The Best Adaptogens for Men, Ranked by What the Studies Found

Search for the best adaptogens for men and the same seven names come up: ashwagandha, rhodiola, tongkat ali, maca, cordyceps, shilajit and pine pollen. This list ranks them by what published studies in people measured, with the year, the number of men and the result. It counts up from seventh place to first, and pine pollen finishes on top.

What counts as an adaptogen

The word comes from the Soviet Union. The toxicologist N. V. Lazarev introduced it to describe substances that raise "the state of non-specific resistance" to stress, according to a 2010 review by Alexander Panossian and Georg Wikman in the journal Pharmaceuticals.

A man searching "adaptogens for men" usually wants more drive or a higher testosterone number, and the ranking is sorted that way.

The best adaptogens for men, ranked

7. Cordyceps

Cordyceps is a fungus that grows on caterpillar larvae on the Tibetan plateau. In 2010, Chen and colleagues gave 20 healthy adults aged 50 to 75 a lab-grown Cs-4 extract or a placebo for 12 weeks (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine). The Cs-4 group improved on metabolic threshold and ventilatory threshold, two treadmill measures of how hard you can work before you tire.

6. Rhodiola

Rhodiola rosea grows in cold mountain and Arctic regions. In 2009, Olsson and colleagues gave 60 men and women aged 20 to 55 with stress-related fatigue either 576 mg a day of the SHR-5 extract or a placebo for 28 days (Planta Medica). The SHR-5 group scored better on a burnout scale and on attention tests, and their cortisol response on waking changed compared with placebo.

5. Maca

Maca is a root vegetable grown high in the Peruvian Andes. Gonzales and colleagues gave 57 men aged 21 to 56 either 1.5 g or 3 g of maca a day, or a placebo, for 12 weeks (Andrologia, 2002). The maca groups reported more sexual desire. Their serum testosterone and estradiol did not change, and the authors put that in the title.

4. Shilajit

Shilajit is a black, tar-like resin that seeps from rock in the Himalayas. Pandit and colleagues gave 75 men aged 45 to 55 purified shilajit (250 mg twice a day) or a placebo for 90 days (Andrologia, 2016). Total testosterone in the shilajit group rose about 20% and free testosterone about 19%.

3. Tongkat ali

Tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia) is the root of a Southeast Asian shrub. Henkel and colleagues gave 400 mg a day to 13 physically active men and 12 women aged 57 to 72 for five weeks (Phytotherapy Research, 2014). Total and free testosterone went up significantly, and so did muscle force measured with a hand grip.

2. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is the best known of the Ayurvedic roots. In 2019, Lopresti and colleagues ran a 16 week crossover trial in overweight men aged 40 to 70 (American Journal of Men's Health). Of 57 men who started, 43 finished both phases. On ashwagandha, testosterone rose 14.7% more than on placebo, and DHEA-S rose 18% more.

1. Pine pollen, and why it ranks first for men

Pine pollen is the yellow dust the male cones of a pine tree release each spring. Each grain has two small air sacs that carry it on the wind. In China it is 松花粉 (song hua fen), recorded in herbal texts since the Tang dynasty and listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020). Our complete guide to pine pollen covers that history and how the pollen is gathered.

For men, the story starts in a lab in 1971. M. Šaden-Krehula, M. Tajić and D. Kolbah analysed pollen from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and published their results in Experientia. They isolated testosterone, epitestosterone and androstenedione. It was the first plant in which testosterone had been found.

What the two studies in men found

In 2024, Neil Wolkodoff and colleagues published a pilot in the Annals of Clinical and Medical Case Reports. Ten men aged 47 to 78 took a pine pollen tincture under the tongue, morning and evening, for 8 weeks. Their average total testosterone went from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL. Their qADAM scores, a questionnaire that asks a man about his drive, erections, energy and mood, went from 23.9 to 31.7.

The same group published a second pilot in May 2025 with 11 younger men aged 25 to 50, on the same 8 week schedule. Free testosterone, the share in the blood that isn't bound to proteins, went from 10.48 to 11.72 ng/dL. SHBG, the protein that binds testosterone and holds it, fell from 29.1 to 27.4 nmol/L.

Pine pollen is the one adaptogen on this list where the plant itself was found to contain testosterone and where men's total testosterone, free testosterone and SHBG have all been measured after taking it.

What men report

Outside the studies, men who take pine pollen every day mention the same two things first. Stronger morning wood is one. More drive is the other, in the bedroom and at work. For how men fit it around training and the working week, read our post on pine pollen for men.

Mara's spagyric Pinus radiata tincture

The 2024 study used a tincture held under the tongue, and that is the form Mara makes. The pollen is wild-harvested Pinus radiata. It is cracked-cell, which means the tough outer wall of each grain is broken open before extraction. Spagyric means the pollen is extracted, then the minerals left behind are returned to the liquid, so the whole plant ends up in the bottle. Simple ingredients: premium quality extract.

You fill the dropper, hold it under your tongue for 20 to 30 seconds and swallow, or stir it into water or coffee. The taste is soft and lightly earthy, with a faint sweetness. One to two droppers a day, and a 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days. The bottle goes in the gym bag and the dose is the same every time, with no scoop or shaker, and no powder bag letting in air and light each time you open it. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction, but the gold standard is dark Miron glass, which keeps light off the extract and is what Mara uses.

How to pick between the best adaptogen supplements for men

Start with what you want to change. For the number on your blood test and how you feel in the morning, pine pollen has the most direct record in men, with ashwagandha, tongkat ali and shilajit behind it. Maca is for desire. Rhodiola and cordyceps sit at the fatigue and endurance end.

If you want to see your own numbers, ask for total testosterone, free testosterone and SHBG before you start and again at 8 weeks, the same markers the pine pollen studies used. Take both blood draws early in the morning.

Pine Pollen considerations

Our recommendation: "Contains alcohol. If you're pregnant, nursing or taking medication, ask your doctor before using it."

Questions people ask

Do adaptogens work?

Several have trials in men with measured results. Testosterone rose more on ashwagandha (Lopresti, 2019) and shilajit (Pandit, 2016) than on placebo, and in the 2024 pine pollen pilot average total testosterone went from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL.

Which adaptogen raises testosterone in men?

Pine pollen, ashwagandha, tongkat ali and shilajit all have studies in men that reported higher testosterone. Pine pollen is the one in which testosterone itself was found, in Scots pine pollen in 1971.

How long do adaptogens take to show results?

The trials ran from 28 days (rhodiola) to 16 weeks (ashwagandha). Both pine pollen pilots measured men at 8 weeks, which is about two 50 ml bottles at 1 to 2 droppers a day.