Male Virility

What this is. A herbal blend for male vitality and performance. The full panel is below so you can judge the amounts yourself.

A 500 mg herbal blend in one capsule, holding seven ingredients between them. It is a proprietary blend, which means the panel states the 500 mg total and nothing else. Not one of the seven ingredients has a weight next to it, and that is the first thing to know about this bottle.

What you are actually getting, per 1 capsule

• Proprietary Blend — 500 mg total
• L-Arginine — amount not disclosed
• Maca — amount not disclosed
• Horny Goat Weed — amount not disclosed
• Muira Puama — amount not disclosed
• Tongkat Ali — amount not disclosed
• Tribulus (40% saponins) — amount not disclosed
• Panax Ginseng — amount not disclosed

Seven ingredients inside 500 mg. Split evenly that would be about 71 mg each, and there is no reason to assume it is split evenly. What the labelling convention does tell you is the order: ingredients in a blend are listed in descending order by weight, so L-arginine is the largest part of the 500 mg and Panax ginseng the smallest. Beyond that, the panel tells you nothing.

The tribulus is standardised to 40% saponins, and that is where we would normally show you the arithmetic. We cannot: there is a percentage here with no weight to apply it to.

Worth knowing before you buy

You can still set a ceiling on each ingredient, because none of them can be more than 500 mg, and because of that descending order the later ones are capped much lower — the fifth ingredient in a blend cannot be more than a fifth of it, the seventh no more than a seventh. That is enough to make the comparisons.

L-arginine trials use 3 g to 6 g a day. Even in the impossible case where the entire 500 mg were arginine, that is a sixth of the low end. Maca research uses 1.5 g to 3 g a day; same arithmetic, same answer. Tongkat ali trials use 200 mg to 400 mg of a standardised extract, and tongkat ali is fifth here, so it is at most 100 mg. Panax ginseng trials generally use 200 mg to 1,000 mg a day, and ginseng is seventh, so it is at most about 71 mg.

Muira puama and horny goat weed sit in the middle of the list, and both are in the group where the human evidence is thin to non-existent. Tribulus has actually been studied, and has repeatedly failed to raise testosterone in men with normal levels — we mention it because it is the ingredient most often sold as though it did.

What it is: a small seven-herb blend with the individual amounts withheld by the maker. What it is not: a dosed arginine or maca product, and not something we are going to attach a claim to. If erectile difficulty is what brought you here, it is worth a doctor's appointment rather than a capsule: it is common, it is treatable, and it can be an early sign of something cardiovascular that is much better found now than later.

How to take it

One capsule a day with water. Thirty capsules in the bottle, so one a day is 30 days.

Other ingredients

The panel we have does not carry an other-ingredients line, so we cannot tell you what the capsule shell is made of. Gelatin shells are animal-derived and are not suitable for vegetarians or vegans; cellulose and HPMC shells are. We are not going to guess which this is — if it matters to you, read the physical bottle before you take it. No allergen is declared on the panel, which is not the same as there being none.

Cautions

Arginine interacts with medicines that affect blood pressure, with nitrates, and with erectile dysfunction medicines such as sildenafil and tadalafil — that last one matters here, because the two get combined. If you have had a heart attack, or you get herpes simplex outbreaks, raise arginine with your doctor as well. Panax ginseng interacts with warfarin and with medicines that lower blood glucose, including insulin and metformin, and can affect blood pressure. Horny goat weed may also affect blood pressure and platelet function. Because the individual amounts are not disclosed, neither we nor your pharmacist can judge how much of any of this you are taking, which is a reason to mention the bottle rather than assume it is too small to matter. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not use if the safety seal is damaged or missing. Store in a cool, dry place. Do not exceed the recommended dose. If you are pregnant, nursing, under 18, taking prescription medication or living with a medical condition, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before starting this or any supplement.

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.