Shiva Gold Male Enhancement Energy Supplement Pill

What it is

Shiva Gold is a herbal dietary supplement for adult men, sold as one 600 mg capsule sealed on a single blister card. The card is black and gold, printed Male Enhancement Plus Energy across the top with the Shiva Gold wordmark and a stylised face below it, and it carries a small round gold foil seal in the lower right corner. The back of the card holds the nutritional panel, the directions and the caution text. It is made in the USA and distributed by GNCI.

This is a single-serving format. There is one capsule on the card and nothing else in the pack — no bottle, no dropper, no measuring scoop. That makes it the format people usually reach for when they want to try a formula once before committing to anything larger, and it is the reason the card is sized to hang on a peg rather than sit on a shelf. You can browse the rest of the category on our male enhancement pills page.

What's in it

Shiva Gold's panel lists a single proprietary blend of twelve items and does not break out an amount for any one of them. Here is what those twelve are, in the order the label prints them.

• Goji Extract — goji, or wolfberry, is the small red-orange fruit of Lycium barbarum, a shrub cultivated for centuries in northern China and now grown commercially worldwide. It is eaten dried like a raisin and brewed as a tea as often as it is taken in capsule form.
• Deng Sen Extract — usually transliterated dang shen, this is the root of Codonopsis pilosula. In Chinese home cooking it goes into slow-simmered tonic soups, where it stands in as the everyday, gentler alternative to ginseng root.
• Cinnamon Bark — the dried inner bark of cinnamon trees, the same spice sold ground for baking. In supplement blends it usually appears as a bark powder or extract rather than as an essential oil.
• Ginseng — the panel prints "Ginseng" without naming a species. Asian ginseng, Panax ginseng, is the root most commonly used in supplement formulas of this kind; the NCCIH page on Asian ginseng gives general background on the plant and how it has been studied.
• L-Arginine — an amino acid the body makes for itself and also gets from ordinary food: turkey, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, dairy and soy are all everyday sources. It is one of the most widely used ingredients in the men's supplement aisle.
• Vitamin B6 — an essential water-soluble vitamin found in fish, poultry, potatoes and chickpeas. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements fact sheet on vitamin B6 covers what it does in the body and how much adults typically need.
• Vitamin B12 — another essential B vitamin, present in animal foods and added to many fortified cereals. Background is in the NIH fact sheet on vitamin B12.
• Folic acid — the B vitamin found naturally in leafy greens, beans and liver, and added by law to enriched flour in the United States. The panel prints "Folic acid" specifically, which is the synthetic form rather than food folate.
• Vitamin D — the fat-soluble vitamin the skin makes from sunlight and that also turns up in oily fish and fortified milk. The panel does not say whether it is D2 or D3.
• Ashwagandha — the root of Withania somnifera, a shrub of India and North Africa, used in Ayurvedic practice for a very long time and now one of the most common botanicals in Western supplements. The NCCIH page on ashwagandha is a good neutral starting point.
• Ginger — the rhizome of Zingiber officinale, the same root sold fresh in every supermarket and used as a spice in more or less every cuisine that ever got hold of it.
• Epimedium — a genus of hardy woodland perennials, grown as garden groundcover in temperate climates and sold in supplements under the common name horny goat weed.

Because the twelve are pooled into one proprietary blend, the label gives no milligram figure for any single ingredient, and neither will we. The only weight the panel states is the 600 mg of the capsule as a whole.

Nutritional Facts

How to use it

The card directs you to take one Shiva Gold pill one hour before sexual activity. It also asks that you leave one hour between Shiva Gold and any other supplement or medication you take.

The caution on the same panel is explicit about frequency: do not use more than one pill every 60 hours. That is the manufacturer's stated limit, printed in bold capitals on the card, and it is the number to follow rather than anything you may have read elsewhere. Store the card in a cool, dry place and keep it away from children.

Who it's for

Shiva Gold is marketed to adult men aged 18 and over, and the single-capsule card suits two situations in particular. The first is a first try: if you have not used a herbal formula of this type before, one capsule is the smallest and cheapest way to find out how you get on with it. The second is occasional use — the 60-hour spacing on the label makes plain that this is not a daily supplement, so a single card is a sensible thing to keep on hand rather than a supply to work through.

It is not for anyone under 18, and the label directs anyone with heart problems to speak to a physician first.

Good to know

The caution panel on the card asks you to consult a physician if you have heart problems and to stop using the product immediately if undesirable effects occur. As with any supplement, if you take prescription medication — particularly nitrates or nitroglycerin, or anything for blood pressure or the heart — speak to a licensed healthcare professional before you use it.

Herbal products are not reviewed by the FDA before they go on sale, and quality varies between manufacturers. If you want a plain-English primer on how the category is regulated and what to look for on a label, the NIH guide to dietary supplements is worth ten minutes. No Proposition 65 warning is printed on this card.

Shipping and packaging

Orders go out in plain packaging that says nothing about the contents and carries no Gear Isle branding on the outside. We ship by the next business day; faster paid services are available at checkout. Product photographs are illustrative. Packaging, lot codes and printed dates vary between shipments.

Frequently asked questions

How many capsules come on the card?

One. A Shiva Gold card holds a single 600 mg capsule in one sealed blister, and that capsule is the whole of the product.

What does the 600 mg refer to?

The 600 mg is the weight of the capsule contents for one serving, and one capsule is one serving. It is not the amount of any single ingredient — the twelve items on the panel are pooled into one proprietary blend with no individual amounts printed.

How far in advance should I take it?

The label says one hour. It also asks you to leave an hour between this and any other supplement or medication.

How often can I take it?

The card states in bold capitals that you should not use more than one pill every 60 hours. That works out at one capsule roughly every two and a half days, and it is the manufacturer's own limit.

Who makes it and where?

The back of the card reads "Made in the USA" and "Distributed by: GNCI". No manufacturer address or telephone number is printed on the pack.

Is the packaging discreet?

Yes. The outer packaging gives no indication of what is inside and does not show the Gear Isle name.

Product information compiled and reviewed by the Gear Isle product team. We transcribe supplement facts directly from manufacturer packaging. Found an error? Tell us.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Dietary supplement for adults 18 and over. Consult a licensed healthcare professional before use, especially if you have a medical condition, heart concerns, or take prescription medication (including nitrates). Keep out of reach of children.