Zinc enhances male sexual function

Zinc enhances male sexual function

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It seems that many men, maybe most men, may be low in zinc.

From my research, I think is one of the primary metals needed by men.

It’s necessary to develop healthy amounts of testosterone, semen, and prostatic fluid.

Zinc’s function in the body is pretty critical, particularly for men.

In this study, researchers gave men a diet very low in zinc.

Then they examined what the diet did to their testicular function and their sperm production.

What makes this study more interesting is that the average age is 57 years old.

Many people assume this is the normal age for a declining sexual function anyway.

But the researchers found that the low-zinc diet men experienced worse symptoms than other men.

Their sperm counts went way down, and the amount of ejaculate fluid went way down too.
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The decrease in sperm count coincided with decline in Leydig cell function and was reversed after zinc supplementation in low doses.

It took 6 to 12 months of proper low dose zinc supplementation to clear things up.

In another study, they gave male rats a bit of extra zinc and looked at what it did to their sexual behavior.

They gave each rat either 1 mg, 5 mg, or 10 mg per day of oral zinc sulfate.

This amount is equivalent to a very high human dose that would make you sick in a short time.

So first there was a greater — how should I say this?

There was a greater display of horniness behavior with the male rats given more zinc.

Supplementation of 5 mg of zinc/day for two weeks led to a prolongation of ejaculatory latency and an increase in the number of penile thrusts.

So they thrust more times, and their ejaculations lasted longer.

Lucky rats — or not.

There was a negative effect as well.

The higher zinc came with elevated prolactin levels.

And as prolactin went on, libido went down.

You don’t want high prolactin levels — because higher prolactin will lower your sex drive.

Zinc also predictably raised testosterone levels for the rats.

The same group had elevated prolactin and testosterone levels compared to controls at the end of treatment period.

One of the things that you should know about zinc is that each time you ejaculate you may lose three or 4 mg of zinc.

If a man ejaculates often, he can become deficient in zinc.

So, what should you do with this information now?

I want you to be extremely careful about taking zinc.

You need to take a very low amount of supplemental zinc or none at all.

There are many reasons for this, one of them is that zinc supplementation can quickly lead to copper deficiency.

And copper deficiency is hard to fix.

Right now, I have a short list of foods that I count on for getting enough zinc.

Grass fed beef, lamb, cocoa powder, cheese, oysters, scallops, shrimp (especially wild) — these are all great sources.

I generally do not supplement think because I do not want to depress my copper levels.

But if you’re very low in zinc you may consider 10 mg to 50 mg of zinc gluconate once a day.

However, you may not want to continue that for more than six months.

And you want to make sure you’re getting plenty of seafood and copper-rich foods.

Having 4 ounces of good quality calf’s liver once per week can help you.

And make sure you get enough copper.

 

 


Matt Cook is editor-in-chief of Daily Medical Discoveries. Matt has been a full time health researcher for 26 years. ABC News interviewed Matt on sexual health issues not long ago. Matt is widely quoted on over 1,000,000 websites. He has over 300,000 daily newsletter readers. Daily Medical Discoveries finds hidden, buried or ignored medical studies through the lens of 100 years of proven science. Matt heads up the editorial team of scientists and health researchers. Each discovery is based upon primary studies from peer reviewed science sources following the Daily Medical Discoveries 7 Step Process to ensure accuracy.
Experimental zinc deficiency in man. Effect on testicular function 
http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/6772723 
Effects of zinc supplementation on sexual behavior of male rats 
http://www.jhrsonline.org/article.asp?issn=0974-1208;year=2009;volume=2;issue=2;spage=57;epage=61;aulast=Dissanayake 

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