So I get this has nothing to do with Plastic Surgery. But in my quest to look at menopause and the science of aging gracefully, my OB said for some women who cannot take hormone replacement, to have better sexual health- desire to have sex, lubrication, etc- there is a good supplement called Arginmax which was developed by a Stanford doctor he knows.
What is it?
Arginmax is a supplement with L-arginine, ginseng, ginkgo, damiana, multivitamins, and minerals. There is no estrogen activity.
Then I found a double blinded study in Pubmed, where they compared Arginmax vs. placebo in premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women.
Study:
- double-blind, placebo-controlled study
- sexual function in women of differing menopausal status.
- One hundred eight (108) women, age 22-73 years, who reported a lack of sexual desire.
- 55 received ArginMax for women and 53 received placebo.
- They were studied after one month on the supplement.
- PRE women on ArginMax primarily reported significant improvement in level of sexual desire (72%; p = 0.03) and satisfaction with overall sex life (68%; p = 0.007), compared with placebo group Frequency of sexual desire (60%; p = 0.05) and frequency of intercourse (56% p = 0.01) also increased
- PERI women the note improvement was in frequency of intercourse (86%; p = 0.002) and satisfaction with sexual relationship (79%; p = 0.03), and vaginal dryness (64%; p = 0.03)
- POST women primarily showed an increased in level of sexual desire, with 51% showing improvement, compared with only 8% in the placebo group (p = 0.008).
They conclude that nutrition plays an important role in women’s sexual health, though the biggest improvement was seen in women before menopause.
My thoughts?
Menopause sucks. For many hormone replacement is not an option. I think the longer I am a doctor, the more I believe in nutrition playing an important role in health. I’m not sure what the proprietary blend is for this product, and if you are doing multiple products for “hair health” and “sexual health” etc, I wonder if you may get a negative effect from having too much of something. I have had patients in the past in liver failure because of supplements they were taking to help with developing muscle or improving their hair. And supplements are NOT regulated by the FDA. They are free and loose with what they actually contain. Read my blogs on herbals and supplements HERE. But there is clearly something here about supplementing certain minerals or vitamins which can help sexual health, and this offers a non-hormonal one. Even if the effect is just placebo, is that bad?
For the original study, click HERE.
Of note, there was a more recent study showing no difference in sexual desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction or pain in those taking Arginmax, BUT even though they found “no difference”, the patients who took Arginmax self reported feeling better.
This just illustrates how difficult science can be. The second study was done in gynecological cancer patients, so it wasn’t a typical post menopausal woman. But there is a big placebo effect that can happen, and non FDA regulated medications can not contain what they say they do, or the amounts they say.
That second study is shown below:
Methods
- 12-week, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of eligible patients who were 6 months or more from active treatment
- reporting problems with sexual interest, satisfaction, and functioning
- 3 capsules of Arginmax or placebo twice daily.
- Outcome measures were the Female Sexual Function Inventory (FSFI) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – General (FACT-G).
- Assessments were done at baseline, 4, 8, and 12 weeks.
Results
- 186 patients with a median age of 50 years
- Most had breast or a gynecologic cancer (78% and 12%, respectively).
- At 12 weeks, there were no differences between the ArginMax group (n = 96) and placebo (n = 92) group in sexual desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction or pain. However, FACT-G total scores were significantly better for participants who took ArginMax compared with those who took placebo
- . The Fact-G subscales that were most affected were Physical and Functional Well-Being