Is Yohimbe Health Beneficial?

If you are a health junkie, then you probably heard about yohimbe herb extract. This compound is commonly found in nootropics, weight loss and sexual enhancing supplements.

While most people believed that this bark extract is health beneficial, various research shows that this herb is not that special but can indeed provide some measures of health enhancing benefits.

What is the truth about yohimbe? Can it really help you lose weight? Or rather, can it maximize your health potential? Read on to find out more about this intriguingly herbal product.

What is Yohimbe?

As you can see from the image above, this compound is sourced from a bark of a tree that is known to have a potent chemical called “yohimbine”. If you think that yohimbe is so gross to even think of taking it orally as supplements, then you are not alone. I myself can’t think of swallowing any type of tree bark!

This tree is native to western and central Africa, and was initially used only for treating erectile dysfunction. This means that yohimbine hydrochloride is an aphrodisiac agent, a traditional remedy for sexual dysfunction.

Since the studies about herbal extracts improved overtime, yohimbe has been suggested to help aid various health conditions such as mental functions, weight loss, physical performance, depression, diabetes, exhaustion and many others.

Today, most dietary supplements use yohimbe extract to help enhance brain function, physical performance and to help improve sexual drive.

Yohimbe-based dietary supplements is made from the bark extract, while the dried bark is formulated into tea and can be taken by mouth. The wood itself are used for firewood and construction purposes.

Is Yohimbe Scientifically Proven Effective?

There are only few clinical tests conducted for this herb and most of these tests showed fairly unsatisfying results.

This is the reason why there are no conclusive reports on yohimbe’s true health benefits online, just mere speculations and marketing gimmicks by supplement manufacturers.

The primary active ingredient in yohimbe is yohimbine, which is also used to help reverse sedation in dogs, elk or deer. Yohimbe also contains alkaloids corynanthine (alpha-1 adrenergic receptor) and raubasine. These alkaloids however, have unknown properties which adds to yohimbe’s safety concerns.

Primarily, yohimbine stimulates blood flow and increases nerve impulses to the penis and vagina, which helps reverse sexual disorder symptoms such as erectile dysfunction and lack of sexual appetite. The blood flow-enhancing capabilities of yohimbe makes it a very important herb extract that can provide multiple benefits.

Yohimbe Dosing

Yohimbe amounts in supplements varies, depending on the manufacturer’s perception of what is the most potent and effective dosage. This is due to lack of clinical research for this extract.

An article from WebMD suggests 15 to 30 mg daily of yohimbine extract. This equals to 100mg of yohimbe extract daily. Other reports suggest 5.4mg, 3 times a day dosage for erectile dysfunction.

Is Yohimbe Safe?

Currently, due to this extract’s possible toxic effects to humans, most developed countries have banned this extract. These countries include New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.

In the United States, yohimbine is considered a prescription drug and can be used for short-term treatment of various health conditions. But, taking yohimbe requires strict supervision from your physician or health profession as potential serious side effects may occur.

Why? Because this compound is associated with various adverse health effects such as irregular (rapid) hear beat, kidney failure, seizure, heart attack, stomach upset, excitation, tremor, paralysis, sleeplessness, anxiety, bloating, rashes, nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, sinus pain and even death (if taken in high doses).

Children are also not advised to take this herb extract because kids appear to be more sensitive to the harmful effects of this herb extract.

What about Yohimbe-Based Dietary Supplements?

So this extract is quite a health risk for you. Some dietary supplement manufacturers tried to hide their yohimbe content from the public and the result was side effects and inefficacy. A sample product of this is Phent37RX.

This doesn’t mean that all supplements that contains yohimbe are bad, not at all. Remember that yohimbe can be taken only for a short period of time and for small doses only. Taking yohimbe as prescribed can be rewarding as well. PhenRx is one of those successful diet pill brands that contains yohimbine HCL (side effects have also been reported).

So to ensure your safety, you have to consult your physician first before you can take yohimbe extract or supplements that contains yohimbine.

Yohimbe Interactions

Both moderate and major interactions are widely reported online. I will cite the most important information for this matter below.

Major Interactions

Do not take yohimbe extract if you are taking medications for depression. The chemicals on this extract may affect your body negatively as it can increase the effects and side effects of yohimbine.

Some of these depression drugs include phenelzine, tranylcypromine and many others.

Moderate Interactions

Do not take yohimbe if you are taking any blood pressure reduction drug (Catapres, Norvasc, Vasotec, Diovan, etc.), Wytensin, anti-hypertensive drugs, depression drugs, Narcan, Phenothiazines, and stimulant drugs (Tenuate, epinephrine, phentermine, Sudafed, and many others).

Conclusion

In most cases, I would recommend that you take yohimbe seriously and with caution. Remember that prevention is better than cure and even if this extract can help provide positive effects, the probabilities of getting side effects is high.

This is what I am suggesting to you even though there are supplements that are deemed safe and effective that contains yohimbine. Taking the bark extract itself is completely NOT advisable as well!

If you want to have a safe supplementation whether you are trying to lose weight or enhance your physical/sexual performance, I suggest you to avoid yohimbe for good due to its toxic properties.

Take alternative extracts that are completely safe and effective for either fitness, weight loss, or sexual enhancing purposes. This include maqui berry, capsicum, horny goat weed, goji berry, acai berries, and many others.