
By Geoffrey C. Whittaker
If you’ve ever searched for information about sexual dysfunction and diet, you may have come across lists of foods that cause premature ejaculation. These lists often contain the usual culprits, from foods high in sugar and simple carbohydrates to fatty foods, artificial ingredients and others.
While your diet can impact your sexual health, there isn’t currently any scientific evidence that specific foods directly contribute to premature ejaculation.
Below, we’ve also explained why you shouldn’t feel any need to avoid specific foods if you’re prone to premature ejaculation and covered your options for treating PE and enjoying a more fulfilling, satisfying sex life.
Premature ejaculation, or PE, is a common form of sexual dysfunction that’s estimated to affect between 20 and 30 percent of men of all ages and backgrounds.
Experts aren’t yet aware of the precise causes of premature ejaculation, but they believe a variety of biological and psychological factors may play a role.
- Biological factors that could be involved in PE include abnormal levels of specific hormones and neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, prolactin, luteinizing hormone (LH) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Inflammation that affects the prostate and/or urethra may also play a role.
- From a psychological perspective, issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, poor body image, worries about sexual performance, feelings of guilt, relationship problems or a history of sexual abuse or repression may all play a role in the development of PE.
Experts believe that these two common issues might be linked through your behavior. For example, men with erectile dysfunction due to hormonal issues might feel extra performance anxiety during sex, causing them to rush to avoid losing their erections.
In short, identifying the cause of PE is, well, a little complicated. Currently, there’s no clear, single “cause of PE” that most guys can point to as the culprit.
Want to learn more about PE? Our complete guide to premature ejaculation explains everything you need to know about this common sexual performance issue, from causes and symptoms to the latest research on PE treatments.
Currently, no research suggests that specific types of food play any direct role in the development of premature ejaculation, but there’s a caveat to this statement.
Food itself isn’t on the list of potential PE causes, but your diet may impact hormone levels, hinder sperm count, make your mental health worse or — if it’s affecting your weight — make you self-conscious during every sexual experience.
So, while PE is about more than diet, you might want to consider cutting down on consuming high volumes of certain food items.
The idea that eating junk food, starchy foods or foods with certain “bad” ingredients causes premature ejaculation doesn’t appear to be backed up by any science.
With this said, there is a direct link between diet and some aspects of your health that can affect your performance in bed.
It should come as no surprise that the healthier you are in general, the better certain aspects of your sexual capacity will be.
This is because sexual function and performance, at least in men, are closely linked to hormonal and cardiovascular health.
As a man, sex hormones like testosterone play a key role in regulating your sex drive. Healthy levels of testosterone are associated with a high level of interest in sex, while low testosterone levels are linked to decreases in your libido.
Likewise, your cardiovascular system plays a vital role in blood circulation, which is essential for maintaining erections. Many ED drugs — such as PDE5 inhibitors — work by increasing blood flow to your penis, resulting in stronger, easier-to-get erections.
So, how does your diet fit into this? Although the specific foods you eat aren’t likely to cause or worsen premature ejaculation directly, your diet does affect certain aspects of your health that are related to sexual function and performance.
For example, heart disease is a known risk factor for erectile dysfunction. Eating a balanced, healthy diet can reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, which may lower your ED risk and improve your sexual health by enhancing blood flow throughout your body.
Other research also suggests that high consumption of junk food and low consumption of food rich in nutrients are associated with low testosterone levels in men.
In other words, unhealthy eating habits don’t directly cause sexual performance issues like PE and ED, but they may contribute to them indirectly by affecting your general health and well-being.
In the limited sense that PE can result from your diet, some foods may benefit your sexual experience. While they won’t directly affect or “cure” premature ejaculation, they can improve issues that might be contributing to PE.
The best foods to help you perform better and potentially manage premature ejaculation are:
- Dark chocolate
- Blueberries
- Avocados
- Fatty fish
- Banana
- Honey
- Watermelon
- Pomegranate
- Beets
- Garlic
- Oysters
- Nuts
1. Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate isn’t just healthier because it contains fewer sweeteners — it’s also a great source of magnesium, zinc and other essential nutrients. Although research is limited, one small study suggests that low magnesium levels may be involved in premature ejaculation. Other magnesium-rich foods include pumpkin seeds, almonds, spinach, black beans, potato, rice and edamame.
2. Blueberries
Blueberries contain many essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They also contain flavonoids, and foods rich in flavonoids are associated with lower rates of sexual dysfunction and better sexual performance.
3. Avocados
Avocados promote better cardiovascular health and blood flow thanks to their vitamin E and healthy fat content.
Avocado consumption is also associated with better metabolic function, meaning consuming avocados can make you less likely to develop obesity — a significant factor in erectile dysfunction.
