AMAZON HERB COMPANY

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Cicero AF, Piacente S, Plaza A, Sala E, Arletti R, Pizza C.


Lepidium meyenii (Maca) is traditionally employed in the Andean region for its supposed properties in improving fertility. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of subacute oral administration of hexanic, methanolic and chloroformic extracts of Maca root on sexual performance in inexperienced male rats. The following sexual performance parameters were evaluated: 1st mount, 1st intromission, ejaculation and post-ejaculatory latencies, intercopulatory interval and copulatory efficacy. All the tested fractions significantly decreased intromission latency and intercopulatory interval and increased intromission frequency and copulatory efficacy (P < 0.05) as compared to controls. Hexanic and methanolic extracts were able to increase mount frequency (MF), while only hexanic fraction significantly improved mount latency (ML) (P=0.038). Globally, only the hexanic fraction significantly improved the majority of the sexual parameters measured. Sub-acute oral administration of hexanic Maca extract improved sexual performance parameters in sexually inexperienced male rats most effectively.

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Cicero AF, Bandieri E, Arletti R.


Lepidium meyenii Walpers (Maca) is traditionally employed in the Andean region for its supposed properties to improve energy and fertility. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of acute and chronic Maca pulverised root oral administration on rat sexual behaviour. Sixty male sexually experienced rats (20 group) were daily treated for 15 days with Maca 15 mg kg(-1), Maca 75 mg kg(-1) or saline 0.5 ml kg(-1). The following sexual performance parameters were evaluated at first and last day of treatment: 1st mount (ML), 1st intromission (IL), ejaculation (EL) and postejaculatory (PEL) latencies, intercopulatory interval (ICI) and copulatory efficacy (CE). An activity cage test was carried out to evaluate if Maca-induced locomotion changes could indirectly improve rat sexual performances. It was observed that both lower and higher Maca doses acutely decreased ML, IL and ICI in a significant way (P < 0.05), while only the 75 mg kg(-1) dose decreased the PEL (T = 29, P < 0.05). This effect seems to be the only one dose-dependent. After 15 days of treatment, both doses are able to significantly decrease ML, IL, EL and PEL, while the 75 mg kg(-1) dose decreased the ICI (T = 40, P < 0.05) too. IL, EL and PEL variations seem to be dose-related after chronic treatment. Moreover, chronic Maca treatment induced an apparently not dose-related increase in rat locomotion, during the second 10-min period of observation in the activity cage. The late in Maca-induced locomotion modification excludes that improvement of tested sexual performance parameters is related to an increase in rat aspecific activity. Thus, it was concluded that both acute and chronic Maca oral administration significantly improve sexual performance parameters in male rats.

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Bucci LR.


Herbs have been used throughout history to enhance physical performance, but scientific scrutiny with controlled clinical trials has only recently been used to study such effects. The following herbs are currently used to enhance physical performance regardless of scientific evidence of effect: Chinese, Korean, and American ginsengs; Siberian ginseng, mahuang or Chinese ephedra; ashwagandha; rhodiola; yohimbe; CORDYCEPS: fungus, shilajit or mummio; smilax; wild oats; Muira puama; suma (ecdysterone); Tribulus terrestris; saw palmetto berries; beta-sitosterol and other related sterols; and wild yams (diosgenin). Controlled studies of Asian ginsengs found improvements in exercise performance when most of the following conditions were true: use of standardized root extracts, study duration (>8 wk, daily dose >1 g dried root or equivalent, large number of subjects, and older subjects. Improvements in muscular strength, maximal oxygen uptake, work capacity, fuel homeostasis, serum lactate, heart rate, visual and auditory reaction times, alertness, and psychomotor skills have also been repeatedly documented. Siberian ginseng has shown mixed results. Mahuang, ephedrine, and related alkaloids have not benefited physical performance except when combined with caffeine. Other herbs remain virtually untested. Future research on ergogenic effects of herbs should consider identity and amount of substance or presumed active ingredients administered, dose response, duration of test period, proper experimental controls, measurement of psychological and physiologic parameters (including antioxidant actions), and measurements of performance pertinent to intended uses.

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Waynberg J, Brewer S.


This study investigated the possibility of an alternative to chemical medication in the treatment of sexual dysfunction in healthy women. The efficacy of a unique herbal formulation of Muira puama and Ginkgo biloba (Herbal vX) was assessed in 202 healthy women complaining of low sex drive. Various aspects of their sex life were rated before and after 1 month of treatment. Responses to self-assessment questionnaires showed significantly higher average total scores from baseline in 65% of the sample after taking the supplement. Statistically significant improvements occurred in frequency of sexual desires, sexual intercourse, and sexual fantasies, as well as in satisfaction with sex life, intensity of sexual desires, excitement of fantasies, ability to reach orgasm, and intensity of orgasm. Reported compliance and tolerability were good. These initial findings support the strong anecdotal evidence for the benefits of Herbal vX on the female sex drive. A double-blind study is planned to further research these results.

