Patrick's opinion on D-aspartic acid (D-aspartic acid)

The reader may already know something about D-aspartic acid before. For those who have never heard of D-aspartic acid, I would like to give you a brief overview. D-aspartic acid is the enantiomer of the amino acid L-aspartic acid found in food. Basically, this means that D-aspartic acid is the mirror image of L-aspartic acid. D-aspartic acid occurs naturally in the body of animals and is produced by the enzyme D-asparagine racemase from L-aspartic acid supplied in the diet. D-aspartic acid is known to be found in the highest concentrations in neuroendocrine tissues such as the pituitary gland, pineal gland and testicles.

Recent studies have shown that D-aspartic acid acts as a specific neurotransmitter in specialized parts of the nervous system involved in hormone production. D-aspartic acid has been shown to stimulate the release of LH and growth hormones by the pituitary gland. It has also been shown to have a direct stimulating effect on testosterone production in the testicles.

I have been studying D-aspartic acid for about 10 years and theorized long ago that it has the potential to increase testosterone levels in humans. I have also been experimenting with this product on athletes for the last few years (more on this below). During this period, I filed a patent for the use of D-aspartic acid to increase testosterone levels in humans.

Until October 27 of last year, nothing had ever been published showing that oral administration of D-aspartic acid increased testosterone production in humans. On that date, a study was published in Italy (Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2009, 7:120) that clearly shows that oral administration of D-aspartic acid increases testosterone levels in humans and lends credibility to my claims made in the patent application.

The Italian study showed that doses of about 3 grams resulted in an increase in testosterone levels and this increase peaked on the twelfth day (the last day of the study) with a value 43 percent higher than on day 0. LH levels were also slightly increased. The study used 23 men as subjects, all but 3 of whom showed a significant increase in testosterone levels. In addition, testosterone levels were still significantly elevated three days after discontinuation of D-aspartic acid. The results of this study strongly suggest that the amino acid accumulates in the target tissue and the concentration slowly decreases after cessation of use.

As I mentioned earlier, I had experimented with this amino acid myself on athletes (and myself) a few years before this study was published. However, there were a few differences between my experiments and the Italian study in the way it was used.

First of all, my estimate of an active dosage was significantly higher. I based my dosages on extrapolations from studies conducted with animals. By this I mean that I started with a dosage that was used in a study that showed an effect in hormone evaluation in animals. Using this dosage, I did some rough calculations and estimates to arrive at what I thought was an effective dosage for humans.

For example, in a study conducted with sheep, a D-aspartic acid dosage of 44.4 mg per kilogram of body weight was used and in a rat study, 133 mg per kilogram of body weight was used. Unfortunately, these doses were administered as injections (no animal studies using oral D-aspartic acid had been published at the time), so I had to estimate what the oral bioavailability might be relative to injections. In addition, I had to perform calculations using something called the body surface area (BSA) normalization method to make adjustments for specific differences in active dosing between humans, sheep and rats.

I arrived at a serving of 10 to 20 grams of D-aspartic acid per day. Keep in mind that I was trying to determine a dosage that had a realistic chance of being effective - I was in no way trying to determine the minimum effective dosage or the exact dosage for optimal results.

Another difference between my use of the amino acid and that of the Italians is that I was not using the actual D-aspartic acid. At the time, D-aspartic acid was simply not available at an affordable price, which is why I used DL-aspartic acid. DL is also known as racemic and is basically a mixture of 50 percent of the D-isomer and 50 percent of the L-isomer. This form was much cheaper and to get to the desired dosage, I simply used double the amount of what I would have used with pure D-aspartic acid.

This is where the problem arose. Both D-aspartic acid and DL-aspartic acid are coarse and sticky sour tasting powders. They do not dissolve in liquid and few athletes are willing to choke down 20 to 40 grams of acidic sand-like powder per day. And even if they do get it down, there is still the possibility of unpleasant digestive problems.

So I did a sufficient amount of research and found a clever way to derivatize the product. I found a way to make what is called a calcium chelate of the amino acid. This allowed me to increase the solubility in water from 1 gram per 200 ml of water to 1 gram per 5 ml of water. This is an increase in solubility by more than a factor of 40, which is quite amazing. What is even more amazing about this chelate is the fact that it remains stable over a wider pH range. Once converted to the calcium chelate, the amino acid became much more user-friendly.

At this point, I was able to get people to try this amino acid on a more consistent basis. With the exception of a few bodybuilders, most of the athletes taking this product were clean (steroid free) and the subjective feedback was very positive. Blood testosterone levels increased significantly and for many users the required recovery time decreased.

Today, D-aspartic acid is available at a relatively affordable price. And the publication of the Italian study has let the cat out of the bag. I have therefore decided to make the calcium chelate product available to the general public. It will come in the form of an apple-flavored liquid that contains 4.5 grams of D-aspartic acid per 30 ml. You should be looking for it - it should be available in supplement stores by the time this article is published.

That's it for this month, guys.

Addendum

I recently tested a sample of D-Aspartic Acid from China and found that it contained the much cheaper L-Aspartic Acid. I suspect this may be an issue as the only way to distinguish the two different isomers is to perform an optical rotation using a polarimeter. If you are part of a company that wants to buy D-aspartic acid, you should make sure you get an independent analysis that includes optical rotation data.