Sugar won’t do your sex life any favours.
If you’re feeling a little unlucky in love, here’s everything you need to know about the shocking relationship between the two. And why that brownie could be killing your bedroom antics, one bite at a time.
Battle of the sexes.
Scientific research has concluded that a diet laden with sugar saps your sex drive and derails your sex hormones, and this ain’t good news for couples.
In women, sugar overload can result in interruptions to menstruation, fertility and arousal. In men, it can result in a string of symptoms ranging from a drop in testosterone levels, to a decrease in libido, erectile dysfunction and weight gain (the dreaded “man boobs”). It’s a wonder anyone’s procreating!
How sugar mucks with our hormones.
Have we got your attention? Yeah, we thought so. Here’s the science: excess sugar raises insulin and causes a hormonal domino effect. In men, this drives down testosterone, the male sex hormone. In women it has the opposite effect, ramping up testosterone and masking oestrogen and progesterone, the female hormones necessary for reproduction.
This means normal sexual functions are slowed or halted as your body tries to adjust to these changes. For instance, women can stop menstruating, begin growing excess body hair and experience complications such as PCOS and even infertility. On the other hand men may see a loss of muscle mass, experience a drop in desire and have interruptions in reproductive function.
Why sugar is bad news for blokes.
That’s not all. Insulin resistance from too much sugar frequently also creates leptin resistance. Leptin is a trigger for appetite and affects weight gain. Generally speaking, a high leptin resistance in men also results in a visible drop in testosterone. Male hormones go under attack and we say bye bye, libido!
The enemy of arousal
Are we done yet? Sadly no. Our friend orexin, a neurotransmitter that regulates eating behaviours, wakefulness and arousal, is dulled by sugar-heavy diets, resulting in fatigue and lack of sexual response. And don’t forget cortisol, the stress hormone which kicks into overdrive in the presence of excess sugar and in turn brings on mood swings, depression and dampened libido.
What to do with all this malaise?
In many cases, simply switching out a heavily processed and sugar-laden diet for a more wholesome, fructose-free one is all you’ll really need to get your mojo back.
Until then, there won’t be much mattress dancing going on over in your ‘hood.
We originally published this article in December 2014. We updated it in June 2016.
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