What Are Cashews’ Benefits Sexually for Men?

First things first: No one food can revolutionize your health, despite claims you might see online. The best way to support your overall health and sexual health is to eat a diet filled with a variety of nutrient-rich foods.

Cashew nuts can be part of that healthy diet. Like almonds and tiger nuts, they’re high in several essential nutrients and also a good source of antioxidants.

Here, we’ll dig into the reasons cashew nuts can be a good addition to a balanced diet and may help support your overall and sexual health.

Cashews contain relatively high amounts of several essential nutrients that support your overall and sexual health, including iron, zinc, and magnesium. Here’s a look at the nutrition profile of an ounce (or about a large handful) of raw cashews, which is the recommended serving size. 

• Protein: 5 g

• Fat: 12 g

• Carbohydrates: 8.6 g

• Fiber: 1 g

• Iron: 2 mg (11% DV)

• Magnesium: 83 mg (20% DV)

• Phosphorus: 168 mg (13% DV)

• Potassium: 187 mg (4% DV)

• Zinc: 1.6 mg (15% DV)

• Copper: 0.6 mg (67% DV)

• Manganese: 0.5 mg (22% DV)

• Selenium: 5.6 mcg (10% DV)

Daily value (DV) is the amount of a nutrient recommended to consume each day for a 2,000 calorie diet. 

Antioxidants

Antioxidants are molecules that help protect your cells from damage. Cashews contain compounds called carotenoids and polyphenols that act as antioxidants. Polyphenols are linked to potential benefits such as:

• improving cholesterol levels

• lowering the risk of heart disease

• reducing inflammation in your body

Cashews contain several nut-specific polyphenols such as cardanols and anacardic acid that are linked to a reduced cancer risk, but more research is needed to determine the exact connection.

Carotenoids are linked to a lower risk of disease, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

Cashews contain many essential nutrients your body needs to support your overall sexual function. We’ll take a look at some of the individual benefits of these nutrients below.

Cashews and Weight Management

While cashews are calorie-dense, they’re also rich in protein, healthy fats, and dietary fiber, which can help promote fullness and prevent overeating. Eating cashews as part of a balanced diet may help control weight gain while still providing the body with essential nutrients.

In other words: Cashews may help with weight management or weight loss. This may be beneficial for people with obesity, which is a risk factor for developing erectile dysfunction (ED). 

While the research specifically on cashews for weight loss is mixed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes nuts in its list of protein-rich foods that can help with weight management, along with seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes, seeds, and soy products.

Cashews and Testosterone Levels

Cashews contain nutrients that may support testosterone production, but eating a few cashews won’t directly boost your testosterone levels. 

Some data has shown that cashews may potentially be able to help support healthy testosterone levels by providing your body with essential minerals and saturated fat.

Cashews are a good source of magnesium and zinc, both of which have been linked to healthy testosterone levels.There’s also some evidence that fat and saturated fat intake influence male hormone levels. Low-fat diets seem to be associated with lower testosterone levels in males.

Your testosterone levels play an important role in many aspects of your sexual health, including:

• supporting your energy

• supporting your sex drive and sexual desire

• reducing sexual dysfunction

Cashew Nuts and Heart Health

Supporting your overall heart health can potentially help support your sexual health because problems with your circulation (such as high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure) can lead to sexual problems like erectile dysfunction. 

According to the American Heart Association, nuts like cashews are a healthy source of protein to include in an overall heart-healthy diet, especially if you eat them instead of fatty or processed meats.

More specifically, cashews may:

• Support blood vessel health: Cashews’ carotenoids and polyphenols may help prevent vascular dysfunction.

• Aid in lowering blood pressure: A polyphenol-rich diet has been linked to improved blood pressure levels, althoughno one food is known to counteract high blood pressure levels by itself. Still, in a 2019 review of studies, researchers found evidence that incorporating cashews into the diet might improve blood pressure and triglyceride levels. More research is needed to fully understand the link.

• Help with high cholesterol: Cashews contain healthy fats that may help reduce cholesterol when eaten in place of other fats. One small 2017 study found that snacking on cashews instead of potato chips led to significantly lower total and LDL cholesterol levels. It’s worth noting, though, that another small 2019 study found no effect on cholesterol levels from eating cashews. And a recent review showed mixed results, suggesting that eating cashews regularly could reduce blood pressure and triglyceride levels, but found no impact on total, LDL, or HDL cholesterol.

In summary, cashews may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, but more research is needed to confirm these effects.

Although cashews can definitely be part of a healthy, balanced diet, they are high in calories, and excess calories can lead to weight gain. And as we’ve discussed, excess weight is linked to overall health issues as well as sexual health issues, including erectile dysfunction.

With that in mind, it’s best to eat these nuts in moderation and stick to the recommended serving size (1 ounce).

Also, you may need to pay attention to the type of cashews you’re eating. Most of the research on the potential benefits of cashews has looked at raw cashews. Roasted or flavored cashews often have added ingredients, such as oils and salt, which may not support the health benefits of raw cashews.

Eating cashews, or any other particular food, isn’t going to automatically give you an erection. If you’re a fan of the television show “Seinfeld,” you may remember the scene where the character George eats a slice of mango and declares “I think it moved,” before racing home to have sex with his girlfriend.

Unfortunately, this type of effect hasn’t been documented in real life, although many foods high in antioxidants and essential nutrients may have long-term benefits for your sexual health. In other words, the best foods for erectile function are those that support healthy hormone production and overall blood vessel health.

Cashews alone won’t improve your sex life. Maximizing your overall and sexual health requires eating many different foods high in essential nutrients.

As part of a healthy diet, though, cashews can potentially aid with healthy sexual function by supporting heart health, hormone production, and weight management.

If you’re experiencing erectile dysfunction or other sexual health issues, talk to a healthcare provider about the possible causes and treatment options, including prescription ED medications.