A Sexual Health Supplement for Men and Women

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Healthy Bodies, Healthy Sex Lives

Some sexual health boosters for men work for women too. Here's one for healthier hormone levels and a more satisfying sex life.

Here's an anatomy lesson you won't soon forget. Women have prostates and penises… sort of. It's perfectly normal for them to have those things or, at least, a version of those things.

Those female penises get a kind of erection, too. Their "penises" are more commonly called clitorises, but aside from lacking a urethra and containing double the nerve endings, they're very similar, experiencing the same kind of blood engorgement when mentally or physically stimulated.

It makes perfect sense, though, because all of that genital stuff arose from the same tissues as the male versions – the same basic genetic blueprint. One set of genitals went one way and one went the other, compliments of the X or Y chromosome.

The Magic of Chromosomes

We used to think all mammals started as females. More likely, we all had the underpinnings of both sexes. We all had male sperm-carrying reproductive tracts (Wolffian ducts) and female egg-carrying reproductive tracts (Mullerian ducts). Depending on the chromosomal complement of the embryo, one of the tracts usually disintegrates as development progresses. Presto! Born is a male or a female.

The same tissues that develop into the penis in men develop into the clitoris in women. The same tissues that develop into the scrotum in men develop into the outer labia in women. And the same tissues that develop into the prostate in men develop into the Skene's glands in women (which may correspond with the G-spot). These female prostates even contain prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and PSA phosphatase, just like the male versions.

So, it's not much of a stretch to think that the same drugs or supplements men use to support their reproductive systems would work the same way in women.

The Supplement for Lady Parts and Man Parts

The ingredients in Biotest's P-Well (Buy at Amazon) have all been found to have profound positive effects on women, even though the supplement is marketed mostly to men:

  • Punicalagins (from pomegranate whole fruit extract)
  • Lycopene (from natural tomato fruit extract)
  • Cranberry (whole fruit concentrate)

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1. Punicalagin for Natural Hormone Therapy

Punicalagin is a phytochemical found in large amounts in pomegranate fruit (mostly the rind). Men are interested in it because it's a powerful inhibitor of aromatase activity, which means it thwarts the conversion of testosterone into estrogen, thereby elevating testosterone levels naturally.

This same process occurs in women, too, and this elevation of testosterone levels is substantial. One study of men and women found that punicalagin raised levels of the hormone by an average of 24%. Elevated testosterone levels convey the same benefits to women as they do to men:

  • Less body fat
  • Increased muscle tone
  • Increased energy/libido

But punicalagin from pomegranate isn't just about testosterone and sex. It has a lot of health benefits that are gender-neutral:

  • It reduces cholesterol.
  • It improves the health of blood vessels through its powerful antioxidant capability. It enhances blood flow in general and even reverses arterial plaque growth (roto-rooter out the plaque and you automatically improve blood flow).
  • It has an antimicrobial effect against urinary tract infections.
  • It improves anaerobic exercise performance.
  • It reduces inflammation in coronary arteriosclerosis.
  • It prevents the absorption of carbohydrates. Punicalagin inhibits alpha-glucoside, which leads to a decrease in glucose absorption, thus ameliorating diabetes and helping ward off obesity.

Lycopene
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2. Lycopene, Nature's Viagra

Lycopene is often called "Nature's Viagra" because it elevates levels of nitric oxide (NO), which relaxes the smooth muscle fibers of both penile and clitoral blood vessels so that more blood can flow into them.

More blood flow in penises allows intercourse to proceed. More blood flow to the clitoris means more pleasure and quicker, more powerful orgasms. That's exactly how drugs like Viagra work, which is why many doctors are now prescribing it to female patients.

But like the other substances in P-Well (Buy at Amazon), lycopene has plenty of other superpowers that pertain to both men and women:

  • Among all the carotenoids, lycopene has the highest free-radical scavenging ability.
  • Levels of lycopene are inversely related to plasma glucose levels and fasting insulin levels. That means it makes you more insulin sensitive, thus thwarting Type II diabetes and inefficient carbohydrate metabolism.
  • As little as 5 to 7 mg. a day of lycopene reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (but in the cases of existing cardiovascular disease, doses of 35 to 75 mg. per day might be needed).
  • Lycopene protects the skin against UV-B induced sun damage.
  • Lycopene inhibits platelet-derived growth factor, which inhibits the growth, invasion, and metastasis of melanoma.
  • In animal studies, lycopene improved the visual appearance of the skin, made the skin moist, and even increased skin thickness. (When animals age, their skin gets thinner, allowing for more wrinkles.)
  • Increased lycopene levels are associated with a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration.
  • Lycopene activates the adaptive immune response, the T-cells and B-cells that produce antibodies that attack specific infections.
  • Lycopene is thought to have promise in combating some neurodegenerative diseases.
  • A meta-analysis of 12 studies found that 25 mg. of lycopene taken daily reduced LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) and high blood pressure.
  • An observational study of 6,000 people found that eating tomatoes protected against digestive cancers.

