Eat a few of these every day and you’ll never again have to use your fist to knock on a door.
Spanish scientists just published a report that found that adding nuts to a regular diet improves orgasmic intensity and sexual desire in men.
What’s particularly notable about this study is that it wasn’t like most of the studies on erectile function in that it didn’t involve flaccid old coots who became only slightly less flaccid after undergoing some dietary or lifestyle change.
Instead, this study involved young guys who already possessed the unassailable erections and volcanic orgasmic function of youth before taking part in the study.
What They Did
Spanish scientists, led by Dr. Albert Salas-Huetos of the University Rovira i Virgili, recruited 98 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35 for a 14-week, randomized controlled study on the effects of mixed nuts on male sexual function.
Half of the men were assigned to consume a typical Western-style diet while the other half was assigned to eat that same diet but with the addition of 60 grams per day of raw, mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts).
What They Found
The primary outcome seen in the nut-diet group was improved sperm count and sperm quality, but the researchers then asked the participants to supply answers to the 15-question International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). Eighty-three of the subjects (43 in the nut group and 40 in the control group) complied.
Compared to the control group, the nut-diet group reported a significant increase in orgasmic function and sexual desire.
Oddly enough, the researchers couldn’t figure out why the nut group experienced an improvement in sexual function because the usual biochemical suspects didn’t appear to play a part.
For instance, increased erectile function usually corresponds and correlates with an increase in nitric oxide (NO), which improves endothelial function and allows more blood to flow into the penis.
But for some reason the scientists didn’t see an increase in NO production, even though nuts are high in arginine, an amino acid precursor of NO. And neither did the scientists note an increase in concentration of E-selectin, another molecule indirectly involved in healthy erections.
In fact, they couldn’t figure out why nuts had the effect the did, but they rightly concluded that, “an absence of evidence does not mean evidence of no effect,” which is probably another way of saying that you shouldn’t look either a gift horse or gift erection in the mouth.
How to Use This Info
It’s easy to test out the findings of this study. All you’ve got to do is start eating 60 grams of mixed nuts a day and take your penis out for an occasional spin to see how the old boy handles some curves. While the study used a blend of walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts, you could probably get away with sticking to one or two of the listed varieties instead of an equally proportioned blend of all three.
Likewise, you could probably opt for other types of nuts. A previous study found that eating 100 grams of pistachios every day for three weeks had similar effects on sexual function. (That particular study was done with men who had erectile dysfunction at the outset, so given that the pistachios literally had a heavier load to lift, it could mean that larger amounts of nuts are even more potent than the 60 grams used in the Spanish study.)
Here’s a breakdown of approximately how many nuts you’d have to eat to get 60 grams:
- 20 Walnuts, or…
- 40 Almonds, or…
- 40 Hazelnuts, or …
- 20 Brazil nuts, or…
- 30 Cashews, or…
- 30 Pecans, or…
- 4 Tablespoons of pine nuts, or…
- A blend of different nuts totaling 60 grams.
So if you wanted to duplicate the protocol used in the Spanish study, you could eat a 60-gram blend consisting of about 10 walnuts (30 grams), 10 almonds (15 grams), and 10 hazelnuts (15 grams).
However you do it, keep in mind that 60 grams of nuts is between 350 and 400 calories, so make dietary adjustments accordingly so you don’t gradually pork out your waistline.
Of course, 60 grams is a damn lot of nuts to eat in general, so let’s get practical. The pro-sexual effects of nuts are likely due to their anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant properties (courtesy of their inherent polyphenols), and eating just 30 grams of them a day instead of 60 is probably more than enough to help you get the desired sexual effects and the desired health effects, especially if you’re young and already turgid a good amount of the time.
Reference
Reference
- Salas-Huetos A et al. Effect of Nut Consumption on Erectile and Sexual Function in Healthy Males: A Secondary Outcome Analysis of the FERTINUTS Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients. 2019 Jun 19;11(6):1372. PubMed.