"Epimedium, also known as barrenwort, bishop's hat, fairy wings, horny goat weed, or yin yang huo, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Berberidaceae. The majority of the species are endemic to China, with smaller numbers elsewhere in Asia, and a few in the Mediterranean region.The species used as a dietary supplement is Epimedium grandiflorum. It contains icariin, which is a weak PDE5 inhibitor, in vitro. Its clinical effects are unknown. While there is little clinical evidence to date, as sildenafil, vardenafil, and tadalafil - sold under the brand names Viagra, Levitra and Cialis - are all based on (stronger) PDE5 inhibitory action, it is thought to have erectogenic properties and is found in some men's sexual health supplements."
Various related species are purported to have aphrodisiac properties, “horny goat weed”.
For this reason, the plants are employed to treat impotence, as well as to increase libido or sexual desire. This plant is also used to treat arthritis, as well as chronic pain in the lower body.
Various related species are also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to treat rheumatism and high blood pressure in women with menopause.
Extracts of the plant’s leaves have estrogenic action due to the presence of plant compounds that have actions similar to those of female sex hormones.
More research regarding the therapeutic use of this herb in humans is needed before it can be safely recommended for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.
Oxford University Press, a department of the University of Oxford has published a journal articalwith study of Icariin (ICA), a purified extract of Horny Goat weed and concluded
"ICA may have neurotrophic effects in addition to known phosphodiesteras type 5 inhibiting effects. Shindel AW, Xin Z-C, Lin G, Fandel TM, Huang YC, Banie L, Breyer BN, Garcia MM, Lin C-S, and Lue TF. Erectogenic and neurotrophic effects of icariin, a purified extract of horny goat weed (Epimedium spp.) in vitro and in vivo."
Horny Goat Weed may offer Viagra alternative: study
A Chinese herbal remedy called horny goat weed is a promising alternative to Viagra for impotent men, Italian researchers said on Monday.
The herb has long held a reputation as a natural aphrodisiac. The lab experiments, which did not look at whether the plant actually increases desire, could lead to new drugs to help men get erections, said Mario Dell’Agli, a researcher at the University of Milan, who led the study.
“This could be the natural Viagra,” he said in a telephone interview. “The novelty is that we have synthesized a new molecule that one day may be able to replace Viagra.”
Erectile dysfunction is a common condition worldwide, and drugs like Pfizer Inc’s Viagra, Eli Lilly and Co’s Cialis or tadalafil, and Bayer AG’s Levitra or vardenafil, work by increasing blood flow to the genitals.
But the medicines, which inhibit an enzyme called phosphodiesterase type 5 that restricts blood flow around the body, including to the penis, can have side effects ranging from headaches, upset stomach and visual problems including blindness.
The Italian team looked for alternatives by studying a number of plants reputed to boost sexual performance.
After homing in on horny goat weed, the researchers modified a compound in the plant called icariin and found it blocked the erection-inhibiting enzyme as well as Viagra did.
Because the compound targets the enzyme more precisely, it may have fewer side effects than Viagra, known generically as sildenafil, Dell’Agli said.
Further tests in animals and humans are needed but the extract from the herb represents a potential new erectile dysfunction treatment with fewer side effects, Dell’Agli said.
“The compound icariin is present in the horny goat weed in large amounts and its activity against (the enzyme) is lower compared to Viagra,” he said. “But the new molecule we synthesized from icariin is as good as Viagra against (the enzyme).”
