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Proof! is an independent testing service for the consumer of alternative and complementary health remedies and products, such as supplements and herbs, as well as eco and 'green' products and services. Its tests establish the active ingredients in products - which can differ dramatically from the claims made on the labels - as well as their reliability, shelf life and usability.

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Erectile Dysfunction: Can herbal solutions measure up to conventional drugs?

History will relate that it was the chemists of drug giant Pfizer who first brought men ’s most intimate problem out from under the bedclothes into the light of day with the invention of Viagra in 1998. But Pfizer ’s greatest achievement was to turn male impotence from a guilty secret into an everyday medical condition. For that, it needed a more clinical name - ‘erectile dysfunction’ (ED) - and drugs for ED have taken their place among statins and beta-blockers as some of the most heavily advertised medications in the world.

Viagra has also had a major impact on the herbal medicines industry, ridding aphrodisiacs of their sleazy back-street image, and freeing up herbal manufacturers to search the botanical pharmacopoeias for long-forgotten remedies. Today, just six years after Viagra was launched, there are literally hundreds of herbal ED products on offer.

What is ED?
While ED can strike at any time, its incidence increases with age; indeed, as many as half...

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