No more embarassMINT: Men can now discreetly take Viagra in the form of breath mints

A chewable mint that can trigger an erection in just 15 minutes is for sale in the US — but you need a prescription to get it.

Hard Mints, sold by San Francisco-based telemedicine company Hims and Hers, contains the active ingredient in Viagra and costs $6 per mint.

As you chew it, the drug enters the blood stream and travels to the penis where it causes blood vessels to dilate, triggering an erection.

Dr Peter Stahl, the vice president for Hims, said the mints were an ‘innovative offering’ for patients. The mint can also be sold in other countries, like the UK.

Hard Mints, sold by San Francisco-based company Hims and Hers, can help users to get an erection and have minty breath. The drug is pictured above. It is only available via prescription

The drug is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but uses drugs that have been approved by the agency

There are more than 30million American men — mostly in their 40s and 70s — with erectile dysfunction.

Hims says that the chewable mint can trigger an erection within 15 to 30 minutes and makes erections easier for hours.

No clinical trials have been carried out into how well the mint’s work.

But for Viagra, about two-thirds of men with erectile dysfunction who use the drug say they have an improved erection.

Viagra is taken as a pill and takes about 30 to 60 minutes to work. It is only available via prescription.

Side effects can include a skin rash, tightness in the chest or throat, a drop in blood pressure and facial flushing — or when the face turns red and begins to swell.

The chewable mint has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but it uses drugs at dosage levels that have received the green-light from the agency.

The mints may contain the drugs tadalafil and sildenafil, which are both found in Viagra, and vardenafil, which is used in Levitra and Staxyn. A tadalafil-only version is also available, which is the drug used in Cialis.

The pills work by binding to receptors — called phosphodiesterase type-5 (PDE5) — which causes blood vessels to dilate, allowing for a rush of blood to the penis which triggers an erection.

Hims and Hers prescribe the drugs to patients following an online consultation.

Individuals receive different dosages depending on their consultation.

Dr Stahl added: ‘This innovative offering will benefit those who have erectile dysfunction by empowering providers to take every aspect of an individual’s health and expressed preferences into consideration in order to provide a more personalized treatment for that individual’s clinical needs.’

The number of American men with erectile dysfunction has risen over the last few decades, with scientists saying that a larger older population is to blame.

Other factors such as obesity, smoking and anxiety and stress are also thought to be to blame for the uptick.

Eroxon, pictured above, is applied to the head of the penis 15 seconds before sex and can trigger an erection within 10 minutes. It is already available in the UK and US where it is sold in boxes, each containing four tubes

It comes after scientists also developed a ‘breakthrough’ gel that can trigger an erection within ten minutes that does not need a prescription.

The FDA signed off on the treatment — dubbed Eroxon — earlier this month, clearing the way for it to be stocked in pharmacies.

It becomes the first gel for treating erectile dysfunction to be approved for sale over the counter in the United States. Stocks are set to be available from 2025.

The gel is already for sale in single-dose tubes in the UK and Belgium, priced at about $7.80 per tube.