4. Fatty Fish
Fatty fish — like tuna, salmon and mackerel — are incredibly high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial for heart health and help manage blood pressure and prevent cardiovascular disease. They also contain zinc, which encourages healthier blood flow in your blood vessels, including the ones in your genitals that help you get an erection.
5. Bananas
Bananas are potassium-rich fruits that benefit the heart, nerves and muscles. Cardiovascular health and muscle and nerve function are essential to sexual function and stamina.
Oh, and there’s a link between high blood pressure and potassium deficiency, so bananas may also help keep hypertension in check.
6. Honey
If you’re looking for a sweetener for your foods that can also naturally protect your sexual function, look no further than honey. Honey’s natural sugars for energy may improve mental well-being. It may also play a protective role in cardiovascular and sexual health, according to some research.
7. Watermelon
Watermelon is rich in citrulline — an amino acid your body turns into arginine, which helps relax the blood vessels to improve blood flow.
Watermelon also contains lycopene — an amino acid that may fight cancer and help people manage their weight — so it might help prevent high blood pressure and other medical conditions related to sexual dysfunction.
8. Pomegranate
Pomegranate is loaded with beneficial antioxidants that can improve the health of your blood vessels, among other health benefits. While more research is needed, one study from 2007 looked at 53 men and found reason to believe that pomegranate may also increase libido and erectile function.
9. Beets
Beets contain nitrates, which can lower your blood pressure. That makes them healthy for people with hypertension, but also a sort of natural Viagra.
10. Garlic
Garlic is great for sexual intercourse because it contains compounds like allicin, which improves blood vessel dilation and increases nitric oxide production.
11. Oysters
You’ve likely heard of the oyster’s aphrodisiac reputation — did you suspect it was true? Oysters are rich in zinc, which is important for the production of the testosterone required for most of your sexual function and desire. Just know that zinc deficiency is very uncommon, so you may not need the supplementation.
12. Nuts
While a handful of trail mix only helps your stamina while hiking, the omega-3 fatty acids and zinc in nuts and seeds contribute to cardiovascular health. They support sexual performance by helping maintain blood flow through the blood vessels of your penis and elsewhere.
Your diet doesn’t have to be the only treatment you use for PE, and home remedies are not the limits of treatment options for premature ejaculation.
Most of the time, you can treat premature ejaculation using a mix of over-the-counter treatments, lifestyle changes, behavioral therapies and, if necessary, prescription PE medication.
Here are some tips on putting all of these treatments into practice.
Eat a Balanced Diet
While making changes to your diet is unlikely to suddenly resolve your premature ejaculation, a good daily diet can have a positive impact on your overall health, sexual function and quality of life.
Try to eat a balanced diet that contains lots of nutrient-rich foods. Our lists of good foods for ED prevention and increasing testosterone levels discuss specific ingredients that you may want to prioritize for your general sexual health.
Use Behavioral Techniques to Delay Ejaculation
Sometimes, making minor changes to the way you have sex can help you delay orgasm and avoid ejaculating too early. Two popular techniques for treating PE are the stop-start technique, which involves temporarily stopping the sexual activity as you feel orgasm approaching, and the squeeze technique, which involves squeezing near the tip of your penis to delay orgasm.
Kegel exercises (exercises that work the pelvic floor muscles) have also been shown to improve sexual function and penile stamina and reduce the symptoms of sexual problems.
Try Topical PE Treatments
Premature ejaculation can often be treated with topical creams and sprays, such as our Delay Spray for Men and Clockstopper Climax Delay Wipes.
Topical treatments for PE work by reducing sensitivity without numbing your penis too much. This helps make the physical sensation of sex less overwhelming, allowing you to last longer after penetration.
Our guide to lidocaine spray for premature ejaculation goes into more detail about how topical sprays work, their effectiveness, potential side effects and more.
Consider Prescription Medication
Although there aren’t any FDA-approved medications specifically for premature ejaculation, some antidepressants are commonly prescribed off-label as premature ejaculation pills.
For example, the antidepressants sertraline and paroxetine are both commonly used off-label to delay orgasm and treat premature ejaculation.
These medications work by increasing the amount of serotonin in your body. Research suggests that serotonin inhibits ejaculation, meaning it slows down the process of reaching orgasm during sex.
Our guide to using sertraline for premature ejaculation explains more about how SSRIs can help to slow down ejaculation and increase your sexual stamina.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s no convincing scientific evidence that shows that certain types of food speed up orgasm and contribute to premature ejaculation.
However, an unhealthy diet and lifestyle can affect your overall health, which may increase your risk of some sexual disorders. If you’re among the many men affected by PE, try to eat a healthy diet and maintain a balanced, active general lifestyle.
Our range of premature ejaculation treatments includes proven options for dealing with PE more directly, such as wipes, sprays and prescription medications available online after a consultation with a licensed healthcare professional.
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