Six herbal ingredients used as natural alternatives to Viagra for erectile dysfunction support

Natural Viagra Alternatives for Men

Men looking for a herbal option usually want to know which ingredients have research behind them and what that research actually measured, rather than which ones appear on a label. This page covers the seven ingredients in Herbal Mojo and states, for each, what the published research was and what it found, or that none exists. Five of the studies behind these natural Viagra alternatives are laboratory work or uncontrolled trials, and that is noted where it applies.

Is there a herb that works like Viagra

Icariin, from Horny Goat Weed, acts on the same enzyme, and considerably more weakly. Viagra works by inhibiting PDE5, and icariin does inhibit PDE5 in laboratory assays, which is the entire basis of the herbal Viagra comparison.

The measured potency depends on the assay. Xin et al. (2003) reported an IC50 of 0.432 micromolar against PDE5 isolated from human platelet, using papaverine rather than sildenafil as the comparator. Dell'Agli et al. (2008) reported 5.9 micromolar against human recombinant PDE5A1, roughly eighty times weaker than the 74 nanomolar they measured for sildenafil in the same run.

A more than tenfold spread between two enzyme assays is a reason for caution rather than confidence. Neither study was conducted in men, and the compound in the Dell'Agli work that approached sildenafil was a synthetic derivative, not icariin itself.

What can you take naturally instead of Viagra

The honest starting point is that the two herbs with the strongest evidence are not in this formula. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis found ginseng and saffron improved erectile function, and judged the evidence for Tribulus terrestris insufficient.

Ingredient Amount per capsule What the cited research was
Eurycoma Longifolia (Tongkat Ali) 154 mg Randomised placebo-controlled trial, 109 men; a later meta-analysis found no significant overall effect
Saw Palmetto 24.5 mg No supportive trial evidence in men
Xanthoparmelia Scabrosa 49 mg No published trial in men; laboratory study on isolated compounds
Ginkgo Biloba 49 mg Open trial, no placebo group
Horny Goat Weed (Epimedium) 24.5 mg Laboratory enzyme assay
Cnidium Monnieri 24.5 mg Laboratory study, animal tissue
Tribulus Terrestris 24.5 mg Randomised placebo-controlled trial, 180 men

Eurycoma Longifolia

Eurycoma Longifolia, also known as Tongkat Ali, is a Southeast Asian shrub whose root is used in Malaysia as a tonic for energy and male libido. It is the largest single ingredient in the formula.

Ismail et al. (2012) ran a 12 week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 109 men aged 30 to 55, using 300 mg daily of a freeze-dried water extract of the root. The extract group scored higher than placebo on the erectile function domain of the IIEF questionnaire, and libido scores rose 14 per cent by week 12.

Kotirum et al. (2015) pooled the two placebo-controlled trials then available, 139 men in total, and found no significant overall difference in IIEF-5 scores at week 12. An improvement showed only in men with lower starting scores, and the authors concluded more trials are needed.

Saw Palmetto

The evidence in men is not favourable, and it is better heard here than found elsewhere. The NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that rigorous studies do not support saw palmetto for benign prostatic hyperplasia or for any other condition.

The CAMUS trial, published in JAMA in 2011, escalated 369 men from 320 mg to 960 mg daily over 72 weeks. Urinary symptom scores fell by 2.20 points on saw palmetto against 2.99 on placebo, so the placebo group did marginally better.

Saw Palmetto is in the formula for its traditional association with prostate health, not on the strength of clinical outcomes.

Xanthoparmelia Scabrosa

Xanthoparmelia Scabrosa is a lichen rather than a plant, common on rocks in Australia and New Zealand. It appears in a number of male sexual health supplements, but no published trial has tested it in men.

Compounds isolated from this lichen, called scabrosin esters, were studied by Moerman et al. (2003), who reported that they are toxic to cultured cells at very low concentrations. That is laboratory work on isolated compounds, not a study of the lichen as a supplement, but it is a reason for caution rather than confidence.

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo Biloba is one of the most studied herbal extracts in the world, mainly for circulation and cognitive function. Its relevance here is peripheral blood flow.

Cohen and Bartlik (1998) reported an 84 per cent response rate across 63 patients, 76 per cent in the 30 men and 91 per cent in the 33 women. That was an open trial with no placebo group, in patients whose sexual dysfunction was caused by antidepressant medication. Later placebo-controlled trials have not consistently reproduced it.

