Male Enhancement Supplements: Important Considerations
How do you decide which male enhancement supplement you should choose? You might think it’s a bit of a clichéd question, but believe me it’s as relevant now as it’s ever been – particularly with the ever increasing number of brands available and due to the fact that it’s a question never seems to be properly answered.
The unfortunate reality is that you can’t possibly make an informed choice by reading through the droves of recommendations and reviews you find online. As you’ll have probably guessed, the majority are just advertisements designed to lull you into parting happily with your cash. The recommendations, the 5 star reviews, the personal endorsements – 9 times out of 10 they’re just marketing hype.
So if you can’t rely on the review sites or the personal experiences, what can you rely on? After all you need something to go by - because it’s a well-known, and might I add accurate fact that the majority of male enhancement supplements offer nothing more than false promises.
Well, a little bit of background knowledge as to what separates a legitimate product from a bad one is a good place to start. This will at least give you the ability to critically question and assess the claims you read; and will also help you to understand how it’s possible for supplements with similarly claimed benefits to vary enormously in effectiveness from brand to brand.
First Things First…
Before you read any further, please be aware that the use of male enhancement supplements such as VigRX Plus, Male Extra, ProSolution Pills or whatever other brand you care to mention, will not cause any form of permanent penile growth – when used on their own at least.
Taken consistently such supplements do have the potential to produce improvements in erection quality – because they include ingredients that increase blood flow to the penis (by expanding the penile cavernous artery) and increasing sex drive by raising natural testosterone levels.
In turn, this increased blood flow to your penis and enhanced state of sexual arousal may well leave you in newly found awe of the size of your erections – but the effect will quickly subside when you pop your last pill.
The reason I mention this is because I wouldn’t want you to buy any male enhancement supplement under any such false illusion – an illusion that is propagated by the marketing hype and false advertising of all those review sites that claim miraculous gains.
Permanent Gains Take Work…
The reality is that natural permanent penile enlargement can only be achieved through the diligent and consistent use of either penile exercise or traction. High quality male enhancement supplements may well help this process through their positive effects on penile blood flow (which aids recovery and healing) or though the motivational aspect of always seeing your erections ‘maxed out’ to their limits - but the permanent gains you’ll make will come primarily from the physical stimulus.
So you should look on these types of supplements as erection and sex drive boosters that can contribute to the enlargement process…effects that can be very beneficial in their own right, but a far cry from ‘effortless’ penis enlargement that some would have you believe.
The Male Enhancement Pill Checklist…
So to get back to the purpose of this article, it’s an idea to bear in mind the following when considering any supplement:
Ingredient Quality…
You’ll find that a lot of male enhancement supplements contain similar ‘pro sexual’ ingredients – including the likes of ginseng, ginkgo, tribulus, muira puama and saw palmetto – herbs that have a track record of success at improving erection quality in men looking to put a little more zest into their sex lives. And because many of the various brands of supplements available seem to include roughly the same combination of ingredients, it’s easy to assume that they’ll all have a similar effect.
However, it’s important to understand that this isn’t the case. The ‘active ingredients’ within these herbs i.e. the compounds that possess the herb’s medicinal properties, can vary substantially between brands - with everything from harvesting times, storage and manufacturing methods to the actual parts of the herbs used having a massive impact on the medicinal quality of the end product.
To give you a simple example: The active ingredients found in Ginseng, a herb that can both increase testosterone and boost penile blood flow, are known as ginsenosides. These compounds are found in the greatest quantity in the root of the herb – hence it’s the root of the herb that has the greatest medicinal effect. However, this doesn’t stop many manufacturers from using the cheaper and medicinally inferior stems and leaves of the herb in their formulas – a common ploy that enables manufacturers to legitimately say that their formulas contain specific ingredients, although the actual medicinal benefits will be extremely limited.
How can you tell which products use medicinally effective ingredients? Well unfortunately it’s near on impossible and comes down mainly to choosing a brand with a strong reputation and a vested interest in maintaining that reputation. The important point to note here is that you shouldn’t consider that two supplements with purportedly the same ingredients on the label will work equally effectively – because it is in fact the quality of those ingredients that counts!
Ingredient Quantity…
Although you would naturally expect manufacturers to use sufficiently high quantities of each ingredient in their formulations to produce medicinally positive effects, this again isn’t always the case.
It’s a common ploy to include ‘token’ quantities of specific ingredients - just so the ingredient can be listed on the label. And whilst such tactics certainly help the manufacturers to keep their costs to a minimum whilst giving the impression that they’re offering a comprehensive formula, the end result is a dud product that looks great on the label but is little more effective than a placebo.
Even some of the better brands however, don’t openly disclose the quantities of each ingredient contained within their formulations on their websites (although they’re clearly enough marked on the label – so the lack of such information shouldn’t automatically sound alarm bells.
VigRX Plus for example, one of the few male enhancement supplements to have been shown in clinical trials to offer substantial improvements in erection quality, omits this information from their website – possibly in a first line defence against ‘copycat’ products. However, because the formula is extremely effective and can therefore be used as a solid benchmark for other product comparisons, you’ll find a list of the ingredient quantities as printed on the back of one of my boxes below:
VigRX Plus ingredient quantities per serving...
