Editors note:

Having settled in Southeast Asia primarily for sexual purposes, Serge, who has started this site, has lived in the part of the world for a good number of years. While his ability to generate love affairs has constantly improved the longer he has been here, his physical capabilities in the lave arena had decreased noticeably at around midlife (mid-40s). He is now beyond 50 (and has assigned other people to handle the day-to-day maintenance of his websites), and in much better shape than he was 10 years ago. And while the Southeast Asian region is supplying him with better opportunities now than he ever had, the Southeast Asian herbal tongkat ali has been, so he writes, instrumental in restoring his physical and mental fitness for a life full of sex.

Here further comments from Serge:

I have been working in Southeast Asia as a foreign correspondent for German newspapers and radio stations, and I have written a number of conventional travel guides. But in as much as I have grown financially independent, I have attended to projects that were personally important to me.

Gathering scientific and empirical data on tongkat ali, for example. Thus, I have initiated to sort-of open-label clinical trials on tongkat ali extract (supplied by the Indonesian tongkat ali plantation Sumatra Pasak Bumi, with website tongkatali.org).

We have run a first tongkat ali trial in 2003, and I have helped Sumatra Pasak Bumi to set up a second trial in 2004.

Our 2003 trial was geared towards collecting empirical data on tongkat ali usage. Trial participants received 2 free 15-gram samples of 1:50 tongkat ali extract and were encouraged to keep a diary on their sexual activity (several reports have been integrated in the "Tongkat Ali research" section of this website).

The tongkat ali extract was provided as a powder, very similar to an instant coffee powder (but beating coffee in the degree of bitterness). I did not make specific dosage recommendations, but rather recommend that participants started with a very low initial dosage, and if this didn't have the desired effect, to work themselves up to higher dosages.

I myself started with a dosage of 1 gram of extract some 2 to 3 hours before sexual activities.

Many trial participants reported an improvement of some sexual parameters. The strongest pro-sexual effect was reported by older trial participants, and those who had sexual problems to start with.

Sumatra Pasak Bumi's 2004 open-label clinical trial is designed to measure the effect tongkat ali has on levels of testosterone, especially free testosterone. During our 2003 trial, some participants had before-and-after laboratory tests done on testosterone and free testosterone, and in each case, a substantial increase was seen for free testosterone.

This result fitted nicely with the common theory that tongkat ali partially works by increasing the net synthesis of testosterone, as well as by binding to SHBG, thus increasing the plasma percentage of free testosterone (which was previously bound to SHBG).

So, in Sumatra Pasak Bumi's 2004 trial, the aim is to collect laboratory data on how well tongkat ali raises levels of testosterone and free testosterone.

For further details on the 2004 trial, please see the following page:

http://www.tongkatali.org/clinicaltrial.htm