Cranberry
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3. Cranberry Whole Fruit Concentrate

Most women know to use cranberry juice to treat or reduce the recurrence of urinary tract infections. But cranberry concentrate has another, less publicized benefit to both men and women: it promotes complete bladder emptying by strengthening "bladder detrusor contraction and relaxation," which is a technical way of saying that it makes the bladder muscles more effective in doing their job.

Honey, Where'd You Hide the P-Well?

It's easy to understand why something called P-Well (Buy at Amazon) might be pigeonholed as a supplement made exclusively for men. After all, one of the product's effects is promoting healthy prostate size and function, thus allowing men to pee well, or pee better.

However, the supplement provides many other beneficial effects to vascular sexual health and urinary tract health, as well as providing a host of other health benefits, none of which are sex specific.

References

Pomegranate References

  1. Sharma P et al. Pomegranate for Prevention and Treatment of Cancer: An Update. Molecules. 2017 Jan 24;22(1):177.
  2. Vicinanza R et al. Pomegranate Juice Metabolites, Ellagic Acid and Urolithin A, Synergistically Inhibit Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer Cell Growth via Distinct Effects on Cell Cycle Control and Apoptosis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:247504.
  3. Wang L et al. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of pomegranate juice-induced anti-metastatic effect on prostate cancer cells. Integr Biol (Camb). 2011 Jul;3(7):742-54.
  4. Chaves FM et al. Pomegranate Juice and Peel Extracts are Able to Inhibit Proliferation, Migration and Colony Formation of Prostate Cancer Cell Lines and Modulate the Akt/mTOR/S6K Signaling Pathway. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2020 Mar;75(1):54-62.
  5. Kroeger N et al. Pomegranate Extracts in the Management of Men's Urologic Health: Scientific Rationale and Preclinical and Clinical Data. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:701434.
  6. Forest CP et al. Efficacy and safety of pomegranate juice on improvement of erectile dysfunction in male patients with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study. Int J Impot Res. Nov-Dec 2007;19(6):564-7.
  7. Jeranka JS. Therapeutic Applications of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.): A Review. Altern Med Rev. 2008 Jun;13(2):128-44.
  8. Gur S et al. Characterisation of pomegranate juice effects on human corpus cavernosum. Andrologia. 2017 Oct;49(8).
  9. Azadzoi K et al. Oxidative stress in arteriogenic erectile dysfunction: prophylactic role of antioxidants. J Urol. 2005 Jul;174(1):386-93.
  10. Deng Y et al. The extract from Punica granatum (pomegranate) peel induces apoptosis and impairs metastasis in prostate cancer cells. Biomed Pharmacother. 2017 Sep;93:976-984.
  11. Bassiri-Jahromi S. Punica granatum (Pomegranate) activity in health promotion and cancer prevention. Oncol Rev. 2018 Jan 30;12(1):345.
  12. Chrubasik-Hausman S et al. Pomegranate juice and prostate cancer: importance of the characterisation of the active principle. Phytotherapy Research. 2014 Jun 3;28(11):1676-1678.
  13. Wang L et al. Pomegranate and Its Components as Alternative Treatment for Prostate Cancer. Int J Mol Sci. 2014 Aug 25;15(9):14949-66.
  14. Amri Z et al. Growth Inhibitory and Pro-Apoptotic Effects of Ornamental Pomegranate Extracts in Du145 Human Prostate Cancer Cells. Nutr Cancer. 2020;72(6):932-938.

Lycopene References

  1. Chen P et al. Lycopene and Risk of Prostate Cancer. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Aug;94(33):e1260.
  2. Lane JA et al. ProDiet: A Phase II Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial of Green Tea Catechins and Lycopene in Men at Increased Risk of Prostate Cancer. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2018 Nov;11(11):687-696.
  3. Wang Y et al. Lycopene, tomato products and prostate cancer-specific mortality among men diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort. Int J Cancer. 2016 Jun 15;138(12):2846-55.

Cranberry References

  1. Vidlar A et al. The effectiveness of dried cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) in men with lower urinary tract symptoms. Br J Nutr. 2010 Oct;104(8):1181-9.
  2. Wang CH et al. Cranberry-Containing Products for Prevention of Urinary Tract Infections in Susceptible Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(13):988-996.
  3. Luis A et al. Can Cranberries Contribute to Reduce the Incidence of Urinary Tract Infections? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis of Clinical Trials. J Urol. 2017 Sep;198(3):614-621.
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