Nuts And Testosterone Levels

Believe it or not, improving serum testosterone levels naturally, has always been a topic of debate among healthcare professionals. Although, a lot of pharmaceutical companies creates this false illusion that testosterone levels can only be increased if you consume certain supplements, but most clinical studies have statistically proven that natural methods are far more effective at improving your testosterone levels.

Can Nuts Improve Your Testosterone Levels?

Munching nuts is perhaps the most fun and delicious way to obtain healthy nutrients and optimizing health. Numerous studies have reinforced the beneficial effects of nuts on the cardiovascular health and nervous system. In addition, many nuts are enriched with fiber and therefore serves as a good source of vitamins and minerals too. In short, nuts are healthy and have an overall good impact on our health. But are nuts an equally heathy source of hormones?

From a logical perspective, nuts are an excellent source of high quality lipids which should automatically translate into high serum testosterone levels, but this is not the case. When it comes to hormones (especially male sex hormone – testosterone); the nuts are not as good as they are thought to be.

• Few nuts especially almonds and walnuts are believed to actually reduce the serum testosterone production because both almonds and walnuts can increase the SHBG levels by 10 to 20%. SHBG lowers the production of testosterone by binding with the free testosterone and dihydrotestosterone, making hormones inactive and unavailable for bodily use.
• Polyunsaturated fatty-acids (PUFAs) are also known to decrease the serum T levels because these compounds can increase the oxidative damage in storage tissues and many nuts are found to be richly supplied with PUFAs.
• Phytosterol is another substance that competes with cholesterol and reduces its bioactivity in the body. Low serum cholesterol levels may sound good for health but when it comes to testosterone, it can indirectly reduce the production as many steroid hormones use cholesterol as the primary precursor.

However, based on these facts it would not be appropriate to say that all nuts are harmful for your testosterone levels. In fact, some nuts have beneficial effects on your basal testosterone levels.

Nuts That Are Good For Your Sexual Health

Following are the nuts that are known to benefit your sexual and reproductive system.

• Brazil nuts – these nuts are enriched with zinc, selenium, boron, magnesium and other minerals; all of which are pro-testosterone micronutrients.
• Macadamia nuts – these nuts are enriched with testosterone boosting monounsaturated fats and directly stimulates testosterone production.
• Tiger nuts – these nuts are found to increase testosterone levels upon regular consumption. This increase is dose dependent however, mechanism is not known.

Nuts that can harm testosterone:

• Peanuts – these nuts have high levels of beta sitosterol which is known to decrease the enzymes required for testosterone production as well as dihydrotestosterone.
• Pistachios - contain high contents of phytosterol due to which testosterone levels may suffer a serious dip.
• Almonds – Almonds can raise SHBG levels due to which free- testosterone decreases in the serum.
• Walnuts – they inactivate free testosterone by increasing SHBG.

Based on above stated facts, it can be safely concluded that higher the PUFA and phytosterol contents in nuts, more harm it can pose to male sex hormone levels. Likewise, nuts that are enriched with testosterone boosting micronutrients can be very advantageous for male health.

References

• Allouh, M. Z., Daradka, H. M., & Ghaida, J. H. A. (2015). Influence of Cyperus esculentus tubers (Tiger Nut) on male rat copulatory behavior. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 15(1), 1.
• Kalogeropoulos, N., Chiou, A., Ioannou, M. S., & Karathanos, V. T. (2013). Nutritional evaluation and health promoting activities of nuts and seeds cultivated in Greece. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 64(6), 757-767.
• Hussein, R. H., & Raheem, S. A. (2015). Effects of almond seed oil extraction and some antioxidant agents on sperm quality in alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus rat. Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. App. Sci, 4(7), 93-104.