Vitamin E Benefits for Men

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but if you heard vitamin E supplements can improve your sex life, don’t believe the hype. 

Don’t get us wrong, there are plenty of vitamin E benefits for men, but if you’re hoping it’ll fix issues like premature ejaculation (PE) or erectile dysfunction (ED), you may end up disappointed.

Vitamin E is an essential vitamin that helps maintain normal reproductive function (specifically as an antioxidant) and supports the health of cells and tissues by neutralizing free radicals. It can also have positive effects on your cardiovascular health, which can ultimately support your sexual function. Still, it’s no magical sex vitamin.

Below, we’ll explore the role of vitamin E in the body, whether or not there are any benefits of vitamin E sexually, and what you should actually keep in mind if you’re having issues with sexual performance.

Vitamin E, or alpha-tocopherol, is a fat-soluble vitamin. Most healthy people get their daily value of vitamin E through their dietary choices.

Good sources include foods like nuts, sunflower seeds, vegetable oils, wheat germ oil, fortified cereals, and green leafy vegetables.

If you’re not getting enough vitamin E from your diet, taking dietary supplements is another option. This is especially true if you have a medical condition linked to vitamin E deficiency, such as cystic fibrosis.

Within your body, vitamin E can perform the following roles to support the tissues, organs, cells, and functions you depend on:

• Antioxidant protection. Vitamin E is considered a potent antioxidant. It’s very good at protecting cells from damage caused by free radicals (harmful molecules you don’t want in your body). This protective effect may extend to sperm health and higher fertility rates, as shown in this 2021 study, but more research is needed.

• Cardiovascular health. Maintaining healthy vitamin E levels may help reduce your risk of heart disease and improve blood circulation after a heart attack. Vitamin E may also reduce the effects of bad cholesterol and prevent the arteries from hardening.

• Immune function. Vitamin E plays a key role in the success of your immune system. It supports immunity by enhancing communication and growth of immune cells while lowering inflammation.

• Improvement in certain medical conditions. There’s some evidence that vitamin E may improve symptoms related to some chronic conditions like cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Some research shows vitamin E may be helpful for those with Alzheimer’s disease, but clinical trials have found limited and inconsistent evidence on this topic thus far.

• Muscle recovery. If you’re a gym buff, you may want to add vitamin E to your post-workout routine. A review of 44 studies shows that vitamin E supplements prevented exercise-induced muscle damage by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation.

• Skin protection. When applied topically, vitamin E may protect the skin against ultraviolet rays, including sunburn and erythema, potentially lowering the risk of skin cancer and photoaging.

In short, vitamin E helps you lead a healthier life. But does it help you perform better in bed? Is there a reason to believe sexual dysfunction can be addressed with natural vitamin E? See what the science says below.

When it comes to addressing sexual issues like premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, or low libido, upping your intake of vitamin E shouldn’t be your first plan of action.

Though research shows vitamin E may have indirect benefits for erectile function, no multivitamin matches the efficacy of FDA-approved medications for ED.

Vitamin E for Improved Erectile Function

A couple of reliable studies have explored the connection between erectile function and vitamin E. But we have to caution that they weren’t large studies, and they’ve yet to be replicated.

One is a 2021 controlled trial that examined the benefits of vitamin E alongside ginseng in the treatment of ED. A group of 52 men received either a combination supplement of ginseng and vitamin E or a placebo. 

At the end of six weeks, those who took the combination of vitamin E and ginseng saw more benefits than the placebo group. However, the small size and limitations of the study (they didn’t look at vitamin E by itself) suggest that more research is needed to determine the role of vitamin E — if there is one at all.

Another study, this time on animals, compared vitamin E to sildenafil in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Researchers found that vitamin E did improve erectile function in older rats, but not as much as sildenafil did. Still, both vitamin E and sildenafil helped restore nitric oxide levels and reduced oxidative stress markers in the penile tissue of older rats due to its antioxidant effects. However, it may be a stretch to apply these findings to men with erectile dysfunction, despite the hype of rat boy summer.

