The news of former NBA star Lamar Odom’s apparent overdose-induced coma has raised a single question in the minds of Americans.
What exactly is “herbal viagra?”
According to initial reports, Odom was rushed to the hospital after taking “a lot” of a non-FDA approved sexual stimulant — and though doctors also found cocaine and opiates in his system — and there’s a good chance the drug played a major role in putting him in the hospital.
Lamar Odom was found unconscious at the “Love Ranch” brothel after taking “a lot” of herbal viagra (Getty Images)
The term “herbal viagra” can refer to any of a number of products — including some over the counter — that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified as containing hidden, sexual-stimulant ingredients.
Even some over-the-counter prescriptions, like Viagra, have been found to contain hidden ingredients (Getty Images)
“We’ve seen pills, coffees, chewing gum and dissolvable oral strips that contain hidden drug ingredients or untested chemicals,”claims Gary Coody, the FDA’s national health fraud co-ordinator. “Consumers have no way of knowing which drugs or ingredients are actually in the product just by reading the ingredients on the label.”
Los Angeles sheriffs estimate that nearly 90-percent of Viagra knockoffs they have seized are manufactured in China, and one of the major dangers associated with these counterfeits lies in the unknown quantity of included ingredients.
90-percent of seized knockoff Viagra’s are manufactured in China (Getty Images)
The FDA identified one particular product as containing more that 30 times “the prescription dose of tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis.” Other products have been found to contain amphetamines, plaster and even printer ink.
Currently, herbal viagra — like other “all natural” products that claim to aid in “sexual enhancement, weight loss, and body building” — can be purchased at gas stations and online.
[h/t: Daily Mail, FDA, Mayo Clinic, Nursing Times]
