Herbs for virility: natural ways to spruce up your sex appeal - includes recipe and precaution tips - The Herbalist

Vegetarian Times, May, 1997 by CJ Puotinen

I plan to be like Moses," declares Judah Landes, Ph.D., a retired professor of clinical psychology at San Jose State University in Palo Alto, Calif. "Moses lived to be 120, and the bible says his eye was not dimmed, nor was his natural force abated." A wink and a nudge accompany this statement to make sure everyone knows just what natural force Landes is talking about.

In every tribe, culture and century, men have pursued virility by downing all manner of potions and nostrums. While the demand for virility-enhancing products has never disappeared, American natural food stores have, until recently, devoted most of their shelf space to products for women and children, Now that the industry has targeted men, a previously untapped consumer group, natural remedies for male conditions have become a hot and growing market category.

Twenty years ago, men would have been given the conventional advice that a well-balanced diet was all a man needed for optimal health and that supplements were a waste of money. How things have changed! Today, it's not just TV hucksters that are promoting supplements for men but physicians who use these products themselves and advise their patients to follow suit.

Few Americans are as aware of this change as James Green, master herbalist, co-director of the California School of Herbal Studies in Forestville, Calif., and author of The Male Herbal: Health Care for Men and Boys (Crossing Press, 1991). For years Green searched the herbal literature for information about the treatment and prevention of common male disorders. There wasn't much, and in workshops and seminars, he wondered why, "From the multitude of ideas expressed in the group discussions," Green says, "it dawned on me that American men are just now creating their gender-specific system of medicine and healing techniques." The result, he expects, will be a blending of conventional and complementary therapies.

In Europe, where physicians routinely prescribe botanical remedies, male conditions have long been treated with herbs, and much of what we know about plant-based disease prevention and treatment comes from that tradition.

One of the herbs widely used by European men is Ginkgo biloba, best known as a remedy for circulatory disorders and faulty memory. Ginkgo has repeatedly been shown to increase the flow of blood throughout the body, including in the brain.

In matters of virility, this herb is of special interest because European studies show it can cure impotence caused by blockages in arteries, which, while not the leading cause of impotence, is a condition affecting many men who have circulatory problems. Arteries lead to all of the body's organs -- genitals included, and when this flow of blood is reduced, erections become difficult if not impossible to maintain. In one study reported in the Townsend Letter for Doctors (December, 1991), 50 patients with arterial erectile impotence were treated with 240 milligrams (mg.) of ginkgo extract daily and all reported significantly improved erections; in another, 60 men who did not respond to injections of the erection-boosting drug papaverine took 60 mg. of ginkgo extract daily and half regained potency within six months. Although considered safe for most people, ginkgo interferes with blood clotting and should not be taken by people with clotting disorders.

The way your body responds to stress can get in the way of intimacy. Stress is probably the most pernicious condition affecting today's man, and while a little stress is a good thing, the debilitating effects of tension and anxiety on the nervous and immune systems fill textbooks. "Chronic stress is depressing and debilitating. It can put you in a whole dysfunctional state of being, and it seriously depletes the libido," says Green.

Of the herbs called nervines, noted for their calming influence, one with a special affinity for men is kava or kava kava (Piper methysticum), a Polynesian herb that soothes the nerves without dulling the mind. Kava was traditionally prepared as a fermented beverage with potent narcotic properties, but today's unfermented dried root capsules and tinctures are considered safe and nonaddictive.

In 1991, a German scientific journal, Arzneim-Forsch, reported a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 58 patients whose anxiety was not caused by psychiatric disorders, for whom kava extract significantly reduced depression and anxiety. Although it is now well established that kava reduces anxiety and has a calming effect, when taken at recommended dosages, it does not interfere with coordination or concentration. However, when taken in large amounts, kava can produce symptoms similar to alcohol intoxication. like alcohol, kava overdoses may interfere with erotic interludes as much as they interfere with driving or operating machinery. The recommended dosages, 1 to 3 grams (g.) per day of the powdered dry root in capsules or 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons kava tincture per day, have caused no adverse side effects in European trials lasting up to eight weeks of continuous use. However, it is possible to overdose on kava; see p. 83.