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Lamar Odom’s recent brush with death at a Nevada brothel serves as a warning to all that so-called “natural” erectile dysfunction drugs may be neither natural nor safe. While the precise causes of Odom’s near-death experience have yet to be spelled out, it is believed that he ingested at least 10 tablets of “sexual performance enhancer supplements,” along with cocaine, in the days immediately preceding his health crisis.
Interviewed by NBC-TV in the immediate aftermath of Odom’s hospitalization, brothel owner Dennis Hof said the former NBA star “was taking herbal Viagra, and he was taking a lot of it.” Hof later told the Washington Post that Odom had purchased a large quantity of herbal Viagra during his multiday stay at Hof’s Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada.
Brands Taken by Odom
The herbal ED pills taken by Odom are believed to be Reload and Libimax Plus, both of which have run afoul of the Food and Drug Administration over the last several years. Such pills fall under the category of dietary supplements, which need not obtain FDA approval before going on the market. However, FDA regulations do require the manufacturers of these supplements to ensure that:
- the products they make or distribute are safe,
- promotional claims about such products are not false or misleading, and
- the products comply with the regulations of the FDA and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in all other respects.
Supplements Market Hard to Police
So numerous are the dietary supplements on the market and so limited are the FDA’s resources for enforcing those regulations that the dietary supplements field is not policed closely enough to ensure that unsafe products never reach the market. FDA’s regulations as of 2007 do require dietary supplement manufacturers to notify the agency of any adverse events or illnesses related to the use of their supplements. The regulatory agency also launches investigations into certain supplements based on consumer reports of adverse effects or illnesses.
FDA laboratory tests conducted on both Reload and Libimax Plus in the past have revealed the presence of the chemical compounds sildenafil citrate and tadalafil, respectively. Sildenafil citrate is the active ingredient in Viagra, while tadalafil is the active ingredient in Cialis, and neither of these chemical compounds can be considered “natural.”
Libimax Plus Recalled in 2009
After the FDA advised Libimax Plus’s manufacturer of its test findings in 2009, the company voluntarily recalled the product. In 2013, the FDA issued a similar warning about a manufacturer’s recall of Reload, according to an article at LiveScience.com. Consumers of these supplements are not advised by the manufacturers that the supplements may contain such potent compounds. Thus, users run the very real risk of potentially life-threatening side effects if they are taking certain other drugs, such as nitrates, or have underlying health problems that are not compatible with the use of these prescription-grade medications.
The problems associated with so-called natural or herbal ED supplements extend far beyond those already ascribed to Reload and Libimax Plus. In the first 10 months of 2015, the FDA has issued roughly 35 public notifications about “tainted” supplements that promise to enhance male sexual performance. Most of the supplements involved are marketed primarily online. In almost all cases, these FDA notifications advised that the supplements “contain hidden drug ingredients.”
9 Notifications in a Single Day
On October 23, 2015, the drug regulatory agency issued nine such notifications, advising consumers that several of these “natural” sexual performance enhancement products contained sildenafil, tadalafil, or chemical compounds virtually identical in structure. Supplements targeted in the October 23 advisories were APEXX, Fuel Up High Octane, Fuel Up Plus, Paradise Suplemento Natural Ultra Plus, Sex Love Secret Code, Super Dragon 6000, S.W.A.G.G.E.R. Extreme, Ultra SX, and Wild Sexx.
The appeal of these supplements rests primarily on their affordability and accessibility. Unlike the prescription PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra and Cialis, the supplements can be purchased online or in adult shops without a prescription and for far less per dose than would be paid for one of the FDA-approved impotence drugs.
No Pre-Market Testing
The primary drawback, of course, is the lack of pre-market testing of these supplements, which makes it impossible to know exactly what ingredients — natural or otherwise — are present in these products.
Given the nature of the regulations governing the sale of these supplements, enforcement of this particular marketplace tends to be reactive rather than proactive. Unless the FDA is tipped off to a problem with one of the products, the agency is unlikely to run tests to determine its true ingredients.
MayoClinic.org acknowledges that some of the sexual performance enhancers do contain natural substances that improve blood flow. “However, none of them focuses specifically on blood vessels in the penis, as do Viagra and similar prescription drugs. As a result, these so-called ‘herbal viagra’ supplements can cause dangerously low blood pressure in some men — particularly men who take nitrate medications for heart problems.”
Some Pills Still Tainted after Recall
The lack of definitive ingredient information on the labels of these supplements makes their use a gamble for consumers, particularly those with underlying health problems.
Despite the voluntary recalls of some of the supplements FDA has declared to be “tainted,” many of these supplements have been found to still contain hidden drug ingredients in subsequent testing. According to a study published in a 2014 issue of the “Journal of the American Medical Association,” researchers purchased and tested 27 dietary supplements that had previously been identified by the FDA as containing hidden pharmaceutical ingredients. These purchases and tests were conducted an average of three years after the FDA-initiated recalls, according to LiveScience.com. Researchers found that roughly two-thirds of the supplements still contained traces of the prescription drug ingredients that had caused their recall in the first place.
Natural Ingredients Also Can Pose Threat
Even natural ingredients in some male sexual enhancement supplements can pose dangers. One such ingredient is yohimbine, a substance extracted from the bark of an evergreen tree native to Central Africa. Although yohimbine has been used as an aphrodisiac in folk medicine for centures, Pieter Cohen, M.D., told LiveScience.com that there has yet to be clinical proof that it is effective in treating low libido or impotence. Dr. Cohen is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. However, among the known side effects of yohimbine are high blood pressure and panic attacks.
If you’re in the market for an FDA-approved prescription medication to treat symptoms of erectile dysfunction, check out eDrugstore.com and its ED medication guide.
Photo credits: Aporo TV, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Cam Self
Don Amerman is a freelance author who writes extensively about a wide array of nutrition and health-related topics.
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