Food and Sex: Fat

Last updated on January 21, 2020

Fat, food and sex. Oh the joy of ignorance.  I remember growing up in the 80’s and pretty much everything I ate came from a box.  My mom was a single mom trying to raise us while working 2 or 3 jobs.  Dinner was often Dinty Moore beef stew in a can, or On-cor frozen entrees like Salisbury steak or chicken parmesan.  Or there was Suddenly Salad!, which wasn’t salad at all, but pasta in a bunch of oil and salty seasoning. I could enjoy them without knowing how all the fat and salt affected sexual function, compromising blood flow to the arteries of the clitoris.  I didn’t realize until I was way older and concerned about my own pleasure in the bedroom that all that fat could affect my sex life. 

Hyperlipidemia is when there is too much fat in the blood, which comes from eating a high fat diet.  Women with hyperlipidemia had significantly lower arousal, lubrication, orgasm and satisfaction^⁠1.  Eating fatty food causes our blood vessels to stiffen and makes the heart have to work extra hard to pump blood to the body.  Even after one fatty meal, such as chicken and cheese in one study, the blood vessels become measurably stiffer a few hours  later^⁠2. When blood vessels, arteries and veins are more elastic, blood is able to move more freely and the heart does not have to work as hard.

In addition to stiffening the blood vessels, fatty foods also cause build up in the blood vessels.  In fact, the blood vessels going to the penis^⁠3 and clitoris^⁠4 are some of the smallest in the body.  So, long before a person sees signs of heart disease, they will notice that sexual pleasure and function^⁠5 declines^⁠6. In fact, men who are diagnosed with ED in their 40’s are 50 times more likely to develop Coronary artery disease^⁠7. The good news is that even after damaging blood vessels with high fat, changes in diet can help normalize blood flow to the genitals^⁠8.

Plaque Accumulation

Plaque accumulation also restricts blood flow to the clitoris, making it more difficult for it to become fully engorged with blood.  Clitoral vascular resistance means^⁠9 is that blood does not flow as freely in the clitoris.  This increases with factors associated with cardiovascular disease such as weight and insulin resistance.  Poor blood flow will make the clitoris less responsive to touch, making orgasm more difficult^⁠10.There’s, great news though!  Changing your diet can actually reverse damage to these blood vessels caused by excessive fat intake^⁠11. Eat good food and sex will be better.

The fat-sugar combination:

The Fat Sugar Combination:

It seems that eating high fat plus high sugar is even worse for your blood vessels. There is a great deal of research showing that eating one high fat- high sugar meal results in immediate low-grade inflammation in our bodies and dysfunction in our blood vessels^⁠12.  This is a temporary state, but when we chronically challenge our bodies with high fat and high sugar we damage blood vessels, making it more difficult for them to deliver adequate blood to the genitals. 

So when we consider food and sex, we must make a conscious effort to limit dietary fat so that our blood vessels can deliver abundant blood to the genitals, for the best sex!

References:

¹ Esposito K1, Ciotola M1, Maiorino MI1, Giugliano F2, Autorino R2, De Sio M2, Cozzolino D3, Saccomanno F1, Giugliano D1.(2009).  Hyperlipidemia and sexual function in premenopausal women. J Sex Med. 2009 Jun;6(6):1696-1703.

² Lithander, F. E., Herlihy, L. K., Walsh, D. M., Burke, E., Crowley, V., & Mahmud, A. (2013). Postprandial effect of dietary fat quantity and quality on arterial stiffness and wave reflection: a randomised controlled trial. Nutrition journal, 12, 93

Nicholls SJ1, Lundman P, Harmer JA, Cutri B, Griffiths KA, Rye KA, Barter PJ, Celermajer DS.(2006). Consumption of saturated fat impairs the anti-inflammatory properties of high-density lipoproteins and endothelial function. J Am Coll Cardiol.Aug 15;48(4):715-20

³ Randrup E, Baum N, Feibus A. (2015) Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease, Postgraduate Medicine, 127:2, 166-172,

⁴ Hannan, J. L., Cheung, G. L., Blaser, M. C., Pang, J. J., Pang, S. C., Webb, R. C., & Adams, M. A. (2012). Characterization of the vasculature supplying the genital tissues in female rats. The journal of sexual medicine, 9(1), 136–147.

⁵ Diaconu CC, Manea M, Marcu DR, Socea B, Spinu AD, Bratu OG. The erectile dysfunction as a marker of cardiovascular disease: a review.Acta Cardiol. 2019 Apr 6:1-7.

⁶ Meldrum DR, Gambone JC, Morris MA, Meldrum DA, Esposito K, Ignarro LJ.The link between erectile and cardiovascular health: the canary in the coal mine. Am J Cardiol. 2011 Aug 15; 108(4):599-606. Epub 2011 May 31.

⁷ Inman, B. A., Sauver, J. L., Jacobson, D. J., McGree, M. E., Nehra, A., Lieber, M. M., … Jacobsen, S. J. (2009). A population-based, longitudinal study of erectile dysfunction and future coronary artery disease. Mayo Clinic proceedings, 84(2), 108–113.

⁸ Huang YC, Ho DR, Lin JH, Huang KT, Chen CS, Shi CS. Dietary Modification Is Associated with Normalization of Penile Hemodynamics in Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet. J Sex Med. 2019 Jun;16(6):791-802.

⁹ Maseroli E, Fanni E, Cipriani S, Scavello I, Pampaloni F, Battaglia C, Fambrini M, Mannucci E, Jannini EA, Maggi M, Vignozzi L. (2016). Cardiometabolic Risk and Female Sexuality: Focus on Clitoral Vascular Resistance. J Sex Med. 2016 Nov;13(11):1651-1661

¹⁰ Rosato E, Gigante A, Barbano B, et al (2013). Clitoral blood flow in systemic sclerosis women: correlation with disease clinical variables and female sexual dysfunction. Rheumatology Volume 52, Issue 12. 2238-2242

¹¹ Ornish D, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, et al. Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease. JAMA. 1998;280(23):2001–2007

¹² Dimina L, Mariotti F. (2019). Review: The Postprandial Appearance of Features of Cardiometabolic Risk: Acute Induction and Prevention by Nutrients and Other Dietary Substances. 

Nutrients. 11(9), 1963