We have talked about a supplement with deer antler velvet extract in it called Deer Antler Plus before, but I thought it was a good time to bring up this popular herbal product to help boost a man’s ability to have multiple orgasms again after all this talk about loss of libido!  First of all, I renewed my knowledge of the deer antler velvet extract’s legendary abilities when it comes to the male sex drive and ability to have great sex, since it has been used in traditional and Chinese herbal medicines for years and years for that reason.

Sometimes we don’t really know if something got it’s reputation for doing a certain thing through a sort of mythology or if there is actually any credence lended to it through at least anecdotal data, since herbal products are not subject to FDA approval, and many times there are not clinical tests performed on them.  That’s not saying much though, because in my honest opinion, the FDA lets a lot of pharmaceutical drugs go through their gates and be approved that many times were not thoroughly tested for long term effects, nor were they adequately confirmed safe for human consumption. 

That’s just me going on my anti pharmaceutical rant though, and trust me, I do believe that there have been some herbal and natural supplement offenders as well that are not good for long term use, but we do try to report those as we hear negative stories in the news as well. 

Deer antler velvet got it’s reputation for being a great male libido enhancement tool, and was hence used in the popular multi orgasm supplement called Deer Antler Plus (see review) because of it’s rejuvenating and energizing properties.  It also contains (naturally) trace minerals like zinc, which have been shown to help men sexually in more ways than one. 

It’s been used as an anti aging tool, to preserve the energy as well as to enhance mental sharpness and help with a man’s stregth and endurance.  Strength and endurance are directly linked to orgasmic abilities in men, because the longer a man can sexually perform, and the quicker he can recover, the more likely he is to have stronger and more powerful, mind bending orgasms. 

This is why deer antler supplements that are enhanced not only with the deer antler velvet, but also other natural energy enhancers and herbs that help with heightened sensitivity are very popular in this sexually driven world.  Because deer antler velvet has been used in Chinese medicine for hundreds if not thousands of years for multiple purposes, it can be safe to say that it has many medicinal qualities about it that have made it become a high demand additive and primary ingredient in many supplements today, even supplements for women as well. 

The deer antler is extracted from male deer in labs, and the deer are not supposed to be harmed in the process, and are let go once the velvety part of their antlers is removed as I understand it.  The velvet that comes once a year and then sheds again the next, is then usually ground into a fine powder where it can be made in capsulated supplements, tinctures, gels or what have you, for therapeutic purposes that are fairly wide ranging.  

In recent news and the latest company that has been found to be sneaking in impotence medications of the pharmaceutical variety, another company who sells several allegedly “natural” or herbal products has been found to be adding the active ingredient that is in the popular impotencce and male sexual enhancement drug Viagra.  Why does this matter so much?

Well first of all, men taking these types of products do not know that it contains a pharmaceutical drug, and are taking it under false pretenses that it is all natural.  Harmful drug interactions may take place if the people taking the herbal supplement for male enhancement are on other drugs, and this can result in serious medical injury and in some cases even death if the interaction is extremely volatile. 

Not only that, but some men choose not to go on impotence drugs like Viagra and Cialis because they have medical conditions that the drugs have been known to exacerbate of worsen.  This latest company to breach consumer faith is a company called Shangai Distributor Inc. 

The company which distrtibutes male and female sexual enhancement products sold under several names, mostly with the Shangai name in them, is based out of Puerto Rico, and health officials are warning men and women who are taking the supplements to back off if they feel they may have conditions that interact negatively with the drug Viagra. 

Hopefully this type of news doesn’t damage the herbal male enhancement industry, because there really are a lot of good players in it as well.  I’m hoping it’s not a case of one bad apple spoiling it for the good apples who truly offer superior natural alternatives for men who suffer from impotence, premature ejaculation and other sexual health issues.

When it comes to your prostate health, the more information you have that may help cut your risks of developing this common male cancer, the better.  We all know that the earlier you can catch prostate cancer the better, and supposedly research is being carried out in Asia that is producing compelling evidence that men who drink vast amounts of green tea, a known antioxidant powerhouse, have a much lesser chance at developing advanced prostate cancer.

What’s a “vast amount” of prostate cancer?  Well, five cups a day!  Even when compared to men who only drank one cup of green tea every single day, men who consumed five cups a day of the tea actually had much lesser chances of developing advanced prostate cancer. 

There is still more research and testing to be done of course on why and how much of the stuff you have to drink to get the benefits, but I’d say this makes a rather compelling case for introducing green tea into your diet and getting to like the taste, especially if you are in the age group where prostate cancer starts to become more of a risk. 

Another reason to drink tea is more or less somewhat anecdotal when it comes to prostate cancer occurrence and prevention.  Asian men tend to get prostate cancer much less than western societies, and this may be partly due to the fact that they consume a lot more green tea, as is customary in this part of the world.  Now, we could say that asian men may be just genetically less predisposed to prostate cancer to begin with, but the studies also indicate that green tea has something to do with their impressively lesser rate of cancer there. 

