Forest Male Boost Mix is sold for male vitality, and the ingredient with the best human evidence for that isn't a mushroom — it's the maca root. It's also the most under-dosed thing in the capsule. The trial that established maca's effect on sexual desire used 1,500 mg a day; two capsules of this blend supply around 250 mg. That gap is the single most useful fact on this page.
Forest Male Boost Mix contains dried Cordyceps militaris, Reishi and Phallus Impudicus fruiting bodies plus maca root, at 0.5 g of powder mix per capsule. It does not raise testosterone, and the maca trial it's built on found sexual desire improved while testosterone and oestradiol stayed unchanged (Gonzales 2002, 12 weeks). Treat it as a libido, energy and prostate-comfort formula rather than a hormone booster. At the four-capsule ceiling you reach a third of the maca trial dose — the closest any ingredient gets.
Our best mushrooms for men guide answers which species to pick. This one answers a narrower question: what's in this specific jar, how much of it you actually swallow, and which of its four claims survive contact with the human trial data.
What's in Forest Male Boost Mix?
Four ingredients — three mushrooms and one root — mixed as dried powder at 0.5 g per capsule, in a 120-capsule jar. Three of the four are whole dried fruiting body rather than extract, which matters for the arithmetic later.
| Ingredient | What it's there for | Human evidence? |
|---|---|---|
| Cordyceps militaris | Energy, endurance, oxygen use | Yes — RCTs at gram doses |
| Reishi | Stress, sleep, urinary comfort | Yes — fatigue and prostate trials |
| Phallus Impudicus | Libido, anti-inflammatory (traditional) | No human trials |
| Maca root | Sexual desire, mood, energy | Yes — placebo-controlled RCTs |
Four ingredients is unusually restrained for this category, and that's in the product's favour. Fewer slots means a bigger share each, which is exactly the argument our blend versus single species piece makes about wider formulas.
What Does Each Capsule Actually Deliver?
At two capsules a day you get 1 gram of powder mix split four ways — roughly 250 mg of each ingredient. Here's how that lands against the doses the underlying trials used, which is the comparison no product page shows you.
| Ingredient | 2 capsules/day | 4 capsules/day | Trial dose | Shortfall at 4 caps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maca root | ~250 mg | ~500 mg | 1,500 mg | 3× |
| Cordyceps militaris | ~250 mg | ~500 mg | 3,000 mg Cs-4 | 6× |
| Reishi (fatigue) | ~250 mg | ~500 mg | 5,400 mg | 11× |
| Reishi (urinary) | ~250 mg | ~500 mg | 6 mg ethanol extract | Not comparable |
| Phallus Impudicus | ~250 mg | ~500 mg | No human dose exists | Unknowable |
Maca is the closest and the most important. That's the useful finding here, and it's the reverse of how the product is usually described. The mushroom that gets top billing on the label is six to eleven times short of its trial dose; the root at the bottom of the ingredient list is three times short, and it's the one with libido evidence in men.
Which points to a practical conclusion most guides won't state: if libido is your actual goal, the four-capsule end of the label range isn't the "intensive" option — it's the sensible one, and even then you're supplementing rather than replicating.
Does Forest Male Boost Mix Raise Testosterone?
No, and the honest version of that answer is more interesting than the marketing one. Gonzales and colleagues gave men aged 21–56 either 1,500 mg or 3,000 mg of gelatinised maca or placebo for 12 weeks. Sexual desire improved from week 8 onward. Serum testosterone and oestradiol were no different from placebo, and regression analysis showed the desire effect was independent of mood scores too.
A companion study in the Journal of Endocrinology looked specifically at reproductive hormones — luteinising hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, testosterone and oestradiol — and found maca changed none of them. So the effect is real, measurable, and not hormonal. Nobody has established what it is instead.
That's worth stating plainly because "testosterone support" is the phrase this whole product category runs on. What the evidence supports is a change in how men in these trials reported feeling and functioning, at a dose several times what a two-capsule serving provides. It does not support a number moving on a blood panel.
