Top 5 Foods for Men’s Peak Sexual Health
Summer foods can do a lot more for men then boost their taste buds. (Photo by Christopher Robbins/Digital Vision/Getty Images)
Supplements to improve men’s sexual health are a dime a dozen, but why take your tonics in pill form when you can include them in your regular meals? Whether you’re looking for ways to improve your sperm motility, a natural cure for erectile dysfunction or special foods to rev up your libido, check out our selection of foods to work into your diet to maximize your sexual health.
1. Watermelon This deliciously juicy red fruit is loaded with citrulline, which may alleviate erectile dysfunction, specifically if it’s caused by high blood pressure. Citrulline is converted into arginine, which boosts the natural production of nitric oxide. And nitric oxide has the benefit of increasing blood flow to muscle tissue as well as male genitalia, which improves male sexual function.
2. Walnuts If family and weight-loss medicine physician Dr. Spencer Nadolsky had to recommend a single food for men’s health, he’d pick the humble walnut. Not only does it improve sperm vitality, motility and morphology in healthy young men, it also improves endothelial function (the health of the lining of our blood vessels).
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We typically think of cardiovascular disease when discussing endothelial function but it’s also linked to erectile dysfunction. Foods that improve endothelial function open up the blood vessels and therefore can help with erections. Walnuts are also rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, the plant-based omega-3 essential fatty acid), antioxidants, magnesium and more.
3. Peaches Not only are peaches delicious, their high vitamin C content makes them a good choice for sperm motility, says fitness nutrition specialist Joey Thurman. “A study came out that shows that men who were smokers for the majority of their lives who increased their vitamin C intake…and were considered infertile became fertile,” he explained. In addition, vitamin C lowers the stress hormone cortisol.
Cortisol and testosterone can quickly get out of balance, and the higher your cortisol levels are, says Thurman, the lower your testosterone levels are going to be. “Those two hormones are competing against each other,” he explains, so lowering your cortisol will help your testosterone shine.
4. Chocolate “Every time they’ve studied chocolate for cardiovascular health and diabetes, they always find that it is beneficial,” says physician and Endocrinology Fellow Dr. Karl Nadolsky, so now you can indulge in moderate amounts of dark chocolate without guilt.
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It improves your circulation, which can help with blood flow to your genitalia, which will improve your ability to get an erection. And the phenylethylamine in chocolate can affect the serotonin and endorphin levels in the brain.
5. Leafy Greens Leafy greens are packed with nutrients, but that’s not all they’re full of. They’re loaded with magnesium as well. “One great thing that magnesium does is dilate blood vessels, which essentially is what Viagra was trying to do – increase blood flow to the male genitalia to get a better erection,” says Thurman. So bring on the spinach and kale and Brussels sprouts. Cabbage, Swiss chard and any green leafy veggies will also do the trick.
The original article “Top 9 Foods for Men’s Sexual Health“ appeared on LIVESTRONG.COM.
By Yael Grauer
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