Man up with Prelox

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is always a curious subject for discussion.  It's the one area that even the most rational, skeptically-minded people get squeamish about.  Quacks can rip off people with ED as much as they like, and nobody says a word.  Offer a boob-enhancing lotion, though, and the internet goes nuts.

So, what has this notable high street pharmacy come up with, do you think? 

It's a combination of two ingredients: pycnogenol and arginine.  The former is a mixture of chemicals (yes, they are chemicals all the same) extracted from the bark of a tree, while the latter is an amino acid (another chemical) that your body produces of its own accord anyway.   

Schwing?

The purveyors of this cocktail are sensible enough not to suggest that it produces instant erections. It is a food supplement that supposedly protects your blood vessels, and an erection is completely dependent on blood flowing to the nether regions.  Readers familiar with the work of Lou Ignarro - a chronic sufferer of Nobel Prize disease and supplement pusher - will probably be aware of the link between arginine and the endogenous vasodilator nitric oxide.  Whether munching on arginine-rich food or supplements encourages the production of nitric oxide and protects your cardiovascular system is still an open question.  At any rate, it's a poor treatment for ED.

What about pycnogenol? This extract of the bark of the Maritime Pine contains the usual suspects that are supposed to be good for us (but trials invariable show aren't): antioxidants.  Unsurprisingly, when you search PubMed for pycnogenol, you open the door to a library of journals you never knew existed.  Temper your cynicism though! There is some evidence that this muck is effective in ED, and may act in synergy with arginine.  See here and here for starters.  So long as Boots is very careful about what it's pycnogenol does and doesn't contain, this could prove to be an effective long-term treatment.