Various dietary supplements are said to be good for men’s health, for example to have a positive effect on performance and sperm quality. Stiftung Warentest believes that this can also be achieved with healthy food alone and considers the products to be unnecessary or even dangerous.
The benefit of taking additional vitamins in the form of dietary supplements remains a matter of belief. For Stiftung Warentest, however, the matter is clear. For them, even male-specific supplements are useless at best, or even risky. These should actually serve men’s health and have a positive effect on performance and sperm quality.
In order to find out the effectiveness of the corresponding funds, the testers examined 17 funds from pharmacies, drugstores and online shops. The price range for a daily ration is from 0.13 euros to 2.67 euros. These include products from DM, Centrum, Kneipp and Orthomol.
All tested remedies contain vitamins and minerals and often other substances as well, especially plant extracts and amino acids. But no matter what mix: the balance of the testers is bad. According to the studies evaluated, the benefits of all 17 products for the target group of men have not been proven. 16 even harbor risks, for example due to overdosed vitamins and minerals. For example, when it comes to vitamin E, selenium or zinc. Warentest relies on the maximum daily dosages in food supplements recommended by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BFR).
It should actually be clear that only an individual blood test can provide certainty as to whether there should be a little more of one or the other vitamin – or just a little less. At least to eliminate the risks of poisoning or deficiency.
Apart from that, the BFR finds that in Germany an undersupply of vitamins in healthy people and a varied diet is very rare. Might be. But who can claim to eat consistently healthy and otherwise maintain an exemplary lifestyle? However, Warentest have no doubts in this regard: “Anyone who eats normally is well supplied with nutrients. A healthy lifestyle strengthens virility best,” according to the testers’ findings. This includes exercising, keeping your testicles cool, and not smoking, alcohol, or drugs.
In addition, Warentest complains that many packages lack recommended information, such as that vitamin K can influence the effect of medication and that men should only take iron after consulting a doctor.
With seven products, the defects are so serious that they end up in the last places of the study with the rating “superfluous, with serious defects”. Here you will find preparations such as “Aslan Life compound M”, “Ruhrpharm virivital”, “Orthomol flavon m” or “Centrum Für Him”.