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Antunes E, Gordo WM, de Oliveira JF, Teixeira CE, Hyslop S, De Nucci G.


The effects of the Brazilian herbal medicine Catuama and each of its plant constituents (Paullinia cupana, Trichilia catigua, Zingiber officinalis and Ptychopetalum olacoides) were investigated on rabbit corpus cavernosum (RbCC) using a bioassay cascade. Catuama caused short-lived and dose-dependent relaxations (11% +/- 7%, 26% +/- 5% and 82% +/- 9%, at doses of 1, 3 and 10 mg, respectively). Neither the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 10 microM) nor the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ (10 microM) significantly affected the Catuama-induced relaxations. Similarly, the selective ATP-dependent K(+) channel (K(ATP)) blocker glibenclamide (10 microM), the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine (1 microM) and the voltage-dependent Na(+) channel blocker tetrodotoxin (1 microM) all failed to affect significantly the Catuama-induced relaxations. These results indicate that the relaxations induced by Catuama involve neither nitric oxide release nor K(ATP) channel activation. The extracts of P. cupana, Z. officinalis and P. olacoides caused short-lived and dose-dependent RbCC relaxations, whereas T. catigua evoked long-lasting relaxations which were occasionally preceded by a brief contractile effect. The extract of P. cupana was the most active in relaxing RbCC strips. The relaxations induced by all extracts were not significantly affected by L-NAME (10 microM). The infusion of ODQ (10 microM) had no significant effect on the P. cupana- and Z. officinalis-induced relaxations but reduced by >50% (p < 0.05) those evoked by P. olacoides and T. catigua. Incubations of RbCC with Catuama(10 mg/mL for 0.25 to 5 min) caused increases of cAMP levels (143% increase at 5 min of incubation). Incubations of RbCC with P. cupana extract (1 mg/mL) increased the cAMP levels by 200% whereas higher doses (10 and 100 mg/mL) caused smaller increases in the nucleotide levels (150% and 89%, respectively). The extracts of Z. officinalis and P. olacoides (same doses) caused smaller increases of the cAMP levels compared with the P. cupana extract, whereas T. catigua (1-100 mg) did not increase the levels of this nucleotide above the basal values. Our results show that of the four extracts assayed, P. cupana was the most effective, indicating that it is the main extract responsible for the relaxing effect of Catuama on rabbit cavernosal tissue. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Arletti R, Benelli A, Cavazzuti E, Scarpetta G, Bertolini A.


Sexually potent and sexually sluggish/impotent male rats were treated orally with different amounts of Turnera diffusa and Pfaffia paniculata fluid extracts (0.25, 0.50, 1.0 ml/kg). While having no effect on the copulatory behavior of sexually potent rats, both plant extracts--singly or in combination--improved the copulatory performance of sexually sluggish/impotent rats. The highest dose of either extract (1 ml/kg) (as well as the combination of 0.5 ml/kg of each extract) increased the percentage of rats achieving ejaculation and significantly reduced mount, intromission and ejaculation latencies, post-ejaculatory interval and intercopulatory interval. Neither extract affected locomotor activity. These results seem to support the folk reputation of Turnera diffusa and Pfaffia paniculata as sexual stimulants.

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Watanabe T, Watanabe M, Watanabe Y, Hotta C.


Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng) administered subcutaneously and intraperitoneally inhibits growth of allogeneic cancer cells in mice. The goal of this study was to determine whether oral administration of P. paniculata inhibits development of spontaneous leukemia. Four-week-old female AKR/J mice were given oral doses of powdered roots from P. paniculata three times weekly for 8 weeks; controls received phosphate-buffered saline. Enlargement of thymic lymphoma in the mice treated with P. paniculata was significantly suppressed, as compared with controls (128 +/- 67.3 mg versus 219.9 +/- 84.2 mg, respectively; P < .01); proliferation of endogenous recombinant murine leukemia viruses (MuLV) in the thymus was markedly inhibited after the first oral treatment as compared with untreated controls (final age, 28 weeks; P < .05). In normal 3-week-old female AKR/J mice, mortality from thymic lymphoma was delayed markedly after injection into the thymus of cell-free extract of thymus from the experimental female 28-week-old AKR/J mice that received the oral P. paniculata preparation. These results suggest that the agent's suppressive effects on spontaneously occurring leukemia caused by endogenous recombinant MuLV in female AKR/J mice may depend on enhancement of nonspecific immune or cellular immune systems (or both) by the P. paniculata preparation.