What Foods May Be Lowering Your Sex Drive?
Food and sex have been intertwined throughout history, with tales of aphrodisiac foods that can boost your libido and vigor. We covered these kinds of foods in one of our recent blogs here and discussed how there really are no miracle foods that can give the expected immediate results. What about foods that lower your sex drive though? Are there any foods you may be eating on a regular basis that might be having an adverse effect on your libido? First, lets quickly review how food affects your sex drive in general.
Contents
Can You Control Your Libido With Food?
As mentioned, food has long been thought to have an effect on people’s sex drive. Unfortunately, as we covered in our blog “Are There Foods that Improve your Sex Life?”, aphrodisiacs aren’t quite as effective as the anecdotes would have you believe. That being said, while there isn’t much scientific evidence that such foods can really boost your libido, many still believe that they can help us become aroused through their smell, taste, and texture.
What about foods that lower your sex drive? While you might struggle to find a miracle food that can help keep your desires at bay, there are a variety of things that can have an indirect effect over time. This is generally through wider effects to your general health and condition. There is also the confusing matter of alcohol, which is the one exception in both cases. While several small studies have shown alcohol consumption is linked to arousal, it can also hinder sexual performance.
Now, let’s take a closer look at both alcohol and other foods that may be negatively affecting your sex drive below.
Which Foods Lower Your Libido?
Here are just a few foods that might be having a general effect on your health and, in turn, on your sex drive.
Alcohol
While it is true that alcohol can help in lowering inhibitions and making you feel far sexier (not to mention making others appear more attractive too!) it can also cause several negative effects. This mainly comes in the form of lowering your testosterone and your sexual performance, and in extreme cases, lead to erectile dysfunction in men.
Fried Foods
Fried foods and plenty of carbohydrate heavy meals can be pretty delicious, but they tend to be less than healthy. This includes how they are prepared. Hydrogenated oils used to fry food can lower testosterone levels. Not to mention the trans-fat used in most fried foods is known to decrease the sex drive of both men and women. Trans fat can also increase abnormal sperm production in men and hindering the gestation periods of women. Of course, this is not including the wider health issues that can come with eating fatty foods excessively!
Bottled Water
Outside of the moral, ethical and environmental reasons for not drinking bottled water so you don’t contribute to pollution issues, there is another reason bottled water may be bad for you. BPAs found in plastic bottles are the main reason for this concern. Bisphenol A, commonly referred to as BPA, is a chemical component found in many plastic food containers including water bottles that can cause you harm.
This can include several effects on both men and women. For men, issues such as a lower total sperm count, and erectile dysfunction. For women, this can cause 27% less viable eggs to be produced and for both, a drop in concentration and vitality.
Mint
Having great smelling breath is important and so a lot of us rely on mints or mint-flavored chewing gum in a pinch to refresh and dispel any terrible odors from lunch. There are studies however that state that mint, especially spearmint and peppermint, have been shown to suppress and even lower testosterone levels. Most research on this so far has been conducted on women and animals, however. So until further research into human males has been done, you might still be safe with the occasional breath mint.
Coffee
Are you a caffeine addict? Then you might want to consider cutting down on your coffee bean intake if you’re having trouble with sexual performance. Of course, coffee is known for giving an energy boost throughout the day, which may include sexual activities, but it can also cause anxiety. Increased anxiety, can lower your sex drive. While this is a common complaint of people with caffeine sensitivity, if you don’t suffer from this issue, then you should be able to keep drinking that java!
Canned Soups
A lot of canned soups contain surprisingly high levels of sodium, too much of which can lead to elevated blood pressure and, in turn, do damage to your heart. Additionally, sodium can inspire diminished blood flow, this includes having a potential knock-on effect of being able to effectively gain and maintain an erection. High blood pressure can also lead to several issues that may cause problems during sexual activities.
Summary: Food Tips to Prevent Lowering Your Sex Drive
Most of the food and drinks on this list when consumed in moderation shouldn’t cause any issues in the long term. For things that may contain BPA or other harmful substances that may be ingested we would suggest steering clear of these as much as possible.
If you also feel that you have any problems with the amount of caffeine or alcohol you consume then we would always recommend seeing a doctor or appropriate specialist to address these concerns. This way they can help discuss any possible issues. In terms of general, everyday healthy life though, as long as you don’t consume any of the above excessively, you only need to be aware of the effects they can cause.
