The evidence
We would rather show you the numbers.
Each of the four Ashford preparations has been tested in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial run by an independent research partner, over twelve to sixteen weeks. What follows is what those trials measured, including the places where the difference was modest and where both groups improved.
The findings
What the trials showed
Each finding below is plotted from its own trial. Where both groups improved, both are shown. The distance between them is the result, not the height of either bar.
Free testosterone rose 14% in four months. On the placebo, 4%.1
Ninety-six men aged 50 to 68 took either Formula No. II (tongkat ali 400 mg, ashwagandha KSM-66 600 mg, zinc 15 mg daily) or an identical placebo for sixteen weeks. Blood was drawn fasted, before nine in the morning, at baseline and at each month. The line plots change from each man’s own baseline, so a man who began high and a man who began low count equally.
Free testosterone is the fraction not bound to protein, and therefore the fraction the body can actually use. It governs muscle maintenance, bone density and drive, and in most men it declines by roughly one per cent a year after forty.
Seven men in ten reported easier movement by month three. Four in ten did on the placebo.2
One hundred and eight men aged 52 to 70 took Formula No. III (glucosamine sulfate 1,500 mg, chondroitin sulfate 1,200 mg, undenatured type II collagen 40 mg daily) or an identical placebo, completing a validated joint-comfort questionnaire every two weeks for sixteen weeks. This is what they reported, not what a scan measured. Self-reported outcomes are softer evidence than an assay, and we would rather say so than dress it up.
Cartilage has no blood supply of its own. It is fed by the fluid around it and repairs slowly, which is why comfort in movement changes over months rather than days, and why it is measured by questionnaire rather than by scan.
LDL cholesterol fell 12% in four months. On the placebo, 2%.3
Eighty-four men aged 50 to 70 took either Formula No. I (bergamot extract 500 mg, omega-3 1,000 mg, coenzyme Q10 200 mg daily) or an identical placebo for sixteen weeks, with a fasted lipid panel each month. Mean LDL at entry was 138 mg/dL.
LDL is the particle that carries cholesterol into the artery wall, and its concentration predicts cardiovascular risk more reliably than total cholesterol does. That is why it is the number worth following, and the one a physician will ask about.
Serum vitamin D rose 18 ng/mL against 3 on the placebo. Four men in five reached sufficiency.4
Seventy-two men aged 50 to 69 took either the daily multivitamin (vitamin D3 2,000 IU, zinc 15 mg, boron 3 mg) or an identical placebo for twelve weeks, with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D measured at baseline and at the end. Mean at entry was 24 ng/mL, below the 30 ng/mL threshold for sufficiency.
Vitamin D is measured in the blood as 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and a reading below 30 ng/mL is generally treated as insufficient. It governs how much of the calcium in your food the body can absorb at all, which is why it appears in a bone formula as well as in a multivitamin.
Dosed to the level the research used, not the level that fits a label5
This is the one comparison on the page that needs no trial of ours. The doses used in published research are a matter of record, and so is what sits in a typical retail capsule. In March 2026 we bought thirty-one competing preparations and read their labels.
A compound studied at 1,500 mg does not do 1,500 mg of work at 200 mg. Underdosing is the commonest reason a supplement containing the right ingredients produces no measurable effect.
The Advisory Board
Formulated under medical review
Members of the advisory board consult on formulation and dosing. Statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
A graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Whitcombe completed his orthopedic residency at Weill Cornell Medicine. A board-certified surgeon with over 25 years in joint preservation and sports medicine, he served as Chief of Orthopedics at Halverson Regional Medical Center and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers on cartilage health and mobility.
Dr. Whitford earned her undergraduate degree at Princeton University and her MD from Yale School of Medicine, followed by a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Over three decades she directed the Center for Inflammatory Disease at Bramwell University, and her research on chronic inflammation has been cited in more than 2,000 studies.
A Rice University graduate, Dr. Reyes received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his endocrinology fellowship at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. A board-certified specialist in metabolic health and hormone optimization in men, he is a frequent expert voice in national health media.
Dr. Nandakumar studied at UC Berkeley before earning her MD from Harvard Medical School and completing her cardiology fellowship at UCSF. Now Director of Preventive Cardiology at St. Aldric Heart Institute, she has led clinical research on lipid management and is recognized as a leading voice in women’s heart health.
Trial designs
Each study, in one sentence
The design of a trial decides how much its result is worth. All five are described below in the same terms, so they can be weighed against each other and against anyone else's. Trials one to four were run by Thornbury Clinical Research Partners under protocols approved in advance by the Kingsbridge Independent Review Board.
- 1Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-designed trial evaluating free and total testosterone in 96 healthy men ages 50–68 over 16 weeks, using Formula No. II. 89 completed; analyzed by intention to treat.
- 2Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-designed trial assessing joint comfort and mobility by validated questionnaire in 108 healthy men ages 52–70 over 16 weeks, using Formula No. III. 97 completed; analyzed by intention to treat.
- 3Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-designed trial assessing serum lipid markers in 84 healthy men ages 50–70 over 16 weeks, using Formula No. I. 80 completed; analyzed by intention to treat.
- 4Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-designed trial assessing serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, zinc and boron status in 72 healthy men ages 50–69 over 12 weeks, using the Daily Multivitamin. 70 completed; analyzed by intention to treat.
- 5Label survey of 31 competing preparations sold in the United States, conducted by the house in March 2026, comparing declared dose per daily serving against the dose used in the cited literature.
Questions
What men ask before they order
Who ran these trials?
Thornbury Clinical Research Partners, an independent contract research organization, handled recruitment, data collection and analysis for all four. The house commissioned and paid for the work, as almost every nutrition trial is commissioned and paid for by someone. Every protocol was approved in advance by the Kingsbridge Independent Review Board, and the endpoints were fixed before the first man enrolled, which is what stops a result being chosen after the fact.
Why are the placebo groups improving too?
Because men in a supervised study improve for reasons that have nothing to do with a capsule. They sleep better, they move more, and they know someone is measuring them. On the joint trial the placebo group improved substantially: four men in ten reported easier movement. The number that matters is the distance between the two groups, not the height of either one.
What does third-party tested actually mean here?
Every batch is assayed by a laboratory that has no stake in the result, for identity, potency, heavy metals and microbial contamination. Identity confirms the material is what the supplier said it was; potency confirms the milligram figure on the label is the milligram figure in the capsule. A batch that misses on any of the four is not filled, and is not sold at a discount elsewhere.
How long before I would notice anything?
In the testosterone trial the difference from placebo was already measurable at month one, but it did not reach its full size until month four. Joint comfort was the slowest to move, which is what you would expect from a tissue with no blood supply of its own. Between four and eleven per cent of men left each trial before it ended, and some who finished reported nothing at all. The thirty-day return exists for exactly that case.
Can I take these alongside a prescription?
Ask your physician, and take the label with you. The interactions worth raising specifically: ashwagandha with thyroid medication and sedatives, omega-3 at this dose with anticoagulants, and zinc with certain antibiotics. Tongkat ali has not been studied alongside hormone therapy, so we would not recommend combining them.