Sexual Enhancement Dietary Supplements Found to Have Secret Ingredients

Washington, DCPeople turn to herbal and dietary supplements for many reasons, including to treat or prevent a specific condition, to lose weight and to improve overall health. Some take the supplements as sexual enhancement products, but even supplements taken for sexual enhancement may not be all they’re cracked up to be. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning about dietary supplements used for sexual enhancement having ingredients not listed on the label or being otherwise tainted.

The FDA’s recent warning (10/23/15) concerned a product called “Wild Sexx Capsules,” sold for sexual enhancement. According to the FDA’s Public Notification, Wild Sexx Capsules contain sildenafil and tadalafil, which are active ingredients in Viagra and Cialis and used to treat erectile dysfunction. Concerning the FDA, however, is that these ingredients reportedly don’t appear on the label for the capsules, and can interact with other medications.

“This notification is to inform the public of a growing trend of dietary supplements or conventional foods with hidden drugs and chemicals,” the FDA warned. “These products are typically promoted for sexual enhancement, weight loss, and body building and are often represented as being ‘all natural’.” Because the FDA cannot test all products that contain potentially dangerous hidden ingredients, the agency warns consumers to exercise caution before purchasing dietary supplements.

In addition to Wild Sexx Capsules, the FDA has recently issued public notifications about Effective Viagra, Sex Drive Capsules, Rhino X, Australia Kangaroo Essence, Power Khan, XForMan Plus, Ultra SX Capsules, and Sex-Love Secret Code Capsules (for a complete list of all sexual enhancement dietary supplements the FDA has warned about, visit the FDA website; a list of products including sexual enhancement and weight loss the FDA warned about in previous years can be found here).

In addition to its warnings about dietary supplements for sexual enhancement, the FDA recently announced that it had conducted a yearlong analysis of various dietary supplements, looking for supplements that were tainted or otherwise unsafe. As a result, civil injunctions and criminal actions were handed out against 117 manufacturers and/or distributors of dietary supplements. Among the sanctions were an 11-count indictment against USPlabs, which sells Jack3d and OxyElite Pro.

According to the FDA, USPlabs faces allegations of false certificates of analysis and false labeling of its products, including claiming that its products were made from natural plant extracts when they were actually made from synthetic stimulants.

“The FDA continues to warn consumers about the risks associated with some over-the-counter products, falsely marketed as dietary supplements, which contain hidden active ingredients that could be harmful,” the agency noted. “In the last year, the agency has warned of more than 100 products found to contain hidden active ingredients.”

Hidden ingredients are of particular concern because of the potential for drug interactions or the potential for other dangerous adverse reactions, including heart problems.