More and more so-called herbal remedies for erectile dysfunction turn out to contain pharmaceutical-grade drugs that are not listed on the packaging. This trend is a dangerous one for those who buy and use these male enhancement products.
As long as there’s an extra buck to be made out of men’s erectile dysfunction plight, a scammer will find a way to chase it, usually by advertising an “all-natural” remedy available without a prescription.
Among its many responsibilities, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is tasked with policing the dietary supplements market, attempting to search out products that aren’t really what they’re advertised to be.
The drug regulatory agency has been particularly busy in recent months, issuing advisories about purportedly “natural” sexual enhancement supplements that contain potentially dangerous unlisted ingredients.
Here are four of the latest developments on the questionable sexual enhancement supplements front.
1. D.B.P. (Discount Boner PIlls) Distribution in early May voluntarily recalled all lots of products carrying the Titanium 4000 brand name. This voluntary recall followed FDA analysis of the product, advertised as a “male enhancement plus energy” supplement, that found the product’s capsules contained sildenafil as an unlisted ingredient.
Sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, is a pharmaceutical drug available only by prescription in the United States. Its unlisted presence in the Titanium 4000 supplement puts at risk the health of users who might unknowingly take the supplement along with nitrates or other powerful blood pressure-lowering medications.
Sildenafil, as well as the active ingredients in all other oral ED medications known as PDE5 inhibitors, works by expanding blood vessels to temporarily increase blood flow to the penis. In doing so, these medications lower blood pressure; taking them with other medications that also lower blood pressure risks a potentially life-threatening hypotensive episode.
2. Only days after the D.B.P. Distribution recall announcement, Stiff Boy LLC voluntarily recalled all lots of a supplement brand named The Beast. FDA laboratory analysis of The Beast capsules had determined that they also contained sildenafil as an unlisted ingredient. For this reason, the product posed the same threat as Titanium 4000.
3. Later in May, the owner of North Carolina-based Contenda Health LLC and his father were charged with conspiring to distribute pharmaceutical grade ED pills that were misbranded as male herbal remedies. Chase Cranford and his father, Randall, allegedly conspired with John Seil Lee of California to sell male enhancement supplements that contained dangerously high levels of tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis. As in the previous cases, the presence of this potent ingredient was not listed on the supplement label.
4. On May 22, 2019, the FDA warned consumers about two other male enhancement supplements, both of which were advertised as herbal remedies. Targeted were Man Fuel Xtreme Edition, which was found to contain sildenafil, and Man Fuel Male Enhancement Shooter (Tropical Fruit Flavor), which contained tadalafil as well as desmethyl carbodenafil, which is structurally similar to sildenafil.
Of the deceptive labeling on dietary supplements, Cleveland Clinic urologist Daniel Shoskes, M.D., told NBC News that “very often, the supplement pills don’t even have in them what they say on the bottle.”
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For men with ED who’d rather not risk their health with questionable supplements, Viagra and the other PDE5 inhibitors offer safe and effective treatment for the symptoms of male impotence. If the convenience of ordering these drugs online appeals to you, check out the services available from eDrugstore.com, a longtime online facilitator. It supplies a full range of ED medications, including both brand-name and generic drugs. To learn more, visit eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.
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