- Korean Red Ginseng (root) 200mg - Increases penile blood flow / testosterone
- Saw Palmetto (berry) 200mg - Maintains healthy testosterone levels
- Hawthorne (berry) 200mg - Increases penile blood flow
- Ginkgo Biloba (leaf) 200mg - Increases penile blood flow
- Damiana (leaf) 200mg - Increases penile blood flow
- Tribulus Terrestris (vine) 150mg - Raises testosterone levels
- Catuaba 4:1 extract (bark) 100mg - Increases penile blood flow / sexual stimulant
- Muira Puama 4:1 extract (bark) 100mg - sexual stimulant / increases testosterone
- Epimedium 4:1 extract (leaf) 30mg - Increases penile blood flow
- Bioperine 10mg - Increases formula absorption
Ingredient Purity…
A few years ago now in 2003 the Wall Street Journal commissioned a laboratory analysis of what at the time was one of the more popular male enhancement supplements.
This analysis showed that in addition to the listed ingredients, these particular pills contained a host of additional impurities including unsatisfactorily high levels of pesticides, as well as contaminants such as E. coli bacteria – which probably resulted from poor farming procedures with animals grazing and defecating near crops. And in addition to uncovering some less than adequate harvesting techniques, the laboratory analysis also showed significant quantities of mould, lead and yeast – indicating some extremely poor manufacturing procedures to boot.
The moral of the tale is that raw ingredient production practices and supplement manufacturing conditions can again vary widely - because unlike synthetic drugs, natural supplements aren’t legally required to be produced in pharmaceutical grade facilities.
But of course, you have a right to expect the same level of quality and purity in a male enhancement supplement that you’d expect in any prescription drug.
To ensure total purity you should therefore only consider taking a supplement that has been manufactured in a fully certified pharmaceutical grade facility – and is produced in a country with extremely stringent certification procedures. Such supplements include VigRX Plus (pharmaceutically manufactured in the US) and Male Extra (which undergoes the same stringent manufacturing processes in the UK).
Both these manufacturers submit their raw ingredients to thorough laboratory analysis to ensure potency and purity and employ manufacturing processes that meet the same stringent standards as those required of pharmaceutical drugs.
Ingredient Safety…
Whilst the right combination of ingredients formulated in the correct quantities can promote impressive improvements in your erection quality, the wrong ingredients can leave you feeling as rough as a dog with a hangover.
Stomach upsets, elevated blood pressure, anxiety attacks, muscular tremors, headaches, heart palpitations and sleepless nights (from insomnia not constant sex) are just some of the reported negative side effects from some lesser brands.
Formulations that produce such undesirable side effects tend to do so because they contain ingredients that have proved to be unsafe for regular consumption – and of course, regular consumption is exactly what you’re going to be doing if you opt for any brand of male enhancement supplement.
A good example of such a commonly included, but unsafe herb is Yohimbe – an African herb that although has powerful penile blood boosting effects, also produces many of the symptoms mentioned above when taken regularly. In fact, Yohimbe’s potentially dangerous effects have led to various countries restricting its sale, as well as most doctors recommending that it should only be taken for the occasional treatment of erectile problems – facts that don’t seem to prevent some manufacturers of male enhancement supplements from including the herb in their supplements whilst still marketing them as ‘side effect free’.
The fact is however, such herbs needn’t be included. A well balanced formulation that includes the right combination of ingredients in the right quantities – all of which work synergistically (positively interact) with one another – can produce highly potent positive effects without any unpleasant and potentially dangerous drawbacks.
Thanks to the internet it’s a simple task to look up the potential side effects of any medication, herb or compound; and having ascertained the ingredients contained within any supplement you’re considering taking, it’s something you should do if any are unfamiliar to you.
Again, I personally tend to favour two male enhancement supplements in particular – VigRX Plus and Male Extra – because having done the research, I know first-hand that these two offer the best combination of ingredient potency and safety. Whether you follow my choices or opt for another brand though, remember your long-term health is the most important thing and is something you should never jeopardise for short term gain.
Clinical Evidence…
Despite the ‘doctor’ recommendations you’ll find plastered across most male enhancement supplement websites, few have any form of independent clinical backing to verify their effectiveness – so as a rule you shouldn’t let these sway your decision.
The one exception however is VigRX Plus, which has undergone independent clinical trials in 2010 - the results of which found that 75 men achieved substantial improvements to the quality of their erections and sex drives over an 84 day period in comparison to those given a placebo.
The study, which relied upon a medically accepted assessment method called the ‘International Index of Erectile Function’ (which is the same assessment method used to clinically verify the effectiveness of anti-ED drugs such as Viagra) to validate its findings, reported that the subjects given VigRX Plus achieved an average improvement of over 60 percent in erection quality as well as an average 47 percent increase in sex drive.
Obviously, legitimate and independent clinical trials verifying the effectiveness of a particular supplement are one of the best indicators of quality, and this was certainly a key factor when I choose to try VigRX Plus. It would however, be unfair to suggest that a lack of such clinical evidence necessarily means you should avoid the competition – but it’s something that you may wish to figure into the equation.
Reputation…
There have been a lot of ‘fly-by-night’ merchants in the male enhancement supplement business over the past 10 years – and in fact I can count on one hand the brands still around today that were around 10 years ago.
But interestingly enough, the manufacturers who have weathered the years are the same ones that have always employed the stringent production practices highlighted in this article.
And because they’ve never cut corners on production, their supplements have built up a reputation of effectiveness that has seen them stand the test of time.
It’s that reputation, based on long standing product effectiveness that again, tends to lead me to personally recommend VigRX Plus and Male Extra above all others. These supplements have a reputation for being manufactured to uncompromising standards and more importantly…for consistently working.
Whilst you’ll come across countless other products marketed and recommended, very few can say that they’ve built up the same reputation…and reputations are one thing that are very hard to fake.
Related Articles:
Full Reviews of VigRX Plus and Male Extra - The key facts about the two most popular (and reputable) male enhancement supplements.
