Rhodiola rosea benefits for men: dose and evidence

Rhodiola rosea turns up in supplements sold for energy, stress, focus, libido, and erections. You'll also see it called golden root, arctic root, roseroot, or king's crown, usually depending on who's selling it.

It's been used in Russian and Scandinavian folk medicine for a long time. What follows is what the research shows, what dose the studies used, and why there isn't a recommended one.

Short version: the evidence here is weaker than for almost anything else marketed for erections, and we'll show you why rather than just asserting it.

What is "the golden root trick"?

If you've arrived after seeing that phrase in an advert, here's the plain answer.

"Golden root" is simply another name for Rhodiola rosea. There's no trick, no protocol, and no technique. It's a plant extract sold in capsules, tablets, tinctures, and powders.

The phrase is marketing language, generally used in long video adverts that lead to a supplement sale. If an advert suggested there's a secret behind it, there isn't. It's a herb sold in most health food shops, and the evidence for it is below.

What the evidence shows for erections

Very little, and the gaps are worth seeing in detail, because this is a case where the sourcing is the story.

The regulator's assessment: The European Medicines Agency reviewed the clinical trial evidence for Rhodiola rosea and concluded that the trials "exhibit considerable deficiencies in their quality".¹ That's a formal assessment of the whole body of research, not one critical study.

The most-quoted figure comes from a patent application: You'll see "75% of men reported improved sexual performance on 2,000mg" repeated across the internet. The source is a US patent filing, submitted by a party seeking to commercialise a Rhodiola product. It doesn't state whether the 40 participants had erectile dysfunction, and it doesn't state whether they were all men.²

The other trial mixed two conditions together: A commonly cited study reports that 26 of 35 men with erectile dysfunction and/or premature ejaculation improved over three months. Because the two groups were combined, there's no way to tell how many had erectile dysfunction at all.³

No mechanism has been established: There's no documented route by which Rhodiola would act on erectile function. A small laboratory study from 1994 suggested it might protect the heart against stress-related damage, but that's a long way from evidence about erections.⁴

So: two studies, both with serious problems, one of them a patent filing, no mechanism, and a regulator describing the evidence base as deficient in quality.

What dose should you take?

There isn't an answer, and anyone giving you one is going beyond the evidence.

Rhodiola isn't a licensed treatment for anything in the UK, so no dose has been approved for any purpose. The 2,000mg figure that circulates comes from the patent application described above, which is not a basis for a recommendation. The other study, in 35 men, used 150 to 200mg a day for three months.³ Neither is a recommendation.

Supplements also vary a great deal. Products are often standardised to a percentage of salidroside or rosavin, and those percentages differ between brands, so two capsules of the same stated weight can contain quite different amounts of the active compounds. If you're comparing products, the standardisation is more informative than the milligrams on the front.

If you're going to try it, check it with a doctor or pharmacist first, who can look at it alongside anything else you take. If you're a Numan patient, our doctors can do this for you.

Does Rhodiola raise testosterone?

Rhodiola is often sold alongside claims about male hormones, and the research doesn't support them. No reliable human trial shows an effect on testosterone levels.

Which matters, because low testosterone is something you can measure. If you're buying supplements because you suspect your levels are low, a testosterone blood test will tell you in a way no supplement label can. And if your levels are low, there are treatments with real evidence behind them.

What about premature ejaculation?

The same problem, from the same study.

The trial most often cited for Rhodiola and premature ejaculation is the one described above, which combined men with erectile dysfunction and men with premature ejaculation into a single group of 35.³ Because the results weren't separated, it tells you nothing specific about either condition.

If premature ejaculation is what you're dealing with, there are treatments and techniques with proper evidence behind them, and it's one of the more treatable conditions men experience.

Side effects and who should avoid it

Rhodiola is generally considered well tolerated in the short term, and most trials have been short.³

Reported side effects include:

• Dizziness

• Dry mouth

• Headache

• Difficulty sleeping, particularly if taken later in the day

• Irritability or feeling wired

• Excess saliva

Talk to a pharmacist or your GP before taking it if you take antidepressants, blood pressure medication, diabetes medication, or anticoagulants, or if you're being treated for a hormone-sensitive condition. Herbal products interact with prescription medicines, and "natural" doesn't change that.

There's also no reliable safety data on long-term use, because the trials haven't run long enough to produce any.

Watch the marketing, not just the ingredient

Rhodiola has a history of being oversold. The US regulator has issued warning letters to suppliers claiming it could treat conditions including depression and cancer, and in the UK the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has repeatedly ruled against health claims made for supplements that the evidence doesn't support.

Are there better-evidenced options?

Some other herbal products, such as Korean red ginseng, have been studied more than Rhodiola, but none is a treatment for erectile dysfunction, and none has been shown to work as well as licensed medicines.

Prescription treatments such as sildenafil and tadalafil have been studied in thousands of men over decades, with a known safety profile and known interactions. Whether they're suitable for you depends on your health and what else you take, which is what a clinical assessment is for.

When a supplement is the wrong answer entirely

Erection problems that come and go with stress, tiredness, or alcohol are one thing.

Erection problems that happen every time, have come on gradually, and come with morning erections fading or stopping are another. That pattern points to blood flow, hormones, blood sugar, or a medication you already take.

The blood vessels involved are small, which is why erection problems are often the first noticeable sign of a cardiovascular issue, sometimes well before anything else appears.⁶ If that's what you recognise, the months you'd spend assessing a supplement are months the real cause goes unmanaged.

The numan take

Rhodiola rosea is one of the weakest-evidenced things sold for erections. The headline figure comes from a patent application, the other trial mixed two conditions together, no mechanism has been established, and the European Medicines Agency has described the trial evidence as deficient in quality.

There's no recommended dose because there isn't enough evidence to set one.

If you're looking at Rhodiola because something isn't working, the more useful step is finding out why, because that's the thing that changes what will help.

References

1. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Rhodiola rosea L., rhizoma et radix. Final, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/24186/2023. Amsterdam: EMA; 20 March 2024.

2. United States Patent US6399116. 

3. Ivanova Stojcheva E, Quintela JC. The effectiveness of Rhodiola rosea L. preparations in alleviating various aspects of life-stress symptoms and stress-induced conditions-encouraging clinical evidence. Molecules. 2022;27(12):3902.

4. Maslova LV, Kondrat'ev BIu, Maslov LN, Lishmanov IuB. [The cardioprotective and antiadrenergic activity of an extract of Rhodiola rosea in stress]. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1994;57(6):61–3.

5. Rhodiola. NCCIH. [accessed 12 Oct 2026] Available from: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/rhodiola

6. Cortese F, Costantino MF, Luzi G. Can we consider erectile dysfunction as an early marker of cardiovascular disease? JACC Adv. 2023;2(4):100384.