Green tea also presents a bevy of other health benefits, including increased energy, even better skin, so it makes sense to try to fit this powerful drink into your diet anyways, right?

In yet another hit to the herbal male enhancement industry, and many times the reason the industry gets an unfair rap for a few bad eggs, another story about a supplement for herbal male enhancement that claims to be all natural and herbal in nature is actually self-outed as containing traces of an ingredient used in prescription-only Cialis, an erectile dysfunction drug that is sold only to those holding a prescription. 

As we all know, it is illegal for herbal male enhancement products to contain anything that normally is prescription grade strength, because serious health consequences can occur if the person is not under doctor supervision while taking the supplement, which they think is non prescription and natural in nature.

This time, the culprit is an over the counter herbal male enhancement pill that I had actually never heard of called Top Gun for Men Herbal Extracts, but apparently the company is recalling the product of its own accord, and it looks like they are saying they found this out, but had no intentional knowledge that the herbal supplement contained traces of tadalafil, which is the main active ingredient in Cialis, which is one of the top selling erectile dysfunction drugs here in the US and abroad right now. 

All of the products that have been voluntarily recalled by the company will have an expiration date of December of 2008.

Saw palmetto is a name you see popularly in alternative or herbal medicine.  It is a type of fan palm and it’s fruits are high in fatty acids and phytosterols.  In herbal medicine, saw palmetto has received the most attention for it’s usefulness in prostate health for men.  Most articles I’ve read cited saw palmetto’s use and effectiveness in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.  This herb has been used for this condition in Europe far before it’s usage became popular here and is used in prostate health supplements for a good reason.

In a recent study by Dr. Leonard Marks, it was found that prostate volume signifigantly reduced an average of 9% in 45 days and 10% by 90 days for the group taking saw palmetto.  Side effects were a minimal amount of gastrointestinal distress.  When shopping for saw palmetto, look for the word standardized on the label.  320 mg. of saw palmetto daily, standardized to be 85% -95% fatty acids is the most consistent recommendations in research I read.  If you take too much, diarrhea could result.

 Saw palmetto does not appear to effect PSA levels which would interfere with testing for prostate cancer.  The mechanism of saw palmetto’s effectiveness for BPH is it’s inhibition of testosterone converting to dihydrotestosterone or DHT.   DHT is thought to be the cause of prostate enlargement on men.  Saw palmetto is also used in treatment of premature male pattern baldness. 

Again, the mechanism here is the saw palmetto slowing the conversion of testosterone to DHT, such as is the purpose of the male hair loss remedy called provillus (see male hair loss product reviews for more information and a review on this excellent male hair loss treatment paired with an FDA approved ingredient in their topical solution). 

I would like to see more clinical studies, research and testing done and results published on the subject of saw palmetto for male reproductive health.  So much more is written in the mainstream for medication and herbal products for female health.  Men’s reproductive health and products, herbal and otherwise, to maintain it deserve the same amount of research and media attention.

A new “study” or evidence has been circulating that herbal supplement users, which includes men who use herbal male enhancement supplements that are so often discussed in this blog on natural alternatives to drugs like Cialis and Viagra, do not often heed the indications that are cited on the back label as a guide of how much to take, and how often per day.  I must say, I’ve been guilty of this myself, especially when taking vitamins. 

Often I will only take half of a dose that is recommended to save money, or I simply forget to take half of it.  Or, maybe, but not nearly as often, I will inadvertently take more than the recommended dosage, or evidence-based amount that is most effective in most people, but that rarely happens because I’m more toward the forgetful side than anything else! 

Apparently I’m not the only one either, who doesn’t follow the manufacturer or individual herbalist indications on the label of an herbal supplement, because reportedly nearly half of all supplement takers do not adhere to the recommended dosage.  And, get this (what a shock), women were more likely than men to follow the usage instructions on these supplements.  

But everyone does say that women are more attuned to detail and more likely to follow instructions, right?  It’s like the old adage goes, men will never stop and ask for directions, but women will, because they’re both indisposed to wasting time, and not afraid to be proven wrong. 

But, I guess that really doesn’t apply here, because men just don’t like to follow directions, or they lack the capacity to pay attention to directions such as these.  It really is just another one of the differences between the sexes.  It’s like agent Dale Cooper said in Twin Peaks, ”in the grand design, men and women were drawn from a different set of blueprints.”  One of my favorite sayings of all times!    

Sexual dysfunction affects a staggering amount of men, and an even more depressing amount of women, to the tune of high percentages you wouldn’t probably venture to guess.  Let’s put it this way, at least a few of your female friends suffer lack of libido or inability to achieve orgasm, and at least two of your male friends have some form of erectile dysfunction of low libido. 

