Tongkat ali, in sufficiently high dosage (about 2 gram of 1.50 extract per day), can act as weight loss agent, especially in women.

This is a direct consequence of tongkat ali's power to raise testosterone levels.

High testosterone suppresses prolactin (and vice versa). Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between prolactin and the neurotransmitter dopamine. If prolactin is elevated (as it happens in pituitary cancer), both dopamine and testosterone are depressed (which is why pituitary cancers are typically medicated with dopaminergics).

The testosterone-suppressing effect of prolactin is so strong that an almost total absence of libido is a major diagnostic symptom of pituitary cancer.

If testosterone levels are raised through tongkat ali, prolactin levels automatically drop. If prolactin levels are kept down, various effects of dopamine are pronounced, especially libido.

When stimulating neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine are in the driver's seat, appetite for food is suppressed and appetite for sex is pronounced. Most diet medications work by enhancing dopamine and norepinephrine, and therefore suppressing appetite for food. Amphetamine and cocaine are the classic medications in this department.

Tongkat ali in a sufficient dosage has a similar, though less dramatic effect. This is the case because its dopamine-enhancing power is exerted on the slow lane, via testosterone.

The advantage is that the typical side effects of direct dopaminergic and norepinephrinergic stimulation are avoided. On tongkat ali, one definitely feels much more balanced than on dopaminergic medications or amphetamine. Actually, one doesn't feel as if one has "taken something".

But it is not only via the testosterone - dopamine - control of appetite route that tongkat ali aids in weight loss. Proper testosterone tone also supports an anabolic metabolism. This means a tendency to burn fat and to build muscle instead.

And last not least, tongkat ali will effect subtle lifestyle changes that are in support of weight loss. Increased sexual activity and enhancement of exercise or athletic performance.