In the age of the internet, it’s virtually impossible to escape the odd email or pop up extolling
astounding advances in the field of male enhancement.
From miracle pills, to powerful pumps, to bizarre contraptions, and even serious surgery,
the sensitivity of penis size leaves countless men trying out untested and potentially unsafe methods.
But one factor rather absent in the male enhancement racket is the impact of one’s
diet—could it be that what you eat affects the size of your penis?
Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget.
So far in the Men’s Health Series with Dr. Greger of Nutritionfacts.org, we’ve covered
the impact of diet on testosterone levels, erectile dysfunction, and prostate enlargement
and cancer risk, as well as pitted soy against beer to see which has a stronger estrogenic
effect on male hormones.
Outside of the obvious, two common themes throughout this series have been: the prevalent
and disturbing predisposition of medical professionals to ignore prevention and simple and effective
treatment in favor of ineffective and debilitating measures while keeping their patients in the dark
to their own detriment; and the preponderance of medical evidence that the foods and beverages
most associated with “manliness” in our society are the most damaging to men’s health,
while those deemed “feminizing” or “emasculating” actually lead to hormonal balance, virility,
and unencumbered sexual performance.
And of course have the added bonus of cancer prevention and enhancing overall health.
In this fifth and final installment in the series, we’ll address perhaps the most stereotypical,
often trivialized, yet intensely personal and sensitive topic of penis size.
While this may appear to be purely an issue of ego, as with the previous topics in this
series, the dietary factors affecting penis size have significant health impacts beyond
that singular manifestation.
So let’s hear from Dr. Greger for what the science says about size.
Emily: The male enhancement industry is astoundingly large.
Is there actually a dietary link to the size of male genitalia?
Dr. Greger: You know, I mean, so…women like to say, “oh size don’t matter,” but
if you actually ask them in surveys, when men aren’t around, three-quarters of women
consider penile length and girth to be somewhat or very important.
Supposedly, that’s the largest survey ever performed.
But wait a second, what does that have to do with diet?
Well there are these phthalates—phthalates chemicals, which are kind of industrial pollutants—these
are plastics made in the plastic industry.
Oh in fact, I actually had a video recently about phthalates in sex toys.
You should check that out.
There are phthalates implications for women too.
But in terms of men, so these phthalate industrial pollutants, how did we become exposed?
What they did was do a survey where they measured the phthalate urine levels, which is an indicator
of how much is falling through your bodies.
Then they looked at your and did dietary analysis.
And they found were actually what is that in the diet that is leading to the highest levels.
So they were looking for something called MEHP, one of the phthalates associated with
smaller penis size in infants.
So, if pregnant women are exposed to a lot of phthalates their infant sons are born with
smaller penises and lots of other more meaningfully negative effects.
In addition to a smaller penis, MEHP appears to increase the odds of boys later growing breasts,
25-fold, and then decreased testosterone later in life.
The chicken phthalates have also been associated with increased odds of Caesarean section,
diminished child intelligence (particularly in boys), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
symptoms, later in life, abdominal obesity, altered thyroid function, damaged sperm, and
a lower sperm count.
And actually poultry consumption was associated most with MEHP levels in the urine.
It wasn’t clear exactly, we’re not sure where that’s actually coming from.
Originally they thought it’s coming from the plastic, from the plastic wrapping the chicken, but
it turns out eggs really have high phthalate levels as well.
So it may be coming from the chicken itself.
Perhaps something that we’re feeding the chickens, it’s not particularly sure.
So I have a video about this kind of feminization of male genitalia with maternal phthalate
consumption BUT you know I think for men who are going to this video and be like oh well,
you know, I have no control over what my mom ate but what about now?
I’m out of the womb.
Is there anything that I eat that is going to affect the length of my penis?
And there is actually.
I have a video coming up—there's a different class of pollutants PCBs, a certain
class of PCBs that can actually affect the size of penis in boys found predominantly in fish.
And so they found that boys who ate a lot of fish, contain a lot of the PCB pollutants,
actually grew up with shortened penises.
We are talking three-quarters of an inch, at the most.
So it wasn’t really a big effect.
And of course as with all industrial pollutants, the strategy is to eat as low as possible
on the food chain, so plants would be the ideal, then stay away from the aquatic food
chain as much as possible because everything eventually flows into the sea, our oceans,
are humanity sewers.
And so unfortunately without a time machine it’s very difficult to go back before the
industrial revolution and get non-contaminated seafood.
I hope you found what Dr. Greger shared to be helpful.
I’ve included more in-depth information, further resources, citations to specific studies,
and more of Dr. Greger’s videos and essays on the blog post for this video
linked in the description below.
It is vital that men—and actually everyone—are proactive about their health.
Unfortunately, relying on our doctors and the medical industry in its current state
can be severely detrimental to our wellbeing, even fatal.
And perpetuating the ideas of “manliness” ingrained within our cultures and societies
under the charge of “preserving tradition” or “fighting overly PC culture” actually
contributes to the decline in men’s health and leads to more men dying prematurely.
The good news is that there are more and more solid resources for evidence-based nutrition
and health information.
And luckily, when it comes to the influence of diet, to heighten sexual performance, prevent
prostate cancer and enlargement, balance hormones, and maybe avoid loosing some length, the answer
is the same across the board.
To make sure you’re getting the male-enhancing nutrition you need, check out Cronometer—a
free website and app that I’ve used in several of my videos because of it’s uniquely detailed
nutrition reports and ease of use.
Cronometer has reached out to help sponsor the Men’s Health series to get this vital
educational information out to those who need it.
Click the link in the description, or go here to make your free profile.
It’s not an affiliate link, but it will let Cronometer know that Bite Size Vegan sent you.
On a personal note, even though I'm well-aware of the misinformation and disinformation rampant
within the medical industry, through making the men's health series I've become more and
more frustrated and astounded by the level and nature of misinformation surrounding these issues.
When that's compounded with social and cultural taboos about manliness and discussing these
kinds of issues, health concerns that literally mean life and death for men are reduced to
comedic memes or written off as inevitabilities of aging.
To help combat this and actually save men's lives, please share this video and the information,
and the whole series to help men take hold of their health.
The more we talk about it, the less of a stigma it has and the more access men can have to
real life-saving information.
Be sure to subscribe to the channel and click the bell to enable notifications for more
fresh vegan content every week.
To support free education like this, please see the support links below or click the Nugget
Army icon or the link in the sidebar.
Now go live vegan, enhance your health, and I’ll see you soon.
Usually I'm trying to figure out how to title videos in a way that makes it engaging and something
people want to click on without being click bait and totally inaccurate.
But with this video, it's like impossible to title it in a way that doesn't look like click bait.
Even when it's completely accurate as to the contents of the video.
That's weird.