Valentine’s Day has only passed and I remember many papers and TV programmes were talking about aphrodisiacs or foods which are supposed to increase your libido, but what is really behind this media hype.

Can foods really help with your sex life? Over centuries people have believed that certain foods can have an effect on different aspects of your sex life, some foods are thought to increase libido whereas others are thought to help with fertility in men and women. Often the origin of the claim can be centuries old and most often only relates to the specific shape of the food (e.g. asparagus, oysters, eggs etc.). However modern media has also advocated foods such as pumpkin seeds as the ‘Viagra for women’ based on their specific nutrient density. So is there any real evidence that certain foods could influence any aspect of our sex life?

Firstly, it’s important to point out that there are many conditions which may interfere with a healthy and satisfied sex life such as depression, anaemia, stress, recurrent bladder infections etc. It appears obvious that being healthy will support a healthy sex life and in this respect a healthy balanced diet can surely support fertility and sex drive. As an example anaemia which can be caused by iron deficiency can make you lethargic and unwilling to have sexual intercourse. Considering that one in five women in the UK are iron deficient it seems to be important to advocate: eating a variety of foods containing iron and vitamin C to help with iron absorption. This could improve overall health and well-being and female sex life.

Also there appears to be some evidence for reduced or delayed conception in women consuming large amounts of caffeine, hence the Food Standards Agency recommends reducing your caffeine intake to around 200mg per day (2 mugs of instant coffee), yet a more recent review of the existing evidence concluded that current scientific evidence is insufficient to recommend caffeine avoidance to conceive.

Over and underweight can furthermore interfere with you sex life as both have been shown to reduce fertility in women and lead to complications during pregnancy. Body fat content appears here to be the strongest predictor for fertility. Some evidence even puts forward that as much as one quarter of female infertility could be attributable to current high levels of obesity and overweight. Interestingly high body fat percentage can have long-term effects: obese girls have been shown to have a higher risk of irregularities in the menstrual cycle and infertility in adulthood.

One of the reasons Trans fats in processed foods such as commercially baked and fried foods should only be eaten rarely is that they have been shown to increase ovulatory infertility in women, so avoidance of processed foods appears a wise choice if women aim to conceive.

Erectile dysfunction affects half of all men aged 40-70 years at least once and there is growing evidence that obesity could increase the occurrence of erectile dysfunction. Hence being at healthy weight will reduce the risk of erectile dysfunction. Some nutritional supplements have had promising results to treat erectile dysfunction in larger studies. The strongest evidence currently exists for red ginseng, yet the placebo effect for this type of ailment has been shown to be as high as 25% so it is not clear in how far red ginseng really helps to improve erectile function.

Fertility in men has been shown to be influenced by the following: zinc and selenium concentrations in the blood, high intakes of soy foods and isoflavones, vitamin C, E and beta-carotene intakes, L-carnitine (an amino acid) and vitamin B12 intake. Low levels of zinc and selenium in the blood have been shown to influences the semen quality, while vitamin B12 deficiency has been linked to abnormal semen analysis. High intakes of soy foods and isoflavones were suggested to decrease sperm counts in men.

On the other hand higher antioxidant intakes such as vitamin C, E and beta-carotene appear to increase the numbers of sperm and its mobility. Finally supplementation with L-carnitine in infertile men has been suggested to increase pregnancy rate and sperm quality. However, it must be emphasised that research in this area is still young and many other environmental and lifestyle factors can be involved in fertility so current advice is to consume a healthy balanced diet rather than taking any of the above as supplements without specific recommendation from a specialist.

Andrea Zick – Esteem Fitness Nutritionist
Esteem Fitness – Personal training London and South East UK