Benefits of Bananas Sexually For Men

Bananas might bring back memories from middle school health class when the fruit was used as a prop for sexual safety. Or maybe it’s simply a part of your daily breakfast routine.

So you may or may not give too much thought to whether acuminata fruits (the species that includes bananas and other peelable fruits) can give your sex life a boost. But if you struggle with sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction, you certainly may be on the hunt for a remedy.

While a diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables is recommended for optimal health and function, could there be more to this particular fruit than we realize? Keep reading to learn whether or not there are benefits of bananas sexually.

This fresh fruit is a pretty big staple of breakfast — whether eaten on toast with peanut butter, in your smoothie, or on its own. We probably all know on some level that bananas contain many good-for-us nutrients and essential vitamins.

So are there benefits of bananas sexually? Unfortunately, there aren’t many studies directly looking at the impact bananas have on conditions like erectile dysfunction (ED) or premature ejaculation.

But while there isn't a lot of research about bananas and ED, this fruit does have plenty of nutrients that benefit your overall health in other ways — including some that might help in the bedroom.

Bananas can certainly be part of a healthy diet, which helps not only your overall health but can improve sexual function in the long run.

The most common type of acuminata fruits is the Cavendish, the large yellow fruit found in grocery stores and that we associate with bananas.

We’ll dive into all the nutrients this fruit holds and how they might help with sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction, among other bodily functions.

A Nutrient-Rich Fruit

A 100-gram banana (about a medium-sized banana) is packed with nutrients, boasting a fair amount of fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C and various antioxidants and phytonutrients.

One banana is also low in calories, with very little protein or fat, since it’s mostly water and carbohydrates.

Improve Blood Sugar Levels

While bananas are higher in sugar, they’re also rich in soluble fiber, a type of fiber that can help lower glucose levels (also known as blood sugar levels).

Unripe bananas also contain resistant starch, which the body can’t digest, but it becomes more digestible as the banana ripens. In some studies, resistant starch has been shown to lower blood sugar levels, although more research is needed.

This banana benefit is important since managing your blood sugar levels helps prevent more serious health problems like diabetes or heart disease. Your blood sugar can also affect your sex drive, as those with poorly managed diabetes may have lowered libido.

May Improve Digestion

As we mentioned, bananas are an excellent source of fiber, which has many health benefits, including aiding digestion.

Resistant starch — the indigestible type found in green bananas — acts as a prebiotic while it ferments in the large intestine, feeding good bacteria in your gut and leading to improved gut health.

Another dietary fiber found in bananas is pectin, a soluble fiber. Pectin may also improve bowel function and prevent constipation.

Eating foods that could improve your digestion certainly won’t hurt your sexual performance. A small sample of 60 men found that those with erectile dysfunction had significant differences in gut health than those without ED.

Research has also found that about 95 percent of serotonin, the feel-good hormone that controls libido, is produced by gut microbes. There may also be a connection between healthy gut microbes and male reproduction, although the mechanism isn’t clear.

Helps Heart Health

One of the nutrients bananas are rich in — and possibly most known for — is potassium, a mineral that’s vital for heart health, especially managing blood pressure. However, despite its importance, many people don’t get enough potassium in their diets.

A way to help get that recommended daily amount? Eat a medium-sized banana, which provides about 10 percent of the recommended daily value of potassium.

Older studies have found that the combination of increasing potassium intake and decreasing the amount of sodium you eat can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.

Another important mineral that’s important for heart health is magnesium. A magnesium deficiency may be linked to an increased risk of heart disease, as well as increased blood pressure.

Bananas contain about eight percent of the recommended daily value of magnesium, so they could be part of the solution to increasing your magnesium intake, along with a balanced diet or supplements. And a healthy heart can certainly help sexual health.

While delicious and certainly nutritious, bananas aren’t quite the aphrodisiac for males they might be marketed to be. But just because bananas aren’t a cure-all for sexual impotence and erectile dysfunction doesn’t mean there aren’t other sexual benefits of bananas for men.

Bananas provide important vitamins and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and vitamins B6 and C, as well as essential nutrients like fiber and potassium. These may help keep blood sugar levels low, improve digestion and support heart health — all of which are key not just for overall well-being, but for sexual health too.

While eating a particular food every day won’t prevent erectile dysfunction or other sexual dysfunction, consistently eating a healthy diet can support erectile function throughout a lifetime.

If you’re struggling with ED, you can gain some insight into treatment with our guides to the most common erectile dysfunction treatments and how ED medication works. You can also talk to a healthcare professional about different treatments, including ED medications like sildenafil.