Reishi's Male Evidence Is About the Prostate, Not the Hormones
And it points in the opposite direction from "boost." Noguchi and colleagues randomised 88 men over 49 with lower urinary tract symptoms to a Ganoderma lucidum ethanol extract or placebo for 12 weeks; the International Prostate Symptom Score improved significantly on the extract. The dose was 6 mg a day — the smallest effective dose anywhere in the functional mushroom literature.
The proposed mechanism is 5α-reductase inhibition, the same enzyme target as conventional prostate drugs. That enzyme converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, so if anything, Reishi's best-documented male effect is mildly anti-androgenic rather than androgenic. A blend containing Reishi and marketed as a testosterone product is holding two ideas that don't sit together.
None of which makes Reishi a poor choice here. Urinary comfort matters a great deal to men over 50, and Reishi also has the strongest fatigue data in the field — Tang 2005, 132 participants, fatigue down 28.3% against placebo's 20.1% at 5.4 g daily. Our Reishi dosage guide covers why those two figures sit so far apart.
Phallus Impudicus: Tradition Without a Human Trial
Zero randomised controlled trials in humans. Not a small or flawed evidence base — an absent one. What exists is a 2019 paper on Phallus impudicus mycelial polysaccharides showing immunomodulating and wound-healing activity, and a 2025 mouse study on antioxidant fractions and intestinal protection. Both are preclinical.
The libido association is folk-medicine in origin, and the name is doing a lot of the work. We've written about that at length in our Phallus Impudicus myths piece and the anti-inflammatory compounds review, and the conclusion doesn't change here: there's real chemistry, no human outcome data, and no established dose to under-deliver against.
Is 250 mg of it in a capsule a problem? Not a safety one — it's an edible mushroom with a long history of consumption at the egg stage. It's a transparency one. When an ingredient has no human dose, any amount is defensible and none is evidence-based.
Cordyceps: The Energy Claim You Can Partly Reach
Cordyceps is the ingredient doing the work most users will actually notice, and its dose gap is the second-smallest in the formula. Chen 2010 gave 37 older adults 3 g of Cs-4 daily for six weeks and measured VO₂max rising from 1.88 to 2.00 L/min — a real, if modest, aerobic improvement.
At 500 mg from four capsules you're at a sixth of that. But endurance and perceived energy aren't a single threshold effect, and the mechanism — ATP production and oxygen utilisation rather than adenosine blockade — means there's no stimulant sensation to chase and no crash to avoid. If you want the trial dose, take Cordyceps on its own alongside this and read our Cordyceps endurance evidence first.
Who Should Take This Blend, and Who Shouldn't?
It suits men who want a single daily capsule covering energy, stress, libido and urinary comfort without assembling four products. At €55 for 120 capsules, two a day is a 60-day supply at roughly €0.92 daily — cheaper than maca and Cordyceps bought separately, and one habit rather than three.
It doesn't suit anyone with a specific measurable target. Chasing a VO₂max change means Cordyceps at 3 g. Chasing the maca desire result properly means maca at 1,500 mg. Chasing a testosterone number means seeing a doctor, because nothing in this jar does that and low testosterone is a diagnosis rather than a supplement gap.
Skip it if you're under 18, if you take testosterone-modulating medication or a 5α-reductase inhibitor such as finasteride, or if you're on anticoagulants or have surgery scheduled — that last one is the Reishi antiplatelet effect, and it applies at any dose. If you have a prostate diagnosis, this is a conversation with your urologist, not a purchase decision.
How Should You Take It?
One to two capsules with water in the morning is the label recommendation, with four the daily ceiling. Given where the dose gaps sit, three to four capsules is the more defensible choice if libido or energy is why you bought it, and morning dosing keeps the Cordyceps component away from your sleep.
Using it before training? One hour ahead. The formula contains no stimulants, so there's nothing acute to time precisely — the pre-workout timing is convention more than pharmacology.