Cnidium Monnieri

Cnidium Monnieri (She Chuang Zi) contains osthol, imperatorin and bergapten.

Chiou et al. (2001) tested four coumarins from Cnidium Monnieri on isolated rabbit corpus cavernosum tissue and found all four produced a relaxing effect. That is a laboratory study on animal tissue, not a trial in men, and it did not test PDE5 inhibition.

Tribulus Terrestris

Tribulus Terrestris contains steroidal saponins and has a long history of traditional use for male vitality.

Kamenov et al. (2017) ran a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 180 men aged 18 to 65 with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction, and found a significant improvement in erectile function and satisfaction against placebo over 12 weeks. Serum testosterone was not among the reported outcomes, so that trial neither supports nor refutes the traditional hormonal claim.

The 2025 meta-analysis above assessed the wider Tribulus literature and judged it insufficient. Trial doses in the published literature typically run from 400 mg to 750 mg daily.

How the study doses compare with one capsule

The trials above used single ingredients at higher doses than any one ingredient in this formula, taken daily for weeks. Ismail used 300 mg of Eurycoma Longifolia extract daily against 154 mg here, and Tribulus trials typically run 400 mg to 750 mg daily against 24.5 mg here.

Herbal Mojo is a seven ingredient combination taken before an encounter, not a single herb taken daily at study dose. The research is published here so the ingredients can be checked, not as a claim that this capsule reproduces those trial results.

Are herbal alternatives as effective as prescription Viagra

No. Sildenafil has a far larger trial base, a standardised dose and a single active compound, and the potency gap measured in the assays above is substantial.

Borrelli et al. (2018), published in Drugs, reviewed 24 randomised controlled trials covering 2,080 men. Its quantitative findings were strongest for Panax ginseng, which is not in this formula, and only seven of the 24 trials had a low risk of bias.

Effects from Herbal Mojo are typically reported within 30 to 40 minutes, taken as needed rather than daily. Full guidance is on the Usage Guidelines page.

When to see a doctor

If erectile difficulty is new, worsening, or accompanied by chest pain, fatigue or reduced exercise tolerance, see a doctor. These can be signs of an underlying cardiovascular condition, and the Mayo Clinic overview sets out the common causes.

Men taking nitrate based heart medication, blood thinners or any other prescription drug should speak to a doctor before taking any new supplement. See the Medical Disclaimer.

Sources

  1. Ismail et al. (2012), Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 109 men aged 30 to 55, 12 weeks. Eurycoma Longifolia water extract 300 mg daily.
  2. Kotirum et al. (2015), Complementary Therapies in Medicine. Systematic review and meta-analysis of two placebo-controlled trials, 139 men. Eurycoma Longifolia. No significant overall difference in IIEF-5 at week 12.
  3. Moerman et al. (2003), Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. Laboratory study on cultured cells. Scabrosin esters isolated from Xanthoparmelia Scabrosa. Not a study of the lichen as a supplement.
  4. Kamenov et al. (2017), Maturitas. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 180 men, 12 weeks. Tribulus Terrestris.
  5. Cohen and Bartlik (1998), Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. Open trial, no placebo group, 63 patients. Ginkgo Biloba.
  6. Xin et al. (2003), Asian Journal of Andrology. Laboratory enzyme assay, PDE5 isolated from human platelet. Icariin IC50 0.432 micromolar.
  7. Dell'Agli et al. (2008), Journal of Natural Products. Laboratory enzyme assay, human recombinant PDE5A1. Icariin IC50 5.9 micromolar against 74 nanomolar for sildenafil.
  8. Chiou et al. (2001), Planta Medica. Laboratory study, isolated rabbit corpus cavernosum. Cnidium coumarins.
  9. Borrelli et al. (2018), Drugs. Systematic review and meta-analysis, 24 randomised controlled trials, 2,080 men. Quantitative findings strongest for Panax ginseng.
  10. Ho et al. (2025), Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Ginseng and saffron effective, Tribulus insufficient.
  11. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health. Saw Palmetto overview, citing the CAMUS trial and the 2023 Cochrane review.

More on Herbal Mojo

Last reviewed 15 September 2026.

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