Horny Goat Weed, Wild Yam, Sarsaparilla and Boron: Four Soda Peak Ingredients Nobody Explains

The loud ingredients in men’s formulas get the attention: tongkat ali, saw palmetto, the glandular tissue. Four others sit quietly in the same blend and are rarely explained. This page gives each of them a short profile.

For each we answer the same five questions. What is it? What does a named public source say? Where does it sit on the SodaPeak label? What is unknown? What should you watch for?

What is horny goat weed doing in Soda Peak?

Horny goat weed is the first name in the blend. It is the leaf of Epimedium sagittatum and has a place in traditional Chinese medicine. Icariin is the compound it is best known for. The label does not say how much icariin the extract holds.

The first position is notable. It means a herb with limited evidence and a heart caution is the biggest single part of a daily capsule. That is the reason we list heart disease first in the who-should-ask-a-doctor list.

What is wild yam, and does it become hormones?

Wild yam extract comes from the root of Dioscorea opposita. It is sold on an idea that its compound, diosgenin, turns into hormones in the body. That conversion works in a laboratory. It is not known to happen in people.

NCCIH and Memorial Sloan Kettering both describe wild yam in careful terms, and neither supports the hormone story. So the sales claim runs ahead of the evidence.

Wild yam is fifth on the label. That makes it a smaller share than the first four, though no figure is given. If you have a hormone-sensitive condition, ask your doctor before you take any product that includes it. Wild yam is not a hormone, whatever the marketing language suggests.

What is sarsaparilla, and why is it here?

Sarsaparilla is the root of Smilax glabra. It has a long history as a traditional tonic and as a flavor in old-fashioned soft drinks. It contains plant sterols, and these are not human hormones.

We could not find a reviewed government or cancer-center summary for sarsaparilla, so we make no claim about what it does. That is a real gap, and we would rather name it than guess.

On the label it is sixth, smaller than the herbs above it. Large amounts can upset the stomach. As with every item in the blend, the amount is not published, so the dose that might matter or might upset is unknown.

What is boron amino acid chelate?

Boron is a trace mineral. Here it is bound to amino acids, which is the “chelate” in the name. The purpose is better absorption.

A normal diet supplies most adults with roughly 1 to 1.5 mg of boron a day. There is no Daily Value for boron, and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements sets the adult upper limit at 20 mg a day. Very high doses can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. A few small studies have tracked boron against hormone markers, and the NIH describes the human evidence as limited.

Boron is last on the label, which means the smallest share by weight. That sounds reassuring. But “smallest” is not a number. If you also take a multivitamin or another mineral product that contains boron, the total counts toward the same upper limit, and the boron in this blend is not stated.

How do the four fit the muscle claim?

The bottle claims “Supports healthy muscle.” We looked at the four profiles to see if any ingredient has a link to that claim.

That is not the same as saying the ingredients are useless. It says that none of the four is the type of ingredient that the NIH exercise-supplement review treats as established for building muscle.

What does the label hide about these four?

Four things stand out:

1. No amounts. The 1,200 mg total is shared by eight ingredients, and the split is private.
2. No standard. Nothing says the horny goat weed is standardized to icariin, or states any strength for the others.
3. No certificate. A certificate-of-analysis code is printed on the label, but no certificate is published.
4. No maker address. The label names the distributor, Vitalifes, and no factory.

Ask the order desk for the amounts and a certificate if these matter to you. The number is +1 (302) 200-3480. Write down the answer, or the fact that none was given.

Sources we used

Only these public pages are cited. None of them tested SodaPeak itself.

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “Epimedium / Horny Goat Weed (About Herbs)”
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, “Wild Yam: Usefulness and Safety”
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, “Boron: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals”
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, “Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance”

Frequently asked questions

Our view

The quiet ingredients are where blends often hide their weakest links. Here, a heart caution sits on the biggest share, a hormone story sits on a herb that is not known to work that way, one root has no reviewed summary, and one mineral has a ceiling that the label cannot let you check.

None of this makes the capsule dangerous for every reader. It makes it an unknown. If you want to take that on, do it with your doctor’s knowledge, a single bottle and a clear head about what the label does not say.

Last updated November 4, 2026. Published October 15, 2026.