The winning test

Flex, July, 2009 by Jim Stoppani

We now have further evidence of the importance of boosting your testosterone via supplements like Tribulus terrestris or Eurycoma longifolia. Research from the University of Cambridge (England) measured the levels of testosterone and the catabolic stress hormone, cortisol, in 17 male traders on a London trading floor over the course of eight days. They discovered that the traders who started the day with higher testosterone levels made more money than those with lower levels. One trader in the study even experienced a 75% increase in his testosterone levels during a six-day winning streak. The researchers suggested that this is due to the fact that testosterone can produce a "winner effect," in which high testosterone levels lead to winning, and winning raises testosterone levels further, which increases the chance for further winning.

--Jim Stoppani, PhD

Reference: J. M. Coates and J. Herbert, "Endogenous steroids and financial risk taking on a London trading floor," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(16); 6167-72, 2008.