Is Watermelon A Natural Viagra?

 

Popular Summer Fruit May Have Viagra-Like Effect on Blood Vessels, According to Research.

July 1, 2008 — Skip the burgers and beer at the Fourth of July cookout and eat lots of watermelon instead if you want to see some fireworks in your love life.

According to a study, watermelon may be a natural Viagra. That's because the well-known summer fruit contains more citrulline, an amino acid, than experts had anticipated. Citrulline relaxes and dilates blood vessels similarly to Viagra and other medications used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED).

According to Bhimu Patil, PHD, head of the Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center at Texas A&M University, College Station, "We have known that watermelon contains citrulline." According to him, experts previously believed that the watermelon rind contained the majority of the citrulline. The edible section of watermelon has more citrulline than was previously thought, he claims.

How is watermelon a potential all-natural Viagra? According to Patil, the amino acid citrulline is changed into arginine. "This is a precursor of nitric oxide, which aids in the dilatation of blood vessels."

So, The HOT Question: How much watermelon does it take?!

Patil responds, "That is a good question. "I don't have an answer for that," I regret to say.

He is aware that a typical serving of watermelon weighs 4 ounces and contains 150 milligrams of citrulline (or roughly 10 watermelon balls). The amount of citrulline required to produce Viagra-like effects, however, remains unknown to him.

He hopes that his findings will inspire further investigation into the impact of the fruit on penile erections.

Watermelon's Viagra-Like Effects

Irwin Goldstein, MD, editor-in-chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, was unimpressed after learning about the Texas discovery. He argues that advising a guy to gorge himself on watermelon would be "the equivalent of someone dropping a beer bottle in Minneapolis, where the Mississippi River starts, and hoping to see it have an effect on someone in New Orleans."

"It's kind of fun to say that watermelon is similar to Viagra," says Goldstein. "But even the vague expectation that eating watermelon will alleviate ED is misleading." 

"The majority of Americans produce sufficient amounts of arginine," adds Goldstein, medical director of San Diego's Alvarado Hospital Medical Center and clinical professor of surgery at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. "Men with ED are not deficient in arginine."

 Arginine is necessary to make nitric oxide, and nitric oxide is necessary to dilate blood vessels and get an erection. It doesn't get better." Goldstein.

Goldstein has consulted for many companies that manufacture ED drugs.

Calling watermelon natural Viagra is "obviously premature," said Roger Clemens, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology and pharmacy at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a spokesperson for the Society of Food Technologists. increase.

Clemens himself researched the amino acid arginine and a nutritional supplement to improve vascular flow in patients with arteriosclerosis and arteriosclerosis.He now says he has abandoned this line of research.

To increase arginine levels in the blood, he adds, a lot of watermelon may be necessary. He cites a 2007 Nutrition study in which individuals increased their arginine levels by 11% by consuming three 8-ounce glasses of watermelon juice every day for three weeks.

In addition to the citrulline and potassium, watermelon also contains the phytonutrients lycopene and beta-carotene.

What is Clemens' opinion on the Fourth of July and watermelon? "Salt it, and eat it."

Just remember to only expect them (Fireworks) in the sky!