All is Well

Goat Weed Traces Its Reputation for Helping Men’s Health Issues Back Millennia — But Take Care in its Use

BY SANDRA GUY

The purported health benefits of horny goat weed date back thousands of years, but beware a lack of scientific evidence.

The plant’s active component seems to act similarly to erectile dysfunction drugs. The component, icariin, appears to block a protein associated with ED.

Folklore says a goatherd noticed horny goat weed’s stimulant properties after his flock ate the plant.

But researchers say it’s nowhere near as powerful as Viagra. So much for the wishful thinking.

Instead, proceed with caution. Check with your doctor before taking any kinds of herbs or other alternative medicine.

Better yet, take a deep breath and talk with your doctor if you’re suffering in silence with erectile dysfunction. Just like other issues that make people squeamish — for one, the need for colonoscopies in the wake of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman’s death at age 43 of colon cancer — it’s worth getting beyond any discomfort and getting ahead of a problem.

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