Tribulus Terrestris Extract (Saponins)

Tribulus terrestris L. of the Zygophyllaceae is Gokshura or Gokhru in Ayurveda and a long-standing sports nutrition botanical. Thovek supplies the extract from the fruit, which is the part carried in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, or from the aerial parts, which are the source of most Bulgarian and Chinese material and generally carry higher protodioscin. The plant part is not a detail to leave open: it changes the saponin profile, the price and the analytical result, so it is fixed at order and printed on the certificate of analysis. The active fraction is a group of steroidal saponins of the furostanol and spirostanol types, including protodioscin, prototribestin, dioscin and tribestin. Commercial standardisation runs from 20% to around 95% total saponins, and we hold 40%, 45%, 60%, 90% and 95% as regular grades. The critical point for buyers is that total saponins and protodioscin are two different numbers measured two different ways. Total saponins are usually reported gravimetrically or by UV, often expressed as diosgenin; protodioscin is a single compound quantified by HPLC, typically with evaporative light scattering or UV detection. A 40% total saponin extract is not a 40% protodioscin extract, and quotations that do not name the analyte, the method and the reference standard are not comparable. Where a buyer needs a defined protodioscin figure we specify it separately, and premium grades pair a total saponin minimum with a stated protodioscin content. This is the ingredient where an assay method choice becomes an allergen question. Fenugreek-derived furostanol saponins are a documented adulterant in extracts sold as pure Tribulus, and a gravimetric saponin assay cannot tell them apart because the saponin classes are too similar; only full chromatographic profiling distinguishes the two species. Fenugreek is a legume with recognised cross-reactivity to other legumes and is a declarable allergen in several markets, so an adulterated lot does not merely underdeliver, it puts an undeclared allergen into a finished product. We identify every lot by chromatographic profile against authenticated Tribulus reference material rather than by saponin content alone, and we screen for Pedalium murex, the larger Bada Gokhru sometimes substituted in Indian supply. The material is vegan and vegetarian with no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, peanut, tree nut, fenugreek or gluten source. Sports nutrition customers running certified programmes should still route lots through their own banned-substance testing scheme, and we will support that with retained samples.