Red wine and male sexual response

Moderate consumption of red wine, 300 g per week, corresponding to 1–2 glasses of wine per day, is associated with a reduced risk of coronary disease. At least, this is what Science tells us.

This is due to a vasodilatory effect of the polyphenols contained in red wine on coronary circulation. Polyphenols are organic compounds from the plant world that have multiple beneficial activities: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and protective for the vascular system.

Specifically, this latter property would be linked to an increase in Nitric Oxide (NO) produced by the endothelial lining of the coronary arteries, which would promote vasodilation at this level, and to a decrease in another substance.

Endothelin 1, which instead has a vasoconstrictive effect on coronary circulation. Furthermore, polyphenols also have an anti-atherosclerotic action, increasing the so-called good cholesterol (HDL), decreasing the bad cholesterol (LDL), and reducing platelet aggregation, all factors involved in the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.

If this is the case, a similar effect should also occur at the level of penile microcirculation, with a significant vasodilation and an increase in pressure within the corpora cavernosa of the penis.

In addition, polyphenols may contribute to increasing circulating Testosterone levels, a hormone essential for an adequate sexual response. In contrast to this positive effect of red wine polyphenols on male sexual response and specifically on the mechanism of erection, it must be noted that another component of wine, alcohol, can have a clearly negative effect if consumed in excess (over 300 g per week).

At the peripheral level, this is represented by an atherosclerotic effect of alcohol, with increased stiffness of the penile arteries and a consequent loss of their elasticity.

Furthermore, at the level of the Central Nervous System, while low doses of alcohol may stimulate sexual desire and reduce performance anxiety, higher doses, above 0.5 g/l blood alcohol level, have a depressive effect on sexual arousal, together with a decrease in desire, partly due to reduced circulating testosterone levels.

So, to quote Shakespeare in Macbeth: “wine provokes the desire but takes away the performance.”