I want to clear something up about the different forms in which one can get tongkat ali. As others have noted, the ground root powder found in some rip-off formulations is mostly cellulose. Instead, the traditional way to use the root is to brew about 50 grams of chipped root in hot water to yield a thick, dark and bitter tea. (In a side note, roots can also be extracted using various organic solvents instead of hot water, but a whole different array of compounds are extracted, for which one can no longer rely on long traditional use as an indication of safety, and for which at least one study has demonstrated some toxicity.)
If a tea is made in this way from 50 grams of root and then boiled or otherwise evaporated to dryness, what is left is about 1 gram of a brown solid. Thus, the commonly sold “1:50” or “50:1” extract. If you dissolve 1 gram of such an extract in about 100 mL of hot water, you’ve basically reconstituted the traditional Malaysian tea. This is all pretty clear and understandable.
What is less clear is how suppliers produce “1:100” and “1:200” extract powders that are available. One trivial way to do this is to brew root chips less effectively so less water-extractable components are extracted, then to dry that tea down. You could easily get just half a gram of dried extract from 50 g of chipped root this way, and legitimately call it a 1:100 powder. But would it have twice the concentration of the active ingredients as the 1:50 powder. Doubtful. So how do suppliers make the 1:100 and 1:200 powders? I don’t know. More to the point, how strong are they relative to the 1:50 powder? I don’t know that for certain either, but here is a strong hint from the dosage information letter one can get from one of the reputable manufacturers:
For tongkat ali 1:50 extract, the standard dosage for
Men is 0.8 gram (800 mg) to 1.6 gram (1600 mg) per
Day. Weight lifting athletes may go to twice or even
Four times that dosage, taken at regular intervals
During the day.
For tongkat ali 1:200 extract, the standard dosage for
Men is 600 mg per day. Weight lifting athletes take up
To 2.4 gram (2400 mg) per day.
This suggests that their 1:200 powder is certainly not 4X as strong as their 1:50 extract, as the name might imply, but rather, between 1.3X and 2.7X as potent. This is the only place where I’ve seen information by which to judge relative potency of the various extract powders. Obviously, this information needs to be considered when deciding which extract to buy, I.e., which is most economical. Myself, I bought the 1:50 extract.
