5 fruits that will change your sex life

Grapefruit, watermelon, pomegranate, kiwi, and lemon all get talked up as fruits that can improve your sex life. Here's what the evidence actually shows about each one, from a genuine interaction with ED medication to claims that haven't been proven yet.

If you want to show your partner that they really are the apple of your eye, this is where to start.

1. Grapefruit

The pretty pink fruit hardly screams danger, but it contains a group of chemicals that can interact with the way medication is absorbed. One medication that falls foul of this: sildenafil. Sildenafil is the active ingredient in Viagra, and when too much grapefruit is consumed, it can change how sildenafil is absorbed into the blood. One study on grapefruit and sildenafil found that the fruit delayed the medication's absorption.¹ So if you consume a lot of grapefruit and find Viagra isn't working as it should, you may want to revisit the contents of your fruit bowl.

2. Watermelon

Packed with antioxidants and amino acids which help to improve blood flow, some have termed watermelon the "natural Viagra". But is it worthy of the mighty title? Watermelon is naturally rich in the amino acid citrulline. The body converts citrulline to arginine, which reacts with other chemicals in the body to create nitric oxide. This substance keeps our blood vessels healthy, which is key when it comes to getting an erection. A study on L-citrulline supplementation in men with mild erectile dysfunction (ED) found that those taking the supplement were more likely to see improvements in their ED, suggesting the amino acid found in watermelon could play an important role in getting an erection.²

3. Pomegranate

You may have seen the headlines calling pomegranate juice the silver bullet for ED. It's not that simple. One placebo-controlled study did find that men reported harder erections after drinking pomegranate juice, but the difference from placebo was small, and the study was funded by a pomegranate juice manufacturer, so it's worth reading the result with that in mind.³

Before you tip your pomegranate juice down the sink, though: it's still a good source of antioxidants, and separate research suggests it's genuinely good for your heart.⁴ There isn't hard evidence that it improves erections directly, but there's nothing to suggest it does any harm either.

4. Kiwi

It's not as commonly eaten as some of the other fruits here, and research on kiwi and ED specifically is limited. What does exist is narrow: a 2020 rat study found kiwifruit extract protected against retinal damage caused by tadalafil (a popular ED treatment), rather than any broader claim about erectile function.⁵ Kiwi is still a great source of vitamins, and contains more vitamin C than an orange.

5. Lemon

Little is known about how helpful lemon is for erections specifically, but a small pharmacokinetic study found it doesn't cause any adverse effects when taken alongside sildenafil, unlike Seville orange juice, which does interact with the drug.⁶

Lemon could still help indirectly. It's rich in vitamin C and plant compounds that have been shown to lower blood pressure,⁷ and high blood pressure is itself linked to ED.

The numan take

Watermelon, pomegranate, kiwi, and lemon all bring genuine nutritional benefits to the table, even where the evidence for a direct effect on erections is still thin. Grapefruit is the one to treat with caution: it contains compounds that delay how your body absorbs sildenafil and Viagra, so it's worth easing off if you're taking either.

None of this replaces treatment if ED is a persistent problem, but a diet built around fruits like these is good for you regardless, and it's a habit worth keeping.

References

^{1 Jetter A, Kinzig-Schippers M, Walchnör-Bonjean M, Hering U, Bulitta J, Schreiner P, et al. Effects of grapefruit juice on the pharmacokinetics of sildenafil. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2002;71(1):21-9.}

^{2 Cormio L, De Siati M, Lorusso F, Selvaggio O, Mirabella L, Sanguedolce F, et al. Oral L-citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction. Urology. 2011;77(1):119-22.}

^{3 Forest CP, Padma-Nathan H, Liker HR. Efficacy and safety of pomegranate juice on improvement of erectile dysfunction in male patients with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction: a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study. Int J Impot Res. 2007;19(6):564-7.}

^{4 Basu A, Penugonda K. Pomegranate juice: a heart-healthy fruit juice. Nutr Rev. 2009;67(1):49-56.}

^{5 Kassab AA. Kiwifruit extract attenuates tadalafil-induced retinal injury in adult male albino rats: a histological and immunohistochemical study. Egypt J Histol. 2020;43(2):477-95.}

^{6 Abdelkawy KS, Donia AM, Turner RB, Elbarbry F. Effects of lemon and Seville orange juices on the pharmacokinetic properties of sildenafil in healthy subjects. Drugs R D. 2016. doi:10.1007/s40268-016-0140-1.}

^{7 Kato Y, Domoto T, Hiramitsu M, Katagiri T, Sato K, Miyake Y, et al. Effect on blood pressure of daily lemon ingestion and walking. J Nutr Metab. 2014;2014:912684.}