Grow Your Own Herbal Viagra?
This just in! (That’s what she said.) This Boing Boing post points out a New Scientist report titled “Horny goat weed could be better than Viagra.”
“Viagra’s active compound, sildenafil, works by inhibiting an enzyme called phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5). Because PDE5 helps control blood flow to the penis, inhibiting PDE5 promotes male erection.”
“Dell’Agli and his colleagues tested the four plants in vitro to see how efficient they were at inhibiting PDE5. Just one – Epimedium brevicornum, also known as horny goat weed and Bishop’s Hat – had an effect. This confirmed previous studies showing that icariin, a compound found inside the horny goat weed, is a PDE5 inhibitor.”
Now before getting your, uh, *ahem* “hopes” up, realize that it’s a variation of the icariin compound, not the unmodified natural compound itself that equals the desired effect of Viagra. The article states:
“Compound 5 will now have to go through lengthy clinical trials before it can be approved as a drug. It could be 10 years before it reaches the market.”
“In the meantime, “if people eat horny goat weed, I think it can be beneficial because it contains icariin,” says Dell’Agli. “But it will not be as effective as Viagra.” “
Perhaps a Do It Yourself processing method may sneak out somewhere on the Internet so off-grid homesteaders could do their own testing.
Related posts here: 20 Common Cooking Ingredients That Act As Medicines and my review of the book, Grow Your Own Pharmacy.
