Men who search for pine pollen for energy tend to describe the same thing. The alarm goes off and the get-up-and-go turns up an hour later, somewhere after the second coffee. By the last set at the gym the bar feels heavier than it did at 30. Pine pollen has a long record in Chinese herbal texts and Korean kitchens, and two recent pilot studies in men put numbers on what men had been reporting for years.
Why men take pine pollen for energy
The reports men give are specific. They talk about more drive and stronger mornings, including the morning wood a lot of men say had faded by their 40s. They want that same push to carry into the workday and into a training session.
Those reports line up with what researchers chose to measure. When Neil Wolkodoff's group set out to study pine pollen in men, they scored the men on a questionnaire built around everyday things: energy, sex drive, strength and how a man rates his work and his sport.
For the full background on the plant, the cones and how the pollen is collected, see our complete guide to pine pollen.
Ten men, eight weeks, one tincture
In September 2024, Neil Wolkodoff and colleagues published a pilot report in the Annals of Clinical and Medical Case Reports. Ten men aged 47 to 78 (mean age 63) took a pine pollen tincture under the tongue for eight weeks. The tincture was made from Masson pine pollen, 1 mL a day, split between a morning and an evening dose, five days on and two days off.
Average total testosterone went from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL. Nine of the ten men recorded an increase. Their average qADAM score went from 23.9 to 31.7, and that change carried a P value of 0.0035.
Total testosterone rose from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL in 8 weeks.
What the qADAM questionnaire asks a man
The qADAM (quantitative Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male) questionnaire is a short survey used in men's health research. Each question is scored from 1 to 5, and in the 2024 paper a total of 27 sits at "average". A move from 23.9 to 31.7 takes a group of men from below that line to well above it.
The questions themselves read like a list of the reasons men search this topic. The qADAM version listed in a study from urologist Larry Lipshultz's group asks:
- How would you rate your energy level?
- How would you rate your libido (sex drive)?
- How would you rate your strength/endurance?
- How would you rate your work performance over past 4 weeks?
- How would you rate your sports ability over past 4 weeks?
- How often do you fall asleep after dinner?
The full survey has 10 items, adding enjoyment of life, happiness, erection strength and height lost. The 2024 authors tabulated nine, leaving out height. A climb of nearly eight points means the men rated their own energy, drive and stamina higher at week eight.
Pine pollen benefits for men aged 25 to 50
In May 2025 the same group (Haase, Wolkodoff, Beal and Mordkin) published a second pilot in the same journal, this time with 11 men aged 25 to 50, mean age 40. Same tincture, same dose, same eight weeks.
Free testosterone, the share that circulates unbound, rose from 10.48 to 11.72 ng/dL, about 12%. SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin, the protein that holds testosterone in the blood) fell from 29.1 to 27.4 nmol/L. The men filled in a 10-item survey drawn from qADAM and two sexual function questionnaires. One of its questions was "How would you rate your overall energy?" The composite score went from 28.36 to 39.55, and the quality-of-life part (energy, strength and endurance, enjoyment of life, happiness, activity and sport) went from 13.09 to 19.45.
For more on what pine pollen means for men specifically, read pine pollen for men.
What's in the pollen
Pine pollen comes from the small male cones that release it each spring. Each grain carries two air sacs and a tough outer wall.
In 1971 M. Šaden-Krehula and colleagues reported in Experientia that they had isolated testosterone, epitestosterone and androstenedione from Scots pine pollen. It was the first time those three had been found in a plant. In 1996, L. Zhao, W. Windisch and M. Kirchgessner analysed Masson pine pollen for the Zeitschrift für Ernährungswissenschaft and measured crude protein at 12.7% in whole pollen and 13.1% once the grains were broken open.
The Chinese call it 松花粉 (song hua fen) and have written about it in herbal texts since the Tang dynasty. It is listed in the 2020 Chinese Pharmacopoeia. In Korea it goes into songhwa dasik, pressed tea cakes, and songhwa-milsu, a drink of pollen stirred into honey water.
Why a spagyric Pinus radiata tincture
Both studies used a tincture taken under the tongue, and that is the form Mara makes. Our Pine Pollen is wild-harvested, cracked-cell pollen of Pinus radiata. Cracking the wall is what opens each grain up, the same step Zhao's team took when they broke the pollen to measure it.
Spagyric is the old apothecary method. The pollen is extracted first, then the minerals left behind are returned to the liquid, so the whole plant ends up in the bottle. Simple ingredients: premium quality extract.
The taste is soft and lightly earthy, with a faint sweetness. There is no powder to mix and no capsules to count. A 50 ml dropper bottle lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day, and it fits in a gym bag or a desk drawer.
The bottle is dark Miron glass. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction for keeping light off an extract. Miron is the gold standard, and it is what Mara uses.
Pine Pollen – Spagyric Pine Pollen Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Wild-harvested, cracked-cell Pinus radiata pollen.
Add to bagA daily routine that fits a working week
The men in both studies split their dose between morning and evening and held it under the tongue. A routine with Mara's tincture can stay just as plain:
- First thing in the morning, before coffee, one dropper under the tongue. Hold it 20 to 30 seconds, then swallow.
- On training days, a second dropper about 30 minutes before you leave for the gym. Stir it into your water bottle if that's easier.
- On rest days, take the second dropper in the evening, the way the study men did.
Keep the bottle where you'll see it: next to the kettle, in the gym bag. Both studies ran on a five-days-on, two-days-off rhythm, which leaves the weekend free if you want it.
Pine Pollen considerations
Our recommendation: "Contains alcohol. If you're pregnant, nursing or taking medication, ask your doctor before using it."
Questions men ask about pine pollen
How long does pine pollen take to work for energy?
Both pilot studies ran for eight weeks and measured the men at the start and at the end. Give it the full eight weeks before you judge it.
What are the benefits of taking pine pollen?
In the 2024 pilot, total testosterone rose from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL and qADAM scores rose from 23.9 to 31.7. In the 2025 pilot, free testosterone rose from 10.48 to 11.72 ng/dL and SHBG fell.
Why do people say pine pollen is good for you?
Chinese herbal texts have recorded song hua fen since the Tang dynasty, and it appears in the 2020 Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Korean cooks make songhwa dasik tea cakes from it.
Is a tincture better than pine pollen powder?
Both human studies used a tincture under the tongue, and a dropper takes 30 seconds with nothing to mix. Mara's spagyric tincture uses cracked-cell Pinus radiata pollen in dark Miron glass.