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Not medical advice. The Atlas is not a substitute for a clinician who can examine you.

Physta (Tongkat Ali)

Biotropics Malaysia, water-standardized extract

Evidence grade 3 of 5, Mixed. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.

The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.

FDA
Dietary ingredient (not FDA-evaluated for efficacy)

Reference only. Not medical advice.

What can go wrong

Much research is conducted by Malaysian groups with industry ties; independent replication is limited. Modest effects.

This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about physta (tongkat ali) in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.

Physta is a standardized, water-extracted Eurycoma longifolia from Biotropics Malaysia, backed by Malaysian government research. It is the extract used in several of the better-known tongkat ali trials, including work showing improvements in stress hormones and the testosterone-to-cortisol ratio. As with LJ100, much of the supporting research has Malaysian industry ties, and independent replication is more limited.

The Malaysian government-backed Tongkat Ali used in stress/T trials.

What people take it for

These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.

  • Stress reduction; testosterone/cortisol balance

What people get wrong

  • Often saidThe Physta studies prove tongkat ali works for everyone

    ActuallyEffects are clearest in stressed/aging men; the supporting research carries industry-tie caveats and limited independent replication.

Who profits, and who pushes back

Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.

At a glance

Supplier
Biotropics Malaysia
Process
Standardized water extract
Endpoint
Stress hormones, T:cortisol ratio

What this entry does not yet cover

What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Physta (Tongkat Ali). A short entry is not a safe entry.

  • Timeline. We have not built the dated record of research and regulatory events.
  • Cost and market. We have not documented what it sells for or who sells it.
  • Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
  • Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
  • What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
  • How it compares. We have not set it against the alternatives.
  • Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.
  • Where we land. We have not taken a position on this yet.

Sources

The studies below are named and described, but not linked. You cannot open them from here and check our reading against them, which means this page is our summary of the literature rather than a document you can verify. Weigh it accordingly until the links exist.

The studies that matter

  • Talbott et al. (Physta)2013

    200 mg/day, 4 weeks: improved stress mood state and ~16% lower cortisol with improved testosterone-to-cortisol ratio in stressed adults