Then wait. Maca's desire effect first appeared at week 8 in Gonzales 2002 and was clearer at week 12. Cordyceps' aerobic result took six weeks. Nothing here works in days, and eight to twelve weeks is the minimum honest evaluation window. Note your starting point first — energy, sleep, libido, training numbers — because judging a slow effect from memory is how people convince themselves either way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Forest Male Boost Mix increase testosterone?
No. The maca trial behind the formula found sexual desire improved at 1,500 mg daily while serum testosterone and oestradiol were unchanged from placebo (Gonzales 2002). Reishi's documented male effect — 5α-reductase inhibition — points mildly the other way.
How many capsules should I take for libido?
Three to four daily, which is within the label ceiling. Two capsules supply roughly 250 mg of maca against the 1,500 mg trial dose; four gets you to 500 mg. Even then you're at a third of the studied amount, so consider adding standalone maca.
Can I take it with Cordyceps or Reishi capsules?
Yes, and it's the sensible way to hit a trial dose. Add one product at a time, three to four weeks apart, and remember that stacking Reishi on a Reishi-containing blend compounds the antiplatelet effect that matters before surgery or on anticoagulants.
How long before Forest Male Boost Mix works?
Eight to twelve weeks. Maca's effect on sexual desire appeared at week 8 and strengthened by week 12; the Cordyceps aerobic result took six weeks. Anything you notice in the first fortnight is more likely placebo than pharmacology.
Does Phallus Impudicus actually do anything for libido?
No human trial has tested it. The existing research is a 2019 polysaccharide study on immune and wound-healing activity and a 2025 mouse antioxidant study. The libido reputation is traditional, and the mushroom's name has probably carried more of it than its chemistry.
Shop Forest Male Boost Mix
Buy Forest Male Boost Mix (120 capsules, €55), or build it yourself from Cordyceps capsules, Reishi capsules and Phallus Impudicus fruiting bodies. The full mushroom blends collection also includes Forest Power Blend and Forest Cardio Power. Free shipping on orders over €50.
Related Articles
- Best Mushrooms for Men: Science-Backed Guide
- Mushroom Blend vs Single Species: Does a Blend Under-Dose?
- Cordyceps Dosage Guide
- Reishi Dosage Guide
- Cordyceps and Reproductive Function in Diabetic Men
- Myths About Phallus Impudicus
Sources
- Gonzales GF, Cordova A, Vega K, et al. Effect of Lepidium meyenii (MACA) on sexual desire and its absent relationship with serum testosterone levels in adult healthy men. Andrologia. 2002;34(6):367-372. PubMed 12472620
- Gonzales GF, Cordova A, Vega K, et al. Effect of Lepidium meyenii (Maca), a root with aphrodisiac and fertility-enhancing properties, on serum reproductive hormone levels in adult healthy men. J Endocrinol. 2003;176(1):163-168. PubMed 12525260
- Noguchi M, Kakuma T, Tomiyasu K, et al. Randomized clinical trial of an ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum in men with lower urinary tract symptoms. Asian J Androl. 2008;10(5):777-785. PubMed 18097505
- Tang W, Gao Y, Chen G, et al. A randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of a Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide extract in neurasthenia. J Med Food. 2005;8(1):53-58. PubMed 15857210
- Chen S, Li Z, Krochmal R, et al. Effect of Cs-4 (Cordyceps sinensis) on exercise performance in healthy older subjects: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Altern Complement Med. 2010;16(5):585-590. PubMed 20804368
- Vyacheslav B, Alexey B, Aliaksandr A, et al. Polysaccharides of mushroom Phallus impudicus mycelium: immunomodulating and wound healing properties. Modern Food Science and Technology. 2019;35(9):30-37.
- Extraction of antioxidant active substances from Phallus impudicus L. and its protective effect on intestinal and liver injury in mice. Sci Technol Food Ind. 2025;46(22). DOI 10.13386/j.issn1002-0306.2024120135
- Nammex. Beta-Glucan Breakdown: Digesting the Power of Mushrooms — analytical specifications for mushroom extracts. Nammex