Our Standard
Our Standard
Every ingredient in Altrek has to clear the same bar: randomized controlled trial evidence in humans for efficacy, and multi-year safety data for long-term use.
That is a stricter standard than this industry normally applies, and it is the reason this company exists. It is also a standard that is easy to claim and hard to keep. So here is exactly how we apply it.
Four rules we hold ourselves to
1. Every active ingredient is cited. Authors, journal, year, PubMed ID, and a link to the paper. Not "studies show." The actual studies.
2. Every ingredient carries an honest evidence grade. Strong, Moderate, Limited, or Mechanistic. Some of ours are graded Limited. We print that in the same size type as everything else.
3. Every dose is shown next to the dose the trial used. Where ours is lower, we print both numbers and say so.
4. Contrary evidence is published alongside supportive evidence. Where a large trial found no benefit, or found harm, that trial sits on our research page next to the ones that agree with us.
What the standard removed
A standard that never costs you anything is not a standard. Ours cost us three ingredients before we shipped a single bottle.
Beta-carotene, removed entirely. Two large trials of beta-carotene supplementation were stopped early: one found 18% more lung cancer and 8% higher total mortality in male smokers, another found 28% more lung cancer and 17% higher mortality. A third reproduced the signal mostly in former smokers. A large share of men over 45 are former smokers, and we cannot know that at checkout. The investigators of that third trial concluded lutein and zeaxanthin should take beta-carotene's place in the formula. We took their advice.
Selenium, cut in half. Our original formula carried 200 mcg. A randomized trial at exactly that dose found a 55% relative increase in type 2 diabetes, and the largest selenium trial ever run in men, 35,533 of them at the same dose, found no benefit at all. The average American diet already supplies 100 to 150 mcg. We now use 100 mcg.
Curcumin, cut. Most curcumin trials use 500 to 2,000 mg together with an absorption enhancer. Our dose was 150 mg without one. We could have kept it as a bullet point on the label. It did not clear the bar, so it is gone.
What we evaluated and rejected
These are ingredients we looked at seriously and did not include. Every one of them is common in men's supplements. None cleared both halves of our standard.
Ashwagandha, tongkat ali, tribulus, boron, DHEA, urolithin A, rhodiola, acetyl-L-carnitine, phosphatidylserine, cocoa flavanols, MitoQ, citicoline, taurine, creatine, glycine with NAC.
Some failed on efficacy. Some had reasonable efficacy data but no long-term safety record. Two of them, taurine and creatine, actually pass our standard but cannot be dosed effectively in a capsule, so they belong in a different product rather than as a token amount here.
What we do not claim
No supplement has been shown to extend human lifespan. Ours included.
No supplement raises testosterone in a man who is not deficient. Zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D3 are nutrients your body requires in order to produce testosterone normally. That is a supply argument, not a promise. If your testosterone is genuinely low, that calls for a lab panel and a physician, not a capsule.
And none of the research we cite was conducted on the finished Altrek formula. These are trials of individual nutrients, at specific doses, in specific populations. Ingredient evidence is not product evidence, and any brand implying otherwise is overstating.
Read the full research page, with every citation and evidence grade.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.