Onion juice: helps boost rats’ testosterone, has pro-sexual effect

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If Iranian animal studies are anything to go by, fresh onion juice increases testosterone concentrations in the blood. Jordanian researchers have confirmed their Iranian colleagues’ findings – and have gone a step further. They discovered that onion juice also has pro-sexual effects. In rats that is.

Study
The researchers, at Jordan University of Science and Technology, were searching for a natural way to help men with impotence problems to have sex.

Not all men in the world have access to drugs such as sildenafil, and have to make do with cheaper plant extracts. And some men, despite being able to get hold of PDE5 inhibitors, just prefer to use plant-based remedies.

If Iranian animal studies are anything to go by, fresh onion juice increases testosterone concentrations in the blood. Jordanian researchers have confirmed their Iranian colleagues’ findings – and have gone a step further. They discovered that onion juice also has pro-sexual effects. In rats that is.
The Jordanians wondered whether onion juice might be effective, so they decided to test its pro-sexual effect on male rats.

The researchers made fresh onion juice every day using a juicer, and gave their lab animals 0.5 [AC0.5], 1 [AC1] or 2 ml [AC2] of the juice orally for 20 consecutive days. A control group received no onion juice [C].

The juice boosted the animals’ testosterone concentration. The optimal dose was 1 ml per day. The human equivalent of this dose would be about 0.64 ml per kg bodyweight per day.

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The researchers gave other lab animals paroxetine, and antidepressant, the structural formula of which is shown on the right. Paroxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and is capable of causing impotence in rats.

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A daily dose of 10 mg paroxetine for 20 days reduced the animals’ testosterone level, but a daily 1 ml onion juice prevented this.

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Results
Fifty percent of the animals that were given paroxetine were unable to ejaculate when placed in a cage with sexually receptive females. Onion juice supplementation reduced this percentage.

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The rats that had been given onion juice were also quicker to mount the females, which would suggest that their libido had increased.

So the good old onion – Latin name Allium cepa – really is a testosterone booster, the Jordanians conclude. Allium cepa may even help against impotence.

Conclusion
“The present study supports the hypothesis that Allium cepa has aphrodisiac activity and may enhance male sexual libido and performance”, the researchers write.

“The observed improvements in copulatory behavior resulting from administration of Allium cepa juice could be mostly attributed to increased serum testosterone levels in male rats. Nevertheless, future investigations that include clinical trials are warranted to substantiate these effects of onion juice in humans.”

Fresh onion juice enhanced copulatory behavior in male rats with and without paroxetine-induced sexual dysfunction.

Abstract

Onion (Allium cepa) is one of the most commonly cultivated species of the family Liliaceae, and has long been used in dietary and therapeutic applications. Treatment with fresh onion juice has been reported to promote testosterone production in male rats. Testosterone is the male sex hormone responsible for enhancing sexual libido and potency. This study aimed to investigate the effects of onion juice on copulatory behavior of sexually potent male rats and in male rats with paroxetine-induced sexual dysfunction. Sexually experienced male rats were divided into seven groups: a control group, three onion juice-treated groups, a paroxetine-treated group, and two groups treated with paroxetine plus different doses of onion juice. At the end of the treatments, sexual behavior parameters and testosterone levels were measured and compared among the groups. Administration of onion juice significantly reduced mount frequency and latency and increased the copulatory efficacy of potent male rats. In addition, administration of onion juice attenuated the prolonged ejaculatory latency period induced by paroxetine and increased the percentage of ejaculating rats. Serum testosterone levels increased significantly by onion juice administration. However, a significant reduction in testosterone because of paroxetine therapy was observed. This reduction was restored to normal levels by administration of onion juice. This study conclusively demonstrates that fresh onion juice improves copulatory behavior in sexually potent male rats and in those with paroxetine-induced sexual dysfunction by increasing serum testosterone levels.

PMID: 24302558 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24302558

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