A 2013 review of studies examined the potential value of vitamin E in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. This would be a great indirect benefit of vitamins for erectile health, as cardiovascular and erectile functions are often closely linked. Unfortunately, this study's conclusion was a far more certain “no.” The authors pointed out that there were some limited contexts in which vitamin E might provide heart health benefits. But this is only for people who are deficient (which is very rare) or those dealing with specifically high levels of oxidative stress, which is also uncommon.

Point is: Increasing your vitamin E levels to improve erectile dysfunction or other sexual dysfunction like premature ejaculation probably isn’t worth your time. While vitamin E is an essential nutrient with various physiological functions, there’s currently no reason to worry about whether your penis is getting enough of the stuff.

Vitamin E for Low Libido

Your sex drive, sexual function, and sexual health are complex machines that keep the good times rolling. But when your sexual desire gets flummoxed by hormonal imbalances like low testosterone, those machines can break down.

Some research on animals shows that increasing the intake of vitamin E and vitamin C may improve testosterone levels, which can have indirect yet positive effects on libido, erectile function, and sperm health.

However, the key word there was “animal” research. Since improved T levels have only been observed in albino rats who were deficient in those vitamins, there’s not enough evidence to say the vitamins can have the same results on human testosterone levels.

And even if low testosterone is the cause of your low libido or erectile issues, there are other, more effectives ways to deal with these issues. They might include hormone replacement therapy or healthy lifestyle changes.

If you want sexual health benefits for your own “vitamin D,” look beyond vitamin E.

You shouldn’t go above the upper limit for adults (1,000 mg/day) for supplements of either natural or synthetic vitamin E. The form of vitamin E you take can also make a difference in how much you consume.

The upper limits of vitamin E are equal to 1,500 international units (IU) a day for natural vitamin E supplements (d-alpha-tocopherol) and 1,100 IU for synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol).

Despite these high upper limits, the recommended dietary allowance (RDA), according to the National Institutes of Health, is a mere 15 mg daily, which you can easily obtain through your food.

Before adding vitamin E to your diet, you should always ask your healthcare provider for medical advice.

The amount of vitamin E you consume is important. High doses of vitamin E may lead to toxicity and an increased risk for serious health conditions.

For example, in a Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), dietary supplementation with vitamin E significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer among healthy men.

In addition to potentially increasing your disease risk for prostate cancer, if you take blood thinners or anticoagulants, vitamin E may increase your chance of bleeding, because it prevents blood clotting.

According to the National Institutes of Health, if you’re taking a statin alongside niacin to control high cholesterol, you may not want to take vitamin E or other antioxidant supplements like vitamin C, selenium, or beta-carotene. Studies show that these supplements may reduce the heart-protective effects of your cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Vitamin E and other antioxidants may also lower the effectiveness of certain chemotherapy or radiation treatments for cancer.

Other potential side effects of vitamin E include:

• Headache

• Nausea

• Upset stomach

• Vision changes

• Allergic reactions

Erectile dysfunction, low libido, premature ejaculation, and other sexual problems are often influenced by neurological, physiological, and psychological factors. No matter what you read online, you cannot solve those problems with a handful of supplements — and certainly not with vitamin E. 

TL;DR? Here’s the need-to-know about vitamin E and sexual function:

• Vitamin E does many great things for your body, like contributing to immune function and cardiovascular health. But there’s too little research that supports its role in improving sexual function.

• While you should obviously treat vitamin deficiencies, there are plenty of ways to get vitamin E from a well-rounded diet. Foods high in vitamin E include sunflower seeds, fortified cereals, and green leafy vegetables.

• Dealing with sexual dysfunction? There are more effective treatments than vitamin E. If you’re struggling with erectile dysfunction, consider taking a prescription medication like sildenafil (Viagra®), tadalafil (Cialis®), vardenafil (Levitra®), or avanafil (Stendra®). You can also try Hard Mints, which are chewable ED meds that contain the same active ingredients as Viagra and Cialis in customized dosages.

Schedule an online consultation to see if you’d benefit from prescription ED medication. You can also speak with an expert if you’re dealing with another issue, like premature ejaculation or low libido. You might be prescribed SSRIs for PE, or you could learn more about psychotherapy for sexual dysfunction.

Want to understand more about natural ways to support your sex life and overall health with vitamins and supplements? Learn more about the benefits of zinc sexually, nitric oxide supplements, and fish oil benefits for men.