VigRX Plus Ingredients: What’s in the Formula and Does Each One Work?

What is in VigRX Plus, and does any of it actually work? The formula contains ten herbal ingredients plus a black pepper extract, and the marketing describes every one as “clinically proven.” We looked up the research behind each VigRX Plus ingredient, compared the dose in the formula with the doses used in studies, and rated the evidence honestly. Some ingredients have decent human research. Others have almost none. Here is the full breakdown.

Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It does not change our opinion. This article is not medical advice; if you take any medication or have a health condition, check with your doctor or pharmacist before starting VigRX Plus.

Formula at a Glance Our Rating: ★★★★☆ 3.9 / 5

67-Day Money-Back Guarantee

VigRX Plus

Specifications

• ✓ 10 botanical ingredients plus Bioperine (black pepper extract)
• ✓ Every dose listed on the label; no proprietary blend
• ✓ Key herbs: Korean red ginseng, tribulus, ginkgo, horny goat weed, damiana
• ✓ No hormones, stimulants or prescription drugs
• ✓ Whole formula tested in a placebo-controlled trial
• ✓ From $69 a box; free U.S. shipping on orders over $99

Visit Official Site →

What Is in VigRX Plus? The Full Ingredient List

VigRX Plus lists every dose on its label, which many competitors don’t. Here is what a two-tablet daily serving contains, with our rating of the human evidence for each ingredient’s role in sexual health:

Doses per two-tablet serving, as listed by independent label reviews. One detail to check on your own box: the vigrx.com store page lists ten ingredients and leaves out hawthorn berry, while vigrxplus.com still lists it. The two sites also quote different absorption boosts for Bioperine (up to 30% and up to 40%).

How the VigRX Plus Formula Is Designed

The VigRX Plus formula is built around three jobs. Seeing them separately makes the ingredient list easier to judge:

Each VigRX Plus Ingredient Explained

Here is what each ingredient is, what the research says, and how the dose in VigRX Plus compares.

Korean red ginseng (100 mg)

Ginseng is the best-studied herb for erections. A 2021 Cochrane review of placebo-controlled trials found Korean red ginseng improved erectile function scores, but by an amount the authors judged small to trivial, with low-to-moderate certainty. It may also help men manage intercourse more often. The catch is dose: ginseng trials generally use around 1,000 mg a day or more, ten times or more what VigRX Plus provides.

Tribulus terrestris (150 mg)

Tribulus is a gym favourite, but research consistently finds it does not raise testosterone in men. For erections, the trials disagree: a large manufacturer-funded trial of a standardized extract at 1,500 mg a day was positive, while a smaller one at 800 mg a day found no benefit over placebo. VigRX Plus contains 150 mg. We cover the full picture in tribulus terrestris benefits for lifters.

Damiana (200 mg)

A Central American shrub used for centuries as an aphrodisiac. Its evidence comes from animal studies, such as research showing increased sexual behaviour in rats. There are no good human trials of damiana alone for sexual function.

Ginkgo biloba (100 mg)

Ginkgo is known for supporting circulation, and 100 mg is a typical daily dose. But for sexual function, a 2021 systematic review of randomized trials found no benefit in men whose antidepressants caused sexual problems, the group it was most studied in. Ginkgo also has a real drawback: it can raise bleeding risk with blood thinners.

Hawthorn berry (100 mg)

Hawthorn has genuine human evidence, but for the heart rather than the bedroom. A Cochrane review found hawthorn extract improved symptoms and exercise tolerance in people with chronic heart failure. Healthy blood vessels support erections, so it makes sense in the formula, but no trials test it for erectile function directly.

Saw palmetto (100 mg)

Saw palmetto is a prostate herb, usually taken at 320 mg a day. A 2023 Cochrane review of 27 trials found it did not meaningfully improve urinary symptoms from an enlarged prostate. At 100 mg, its role in VigRX Plus is hard to justify on the evidence, although it is well tolerated.

Muira puama (50 mg)

Nicknamed “potency wood,” this Amazonian bark has a few small human studies reporting better desire and erections, but they were uncontrolled and used doses around 1,000 to 1,500 mg a day. There are no placebo-controlled trials of muira puama alone.

Horny goat weed / epimedium (30 mg)

Its active compound, icariin, acts on the same enzyme (PDE5) as Viagra, but very weakly. Nearly all the evidence is from lab and rat studies. At 30 mg of extract, the icariin content in VigRX Plus is small.

Cuscuta seed (50 mg) and catuaba bark (25 mg)

Cuscuta is used in traditional Chinese medicine for male vitality; catuaba is a Brazilian aphrodisiac bark. Both are supported only by traditional use and animal or lab research.

Bioperine (10 mg)

Bioperine is a patented black pepper extract. In a well-known human study, 20 mg of piperine increased the absorption of curcumin (from turmeric) roughly twentyfold. VigRX Plus uses half that amount, and nobody has measured its effect on these particular herbs. Piperine can also raise blood levels of some prescription drugs; see the interactions table in our VigRX Plus dosage guide.

See the Full Formula →

VigRX Plus Ingredient Doses vs Research Doses

This is the biggest weakness of the VigRX Plus formula. Packing in eleven ingredients means most of them appear at a fraction of the amounts used in studies:

Damiana, cuscuta, catuaba and horny goat weed are left out because they have no human dose to compare against.

Does the VigRX Plus Formula Work If the Doses Are Low?

This is the interesting part. Judged ingredient by ingredient, VigRX Plus looks underdosed. But the formula as a whole was tested in a 2012 randomized, placebo-controlled trial, and men taking it saw their erectile function scores rise from 16.1 to 25.1 out of 30, compared with almost no change on placebo.

There are a few possible explanations: the herbs may work better together than alone, Bioperine may boost absorption, or the trial’s limitations (small, manufacturer-linked, and using four pills a day rather than the label’s two) may have inflated the result. We can’t tell which from the evidence available. What it does mean is that the case for VigRX Plus rests on the whole-formula trial, not on its individual ingredients. We break that trial down in VigRX Plus clinical study, explained.

What Is Not in VigRX Plus

What a formula leaves out matters too, especially if you compete or get tested. VigRX Plus contains none of the following:

Because it contains no hormones, VigRX Plus is not a testosterone booster either. If low testosterone is your real concern, check the symptoms of low testosterone and get bloodwork first.

What Users Notice, by Ingredient Group

Customer reviews can’t tell you which ingredient is doing the work, but they do line up with the formula’s two main targets. These are from the official VigRX Plus websites.

For timing, dosage and a full interactions table, read how to take VigRX Plus. For what to expect week by week, see our VigRX Plus results timeline, and for our overall verdict, the full VigRX Plus review.

Where to Buy the Genuine Formula

Counterfeit VigRX Plus is common, and a fake won’t contain the ingredients listed above. Buy from the official website, where every box carries a scratch-off authenticity seal.

Every order is covered by the 67-day money-back guarantee: use it for up to 60 days, and if you are not satisfied, return the empty boxes and any unopened ones within 67 days of delivery for a refund, minus shipping.