This is precisely why the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the herbal male enhancement industry has made a bundle.  People are sexually frustrated, and they are looking for ways to put the fire back in their loins, darnit!  Of course, there are several lifestyle changes that need to be made, but many working men and women nowadays simply don’t feel they have the time and energy to devote to eating right, managing their stress effectively, and getting adequate exercise, so they would simply rather buy their sexual function back in a bottle so to speak if they can. 

And who can blame them?  There are some excellent remedies for sexual dysfunction, both in the natural male enhancement and female sexual  enhancement market, and in the pharmaceutical market.  The problem is, for women, there are not any real answers to their lack of libido and occasional lack of ability to orgasm.  Viagra apparently was a promising possibility in tests, but failed to be a real answer to women’s sexual woes, at least not nearly as effective as it could be on men. 

The race is on between pharmaceutical companies to see who can make the next big thing in sexual enhancement, especially for women, who  most feel could handsomely be profited from if an effective solution were thought of for a woman’s more complex sexual needs.  It should be interesting to see what they come up with.  Hopefully it will be extensively researched, as pharmaceutical sexual enhancement as opposed to natural male sexual enhancement can be a lot more potent, and along with that can also come health concerns, but we shall see!

There’s been much ado about using herbs for sexual enhancement, and in fact, although some may be quick to “poo poo” anything that is an alternative to traditional medical pharmaceuticals, there are in fact herbs that mimic the same effects as say a Viagra or Cialis, only they do it on a safer scale. 

You see, most pharmaceutical drugs, in fact almost ALL of them, are simply very concentrated derivatives of something that originated in an herb or botanical, or in some sort of natural compound.  In fact, herbs and plants are basically what started medicine as we know it today.  The problem is, many of these medicinal herbs and plants were bastardized to the point of being unsafe in many cases. 

Take for example, the well known acne medication, Accutane.  Did you know it is nothing more than a very powerful derivative of Vitamin A?  In fact, it’s so powerful that it has caused substantial enough side effects to warrant a national registration program for users so the FDA can monitor those that are on it.  This is just one example.  Other examples of herbs in modern medicine are antibiotics, which are derived from good, old fashioned mold.  That’s right, they are basically a bunch of mold that we take to fend off ailments. 

And those have caused issues as well, because many of them, the human race has become immune to.  For more information on how you can use herbs to enhance your sex life, see these pages in Male Enhancement Magazine, as they will show you some of the best herbal medicines for sexual enhancement for men today :

Vig RX Penis Enlargement (helps to enhance the size of your erection, making for a more powerful sexual experience for both of you), Deer Antler Plus Herbal Formula for Multiple Orgasms (preps the male body for multiple orgasms, and an overall longer and more fulfilling sexual experience for both parties), Natural Gain Plus Review, Size Genetics Review (penis enlargement using a device and a potent herbal supplement for maximum blood flow, and volume)

This is quite an interesting product that I’ve recently seen, so interesting that I posted a review of this HGH product, called GENF20, which is a natural stimulator to the body to produce more HGH, or Human Growth Hormone, which is the hormone of youth.  It basically stops producing once we hit our early twenties, and this is what accounts for our steady decline when we reach our mid twenties. 

We start to have less energy naturally, our skin may start to sag and wrinkle (age), our hair begins to lose pigment (graying of the hair), we start to have a lower libido, we may not get as high quality of a sleep, and many many other things that aren’t so pleasant the majority of the time start to happen to our body and our mind as we age. 

 Oh, I forgot to mention that one too, our minds, memories and general sharpness tend to decline as we age, making it sometimes harder to focus and think critically and problem solve.  Well, as there are so many other natural and herbal products in development for self improvement and anti aging, or shall we say more graceful aging, there is a product called GenF20 HGH releaser which actually helps to stall the aging process by stimulating your own body’s resources to produce HGH once again, just like it did in the “good old days” of your youth. 

Most people who take it report an interesting array of benefits, everything from sleeping more soundly and having crazy energy, to hair color and texture imrpovement and a noticeably more youthful skin tone and plumpness to the skin.  It’s intriguing to say the least that there are products out there that can help us beat Father Time, or at least keep him at bay a bit longer. 

Remember the story about the safety of several prominent natural male sexual enhancement products being called into question and called out on the news about a month back? 

The reason for the question about safety on these particular products was not actually about the herbal ingredients in the products, but rather the non-herbal and non-natural ingredients that were in the products and were not disclosed on the label. 

Several products claiming to be herbal in fact contained active ingredients that go into the popular male enhancement drugs Viagra and Levitra.  As you know, there are ingredients in these products that can cause serious health problems and drug interactions. 

Men were put at risk not by the herbs in these products, but rather by the non-disclosed prescription drugs that were in them.  Just wanted to clarify that.