. Gencor funded Steels 2011, Rao 2016, the Rao 2020 calisthenics trial and the Rao 2020 prostate trial, all of Testofen. Indus Biotech funded Poole 2010 and Wankhede 2016, and Wankhede's co-authors were Indus employees. PurOmega funded Lee-Ødegård 2024 and its authors held stock in the assay laboratory. Cepham makes Furosap, tested in Guo 2018 and Maheshwari 2017. That leaves Wilborn 2010, with 30 men, as the only trial without a clear commercial sponsor in the author disclosures, and its result was a fall in the placebo group. The 2026 review applied the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and rated 11 of 13 studies as having some concerns and 2 as high risk, with selective reporting of results the most common issue: several trials measured more outcomes than they reported, and several reported within-group changes prominently where the between-group comparison was null. The review graded the certainty of evidence for both total and free testosterone as very low and concluded that current evidence does not support clinical or commercial testosterone-boosting claims. An earlier meta-analysis by Mansoori and colleagues in Phytotherapy Research in 2020, with four trials, had called the effect on total testosterone significant; adding two more trials and 200 more men brought the pooled effect down to a standardized mean difference of 0.25, which is the boundary between small and negligible. That is what commercial trial programmes tend to look like from the outside: early positive trials that are smaller and more favourable than the ones that follow.
Nine Placebo-Controlled Trials, About 700 Men, Four Positive Results on Total Testosterone
Number of men randomized in each double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a standardized fenugreek seed extract that measured testosterone, coloured green where total testosterone rose relative to placebo and grey where it did not or where total testosterone was not the reported outcome. Wilborn 2010 reported a rise of 0.97 ng/mL on fenugreek against a fall of 2.10 ng/mL on placebo in 30 trained men. Poole 2010 measured free rather than total testosterone and found it fell slightly on fenugreek. Steels 2011 found testosterone unchanged within the reference range. Wankhede 2016 found total testosterone rose 11.8 percent on Fenu-FG and 8.7 percent on placebo, not significant, with the significant result confined to free testosterone. Rao 2016 reported a rise from 354 to 398 ng/dL in men aged 43 to 70. Guo 2018 in 40 athletes contributed a positive result to the 2026 pooled estimate. Rao 2020 found a 1.3 nmol/L rise at 600 mg and none at 300 mg. The Rao 2020 prostate trial did not find a rise, and removing it strengthened the pooled estimate. Lee-Ødegård 2024 found a 13 percent rise on fenugreek against 9 percent on placebo, not significant. The 2017 Maheshwari series in 50 men is not shown because it had no placebo group. Eight of the thirteen studies in the 2026 review involved the manufacturer of the extract tested.
Is fenugreek safe to take?
In the randomized trials, at 300 to 1,800 mg a day of extract for up to 12 weeks, fenugreek produced no serious adverse events attributed to the product and no meaningful changes in liver enzymes, creatinine, lipids or prostate-specific antigen, and the practical concerns for a man over 40 are its effect on blood sugar, its allergen status and its smell. The 2026 review found that eight of thirteen studies reported safety information and none reported a serious adverse event attributable to fenugreek, though it noted the denominators were often unclear. Lee-Ødegård 2024 tracked C-reactive protein, alanine aminotransferase and creatinine and found slight increases within normal ranges that did not differ from placebo. Rao 2020 recorded one serious adverse event, a knee injury in a man with a pre-existing knee problem, and no product-related events. Fenugreek lowers fasting blood glucose; that is its oldest medicinal use and the subject of its largest meta-analyses. A man taking metformin, a sulfonylurea, insulin or a GLP-1 medication should treat fenugreek as an additional glucose-lowering agent and watch for symptoms of low blood sugar. Fenugreek is a legume and cross-reacts with peanut and chickpea allergy; men with those allergies should not take it. It contains coumarin-like compounds and is conventionally flagged as a theoretical interaction with warfarin, though no trial has documented a bleeding event. It stimulates uterine contraction and is contraindicated in pregnancy, which is not a concern for the men reading this but is for anyone sharing a supplement cabinet. The maple syrup odour in sweat and urine is harmless, appears within two to three days, and is the reason the herb is on the list of causes of a false diagnosis of maple syrup urine disease in infants whose mothers take it. Isolated case reports of liver injury exist and are rare; fenugreek does not carry the liver signal that ashwagandha does, and no regulator has restricted it as a supplement.
