Natural Viagra : Watermelon's
Viagra-Like Effects
On hearing
about the Texas finding, Irwin Goldstein, MD, editor-in-chief of The Journal of
Sexual Medicine, was underwhelmed. "To say that watermelon is Viagra-like
is sort of fun," says Goldstein. "But to even vaguely hope that
eating watermelon will alleviate ED is misleading."
"The vast majority of Americans produce enough arginine," adds Goldstein, medical director of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, San Diego, and clinical professor of surgery, University of California San Diego School of Medicine. "Men with ED are not deficient in arginine."
Though arginine is required to make nitric oxide, and nitric oxide is required to dilate blood vessels and have an erection, "that doesn't mean eating something that is rich in citrulline will make enough arginine that it will lead to better penile erections," Goldstein says.
Calling watermelon a natural Viagra is "clearly premature," says Roger Clemens, DrPH, adjunct professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a spokesman for the Institute of Food Technologists.
Clemens studied the amino acid arginine himself, researching a supplement to improve vascular flow for patients with hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis. It can require a lot of watermelon to boost blood levels of arginine, he adds. In a study published in 2007 in Nutrition, he says, volunteers who drank three 8-ounce glasses of watermelon juice daily for three weeks boosted their arginine levels by 11%.
Watermelon
is low in calories and provides potassium and the phytonutrients lycopene and
beta-carotene, in addition to the citrulline.