Every source this site opened

Every source below was opened while these pages were written. Nothing is cited from memory, no identifier appears that was not read, and where a source is quoted the quotation is the sentence that was actually used.

Four of the eleven are from FDA or the Department of Defense, two are NIH monographs, four are clinical natural-product monographs, and one is a pharmacy trade publication summarising the piperine interaction studies.

1. Dietary Supplement Labeling Guide, Chapter IV: Nutrition LabelingU.S. Food and Drug AdministrationThe document this whole site is about, and the reason the absence of a panel matters. Question 30: “You must list the quantitative amount by weight per serving immediately following the name of the dietary ingredient.” Question 3: “You must list the names and quantities of dietary ingredients present in your product.” Question 34 covers proprietary blends, which must carry the total weight of the blend and list its ingredients in descending order by weight. The guidance is marked “Contains Nonbinding Recommendations.”
2. FDA 101: Dietary SupplementsU.S. Food and Drug Administration“The FDA does NOT have the authority to approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness, or to approve their labeling, before the supplements are sold to the public.”
3. Public Notification: Vital Sex contains hidden drug ingredientU.S. Food and Drug AdministrationOne of FDA’s standing public notifications for this product category. FDA “confirmed that Vital Sex contains sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra”, warns that such an undeclared ingredient “may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin” and “may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels”, and names its list, Tainted Sexual Enhancement Products. Nothing here says that about HoneyPower; it says what the category’s own regulator publishes about it.
4. Sexual Enhancement Products and Hidden IngredientsOperation Supplement Safety (OPSS), Consortium for Health and Military Performance“FDA has identified more than 400 sexual-enhancement dietary supplement products tainted with hidden ingredients.” It warns specifically that hidden drugs may interact with nitrates and “might lead to dangerously low blood pressure.”
5. HoneyDrugs.com natural products databaseComposition and dosing. Glucose and fructose together make up roughly 65% to 80% of honey. Every dosing entry in the monograph is for cough or for allergy; there is none for vitality, stamina or sexual function. Honey is “not recommended in children younger than 12 months due to increased risk of botulism”.
6. Ginseng, PanaxDrugs.com natural products databaseDosing and interactions. In clinical trials “the dosage of crude root has ranged from 0.5 to 3 g/day” and “the dose of extracts has generally ranged from 100 to 400 mg”. It may “enhance the adverse/toxic effect of anticoagulants” and “enhance the hypoglycemic effect of hypoglycemia-associated agents”; “the QTc interval may be increased”. On the evidence: “Limited high-quality clinical trials have been conducted, and systematic reviews include data from very few studies.”
7. MacaDrugs.com natural products databaseDosing. A small study (n=16) “reported a dose dependent effect with high dose maca (3000 mg day)” improving SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction “while low-dose maca (1500 mg/day) did not”. Doses of 3.5 g daily have been used in postmenopausal women. “Although its efficacy is not proven, some athletes have used maca as an alternative to anabolic steroids.”
8. TribulusLiverTox, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesDose and efficacy. “The usual daily dose is 250 to 750 mg daily.” On whether it works: “in controlled trials, improvements in sexual function were no greater with Tribulus terrestris extracts than with placebo.” Liver-injury likelihood score E*, with case reports including a man whose creatinine rose from 1.1 to 3.1 mg/dL.
9. Horny Goat WeedLiverTox, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesDose and efficacy. It “is available in multiple forms in tablets and capsules of 250 or 500 mg, the usual dose being one tablet or capsule daily.” Clinical effects “have not been proven in rigorous prospective controlled trials”, and a cited review found “a dearth of evidence of any activity”.
10. Piperine Drug InteractionsPharmacy TimesThe interaction evidence for black pepper extract. At 20 mg a day for 10 days piperine raised carbamazepine exposure (AUC) by 48%, diclofenac by 68% and fexofenadine by 68%; at 15 mg a day for 3 days it prolonged midazolam’s half-life and deepened its sedation. The mechanisms named are inhibition of CYP3A4, CYP2C9 and P-glycoprotein.
11. Health Products Compliance GuidanceU.S. Federal Trade Commission“How do the dosage and formulation of the advertised product compare to the product used in the study?” and “If there are significant discrepancies between research conditions and the real-life use being promoted, advertisers must evaluate whether it is appropriate to extrapolate from the research to the claimed effect.”