Tribulus Aquaticus - Is There Science Behind This Muscle Building Herb?

Tribulus Aquaticus - Is There Science Behind This Muscle Building Herb?

Tribulus Aquaticus is an herbal extract sold as a muscle builder and anabolic steroid replacement. However, the data behind this supplement is shocking. Users report some benefits to the herb, but overall there is little to no data supporting its use as a sports supplement to increase or affect testosterone.

What is Tribulus Aquaticus?

Tribulus Aquaticus is a plant that has a similar name to the popular bodybuilding supplement Tribulus Terristris, but that's where the similarities end. Tribulus Aquaticus is in fact a plant known by the name of Tribulus lacusoris, Tribulus marinus, Trapa natans, Saligos, Caltrop (water) or better known as simple water chestnut. It seems that this is the simple water chestnut that you can find in any grocery store in the Asian center. Quite simply, it's just water chestnut, which is great for salads and stir-fries.

Many of the names for this herb are not available in pubmed, the leading authority on all published articles. However, Trapa natans identifies this herb as antioxidant. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to translate at all to how it claims to build muscle or replace steroids. Searching for Trapa natans and Tribulus Aquaticus for “strength, muscle, cortisol, exercise” yielded no results, making the inclusion of this ingredient in sports supplements a mystery. Water chestnut has never been used as a bodybuilding supplement, but this study shows that it may have powerful antioxidant properties. In fact, I could only find one article for one of the terms "Identification of the main phenolic compounds of Chinese water chestnut and their antioxidant activity. Molecules. 2007 Apr 25; 12 (4): 842-52". show no activity at all.

Is Tribulus Aquaticus good for building muscle?

Antioxidants may have a slight advantage for building muscle, but they will not replace steroids or significantly improve your performance. Antioxidants like Tribulus Aquaticus can prevent muscle soreness, which can ultimately lead to faster recovery. However, this has not been proven in the literature. As a supplement, Tribulus Aquaticus simply doesn't have much data to support its claims of replacing steroids or increasing testosterone.

To at least be considered for testosterone boosting or steroid replacement, an herb must have some basic studies showing increased testosterone levels, sperm count, semen quality, or testicular weight fluctuations. Tribulus Aquaticus has none of these characteristics. Until there is some published research on this herb, it may be useful as an antioxidant, but its effects on muscles are purely speculation.

Until there is some research on Tribulus Aquaticus that does anything for muscle building, it is best to avoid this ingredient as a bodybuilding supplement. If you want antioxidants, there are far better and more studied ones on the market like Vitamin E or CoQ10. It seems that the only thing this supplement has to offer is a similar name to Tribulus Terrestris, which can actually increase testosterone.

Inspired by Erin Raad