Viagra-Like Drugs Found in Herbal Sex Supplements

More than 60 percent of sexual herbal supplements tested by French researchers contained phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5), the active ingredient in erection-promoting drugs such as Viagra and Cialis. They analyzed 150 dietary supplements using a sophisticated chemical technique called NMR spectroscopy. Thirty-four percent contained chemical structurally similar to PDE-5s. Only 31 percent of the supplements could be considered drug-free herbal natural products. They stressed the need for improved quality control in sexual supplements. (Journal Pharmaceutical Biomedical Analysis, 102: 476-493, 2015)