Erection Builders

Remember guys, when you first discovered the delights of orgasm - most likely during your teenage years? You probably had the ability to achieve many consecutive orgasms. As you've grown older are you finding that your staying power is diminishing and that the length of time between successful sexual encounters is dropping (drooping)?

Finally, science is unravelling the biochemistry involved in erections.

Nitric Oxide Research Until about a decade ago, arginine (an amino acid) was largely ignored as a therapeutic nutrient. Now it turns out, arginine is the main source of the primary molecule responsible for sexual arousal.

Research in the early 1990s determined that a simple gas named nitric oxide (NO) may be one of the most important molecules in the body. Just ten years ago, NO was thought of only as a toxic by-product of car exhausts. Although NO is indeed dangerous in high concentrations, we now know that it plays a vital role in the normal function of the body. In 1992, the journal Science named NO as its "molecule of the year". Why? NO was discovered to be the primary mediator of penile erections.

What does NO have to do with sex and arginine? Quite simply, dietary arginine is the primary source of nigrogen molecules for NO. Without arginine in the diet, there would be no NO, and with NO there would be no erections.

How Erections Happen

To understand the role of NO in erections, it helps to understand how erections happen in the first place. A man gets an erection when sexual thoughts originating in his brain initiate a flow of nerve signals down the spinal cord to the arteries and muscles of the penis. When they receive these signals, the arteries that supply the penis dilate (expand) and the muscles that control the penis relax. As these muscles relax, they allow the increased flow of blood through the penile arteries to fill the core of the penis. The more blood that fills the penis, the larger and harder the erection will be. All of these activities are under the control of NO molecules. When you become sexually aroused, NO-rich nerves leap into action, switching the conversion of arginine to NO into overdrive. Alcohol has the reverse effect, turning off the conversion of arginine to NO, resulting in the very common "brewer's droop".

Arginine Hastens Hard-Ons

As usual, the Americans have been more than willing to give nature a helping hand as they strive to match the sexual endurance of the bed-hopping studs of Melrose Place. They're dosing up on various supplements with names like ProSexual Plus, Harder and Harder, Sex-On, Shoot to Thrill and others. The common ingredient in all of these supplements is arginine. American porno stars were using arginine to keep themselves up long before Viagra was ever invented. In Australia, we don't have specific supplements with these turn-on labels, but you can obtain plain arginine (it doesn't sound as randy but it achieves the same erection-building effects). Arginine comes (pun intended) in 500 mg tablets or capsules. To achieve the sexual stimulant effects you will need to take six 500 mg capsules or tablets about 45 minutes prior to your sought-after ram-rod.

What the Americans are Saying about Arginine

Here's some comments from some of our lifestyle-obsessed friends in America, based on their encounters with arginine:

"My doctor almost fell off his chair when I told him how many times a night I do it - six times! He's definitely taking arginine now, too".

"I almost doubled my staying power".

"I definitely have stiffer erections and more erections. After I quit taking arginine for a while, I noticed that my hard-ons weren't as big or hard or as frequent".

The common themes of the responses from men were that arginine increases sexual interest and desire, increases erectile capacity, increases sexual stamina and ease of ejaculation and increases the subjective enjoyment of sex.

Arginine's benefits are not just anecdotal. In a 1998 scientific study, 21 men aged 40 to 77 were given 3,000 mg of arginine per day for four weeks. 86% of the men reported an improvement in their ability to maintain erection during sex and 72% reported improved satisfaction in their overall sex lives.

Women Too!

Arginine's sexual-enhancing actions are not limited to men. Many women who have used arginine supplements have reported improved sexual performance, reporting greater lubrication, greater sensitivity and increased ease, frequency and intensity of orgasm. Once again, NO seems to be involved in women's sexual function by stimulating blood flow to the clitoris, thereby helping orgasm in the clitoris.

And by the way, arginine is safer, almost effective as, and much less expensive than the much-publicised wonder drug, Viagra!