Well, if you believe the Internet, chocolate, strawberries, eggs, and various nuts are all guaranteed to give you a boner that is strong enough to go through drywall.
I have guys who come in to see me, and they’re like, “If I eat half a bag of almonds, is that going to improve my erections?” I’m like, “I don’t fucking know. Dude, really?” As if 16.3 ounces of almonds will give you a raging boner. I mean, come on now.
Here’s the deal: The most important thing to do for great sex (though not the only thing; keep reading!) is to eat a well-balanced Mediterranean-type diet. Over time, it’ll lower your cholesterol, improve your cardiac output (important, because the small blood vessels in your penis are the same diameter as the vessels in your heart), help you lose weight, and in the end, give you a better boner than any specific food at any particular period of time.
That being said, yes, there are a few things that can improve blood flow more immediately.
For instance, caffeine—from coffee, or chocolate-covered coffee beans, tea, or green tea—is going to make your heart rate go up. When your heart rate goes up, your cardiac output goes up. And when that happens, all the organs in your body get more blood flow—more blood velocity/unit of time.
So if you’re horny, if you take one of those pills that has ingredients like nitrates, L-arginine, L-citrulline, plus caffeine and other things that raise your heart rate, then of course you’re probably going to have a little bit of a better boner.
Just be sure to play both the short and the long game.
Seth Cohen, M.D., is a professor of urology at NYU Langone Medical Center.
