Watermelon is a rich source of citrulline, which has been found to improve erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction (impotence).
Watermelon as Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction
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As noted in a recent article in the Harvard Health Letter, up to three-quarters of men with cholesterol-narrowed coronary arteries have some degree of erectile dysfunction as well. There’s drugs like Viagra, but they’re temporary, and an expensive solution that can cause hazardous side effects.
Obviously, if your arterial system is that damaged, a more intensive effort that involves much more than popping a pill can yield longer term improvements in both sexual function and cardiovascular health. Plant-based diets can not only reverse both conditions, but one plant in particular may be able to play a stopgap role in the meantime.
The way drugs like Viagra work is by inhibiting an enzyme that inactivates something called cGMP, which would otherwise dilate penile blood vessels. So, enzyme inhibition means more cGMP, which means more blood flow.
But there’s another way to boost cGMP levels, by going to the other side of the equation, and stimulating the enzyme that makes it. That’s what nitric oxide does. Nitric oxide is made from arginine. Arginine can be produced by citrulline. So I wonder what would happen if you ate more citrulline. “Oral [L-]citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction.”
And where is citrulline found? Watermelon. How much watermelon would you have to eat every day to match the dose they used in the study? Three and a half servings a day—unless you eat yellow watermelon, which has about four times as much citrulline.
So just one serving a day, one wedge, one-sixteenth of a modest melon should provide the dose they used, allowing for a 68% increase in monthly intercourse frequency, which your heart should be able to handle, given how much lower your blood pressure will be with watermelon supplementation. Watermelon’s got it all.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Two-way street between erection problems and heart disease. Paying attention to heart health can be good for a man's sex life. Harv Heart Lett. 2011 May;21(9):4.
- Rimando AM, Perkins-Veazie PM. Determination of citrulline in watermelon rind. J Chromatogr A. 2005 Jun 17;1078(1-2):196-200.
- Cormio L, De Siati M, Lorusso F, Selvaggio O, Mirabella L, Sanguedolce F, Carrieri G. Oral L-citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction. Urology. 2011 Jan;77(1):119-22.
- Collins JK, Wu G, Perkins-Veazie P, Spears K, Claypool PL, Baker RA, Clevidence BA. Watermelon consumption increases plasma arginine concentrations in adults. Nutrition. 2007 Mar;23(3):261-6.
- Figueroa A, Sanchez-Gonzalez MA, Perkins-Veazie PM, Arjmandi BH. Effects of watermelon supplementation on aortic blood pressure and wave reflection in individuals with prehypertension: a pilot study. Am J Hypertens. 2011 Jan;24(1):40-4.
Images thanks to tiny banquet committee, Life in Wonderland, and Starliner and Candie_N via Flickr.
As noted in a recent article in the Harvard Health Letter, up to three-quarters of men with cholesterol-narrowed coronary arteries have some degree of erectile dysfunction as well. There’s drugs like Viagra, but they’re temporary, and an expensive solution that can cause hazardous side effects.
Obviously, if your arterial system is that damaged, a more intensive effort that involves much more than popping a pill can yield longer term improvements in both sexual function and cardiovascular health. Plant-based diets can not only reverse both conditions, but one plant in particular may be able to play a stopgap role in the meantime.
The way drugs like Viagra work is by inhibiting an enzyme that inactivates something called cGMP, which would otherwise dilate penile blood vessels. So, enzyme inhibition means more cGMP, which means more blood flow.
But there’s another way to boost cGMP levels, by going to the other side of the equation, and stimulating the enzyme that makes it. That’s what nitric oxide does. Nitric oxide is made from arginine. Arginine can be produced by citrulline. So I wonder what would happen if you ate more citrulline. “Oral [L-]citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction.”
And where is citrulline found? Watermelon. How much watermelon would you have to eat every day to match the dose they used in the study? Three and a half servings a day—unless you eat yellow watermelon, which has about four times as much citrulline.
So just one serving a day, one wedge, one-sixteenth of a modest melon should provide the dose they used, allowing for a 68% increase in monthly intercourse frequency, which your heart should be able to handle, given how much lower your blood pressure will be with watermelon supplementation. Watermelon’s got it all.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Two-way street between erection problems and heart disease. Paying attention to heart health can be good for a man's sex life. Harv Heart Lett. 2011 May;21(9):4.
- Rimando AM, Perkins-Veazie PM. Determination of citrulline in watermelon rind. J Chromatogr A. 2005 Jun 17;1078(1-2):196-200.
- Cormio L, De Siati M, Lorusso F, Selvaggio O, Mirabella L, Sanguedolce F, Carrieri G. Oral L-citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction. Urology. 2011 Jan;77(1):119-22.
- Collins JK, Wu G, Perkins-Veazie P, Spears K, Claypool PL, Baker RA, Clevidence BA. Watermelon consumption increases plasma arginine concentrations in adults. Nutrition. 2007 Mar;23(3):261-6.
- Figueroa A, Sanchez-Gonzalez MA, Perkins-Veazie PM, Arjmandi BH. Effects of watermelon supplementation on aortic blood pressure and wave reflection in individuals with prehypertension: a pilot study. Am J Hypertens. 2011 Jan;24(1):40-4.
Images thanks to tiny banquet committee, Life in Wonderland, and Starliner and Candie_N via Flickr.
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Title
Watermelon as Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Just as Indian gooseberries may help treat diabetes (see Amla Versus Diabetes), but it’s better to reverse the disease, watermelon may help treat the symptoms of pelvic atherosclerosis, but it’s better to get to the root of the problem and clear out the arterial plaque. See Our Number One Killer Can Be Stopped, and my other videos on reversing chronic disease. For more on diet and sexual dysfunction, see Cholesterol and Female Sexual Dysfunction; Atkins Diet: Trouble Keeping It Up; and Rosy Glow.
For additional context, please check out my associated blog posts: Pollutants in Californian Breast Tissue, and Flax Seeds for Diabetes.
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