The Placebo Group Gained 9 Percent. Fenugreek Beat It Only in Saliva.
Percent change from baseline over 12 weeks in the Lee-Ødegård 2024 trial, published in PLOS One, in which 100 men aged 40 to 80 were randomized to placebo or 600, 1,200 or 1,800 mg a day of Trigozim fenugreek extract, with 95 completing. Bars show all fenugreek doses combined against placebo. Plasma total testosterone rose 13.0 percent on fenugreek and 9.0 percent on placebo, p 0.122. The free testosterone index rose 16.3 percent against 11.3 percent, p 0.059. Salivary testosterone, which contains only unbound hormone, rose 31.1 percent on fenugreek, and the between-group difference of 37.2 percent was significant at p 0.042; the placebo value shown is derived from that reported difference and is approximate. No individual dose separated from placebo on either blood measure. Sex hormone-binding globulin did not change. The men reported no differences from placebo in erections, vitality, fitness, sexual desire or sexual enjoyment. The 1,800 mg arm lost 1.1 kg. The trial was financed by PurOmega, which markets the product, and its authors disclosed stock and employment at the laboratory that ran the assays.
- Trigozim, all doses
- Placebo
How should a man over 40 use this evidence?
Treat fenugreek as a supplement with a small, uncertain effect on total testosterone, no reliable effect on free testosterone, a modest and fairly consistent effect on strength and body fat in young men who train, and a sexual function signal that appears in industry-funded questionnaires and not in the one trial that used a different extract, and decide accordingly. The most relevant trial for a man over 40 found a 44 ng/dL rise in total testosterone, from 354 to 398, over 12 weeks at 600 mg a day of Testofen. That is about the size of the difference between a morning blood draw and an afternoon one, and it leaves a man in the same reference range he started in. A man with a testosterone level that is genuinely low, below about 300 ng/dL on two morning samples with symptoms, is not going to be moved into the normal range by fenugreek, and the trials did not enrol such men. A man in the normal range who lifts will probably gain slightly more strength and lose slightly more fat over eight weeks on 500 to 600 mg a day, on the evidence of three trials in men under 48, and he should not expect that to be because his testosterone went up. A man whose interest is libido has two positive trials and one null one to weigh, and should notice that the positive ones came from the company that sells the extract. If he tries it, 600 mg a day of a standardized seed extract for 12 weeks is the dose and duration with the most data, a morning testosterone measurement before and after would tell him whether he is one of the men in whom it moves, he should expect to smell of maple syrup, and he should account for it as a glucose-lowering agent if he takes anything else that lowers glucose. Then he should read the 2026 meta-analysis, which is the most careful summary of this literature that exists, and take its conclusion at face value: the evidence does not currently support the testosterone-boosting claim, and the parts of the evidence that hold up are about the gym, not the hormone.
The Fraction Fenugreek Is Sold On Goes Up, Down and Nowhere
Percent change from baseline in free testosterone on fenugreek versus placebo across the four placebo-controlled trials that reported it. Poole 2010, in 49 resistance-trained men on 500 mg a day of Torabolic for eight weeks, found free testosterone went from 40 to 36 ng/mL on fenugreek and from 57 to 67 on placebo. Wankhede 2016, in 55 men aged 18 to 35 who completed eight weeks on 600 mg a day of Fenu-FG while lifting, found it rose from 17.8 to 35.3 ng/dL on fenugreek and from 21.3 to 31.7 on placebo, a between-group difference that reached significance and a placebo rise of almost 50 percent. Rao 2020, in 98 men who completed eight weeks of calisthenics, found free testosterone at 0.32 nmol/L before and after 600 mg of Testofen and 0.31 and 0.30 on placebo. Lee-Ødegård 2024 reported the free testosterone index, which rose 16.3 percent across all doses and 11.3 percent on placebo, p 0.059. The 2026 meta-analysis pooled five trials and 334 men and found a standardized mean difference of 0.08 with a confidence interval from minus 0.48 to plus 0.63. If fenugreek freed testosterone from its binding protein, this chart would show a consistent rise and sex hormone-binding globulin would fall; neither happens.
- Fenugreek
- Placebo
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