Aphrodisiacs May Kill You

After a man died from poisoning caused by an aphrodisiac he used made out of toad venom, New York health officials are warning the public to stir clear from this illegal aphrodisiacs that are becoming popular.

The city's poison control issued this warning after they received a medical report from a local hospital indicating that a 35-year-old man who consumed a hard, brown substance believed to have been toad aphrodisiac. The product, usually sold under names likes Piedra, Love Stone, Jamaican Stone, Black Stone and Chinese Rock, are becoming popular and readily available in many sex shops and neighborhood stores.

The products popularity got higher even after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned them from being sold to th public.

City health officials stated that the victim was admitted to the hospital after complaining chest and abdominal pain. He died only two days after. They also said that this was cause by one of the ingredients of the aphrodisiac, Bufo genus, which contains chemicals that can disrupt heart rhythms.

The aphrodisiac was supposed to have been applied to the skin, not eaten, but authorities said even that use can be harmful. People should just not use them.

That same product have also killed a 40-year-old man from Brooklyn in 2002, and four others in the earlt 1990s. Another 17-year-old boy also got seriously ill from using the product but was able to survive after extensive medication and treatments.

It's Not As Safe As We Thought It Were

Herbal supplements that are circulating on the market today claim to be all natural and safe for consumption, and that they can treat just about any illness in the safest way possible because of the guarantee of minimal to no side effects. But that is not the case with a couple of men who started taking these so-called "natural herbal supplement" so they can boost their sexual performance and grow bigger muscles. Instead, they just ended up having advanced prostate cancer.

After several warnings over the past years about the risks of these herbal supplements that are marketed as "safe and natural," the US Food and Drug Administration again issued a public alert against these products for they may contain unknown and potentially dangerous ingredients even though they claim of being otherwise.

According to the FDA, physicians still need to ask their patients not only about their prescriptions drugs, but more importantly, about other drugs and supplements that they are purchasing over-the-counter. They claim that these are the ones that may have a profound impact on certain health conditions of the patients.

On the other hand, the FDA also advised the public to seek first approval from their personal doctors before even trying to start on any kind of medication, may it be something that should be prescribed or not.

Researchers who conducted several studies about these dietary supplements, especially those available through the Internet, said that what happened to these patients should be a lesson to those people who are very concerned about their health problems but doesn't come to professional practitioners about their conditions.

The patients, a 67-year old white man and a 51-year old black man, have both survived. But both of already have extensive cancer that has spread and is continuously spreading throughout their bodies.