is l-citrulline the secret weapon to
improving erections I'm Dr Rina Malek
urologist and pelvic surgeon and today
we're talking about how Elsa trillion
Works what the data is on its efficacy
and what the possible side effects are
now before I get into it I want you to
know that there are excellent
medications that are now very affordable
that your doctor can prescribe for you
for erectile dysfunction like sildenafil
antidalophil so if you want to learn
more about those make sure you check out
my previous videos where I talk all
about them erectile dysfunction is super
common in fact 52 percent of men over
the age of 50 will experience issues
with getting and keeping an erection
when trying to have sex and the most
common cause for this is reduced blood
flow to the penis and this is because of
vascular disease like high blood
pressure diabetes and high cholesterol
now if you've watched my channel before
you'll know that one of the most
important chemicals in our bodies for
erections is called nitric oxide or no
this is made by specific nerve endings
in the penis that stimulates the blood
vessels to then produce more nitric
oxide this nitric oxide then attaches to
proteins on the blood vessels which
allows them to get larger or what we
call vasodilate this then allows the
smooth muscles in the penis to relax it
allows blood to flow into the penis
causing the erection and you know I call
it the ignition for your erection now
how does l-citrulline work well I'm
talking about nitric oxide and that's
because l-citrulline indirectly
increases nitric oxide it's an amino
acid that's naturally produced in the
body and is also found in certain foods
like watermelon and if you watched my
video on L-Arginine you'll remember that
L-Arginine is a building block for
nitric oxide but it's often quickly
broken down by enzymes in the intestines
as well as the liver l-citrulline on the
other hand is converted to L-Arginine in
the kidneys and avoids all the enzymes
in the GI tract and and the liver that
will break down the L-Arginine there's
also some interesting data that
l-citrulline may encourage the muscles
in the penis to release a substance
called veg F and this is vascular
endothelial growth factor it improves
blood vessel function and may play a
role in even creating more healthy blood
vessels or restoring blood vessel
function in the penis so it makes sense
physiologically that it would work but
does it so in 2011 researchers recruited
24 adult men who had mild to moderate
reduction of penile rigidity now what
that means is that they could penetrate
but it wasn't satisfactory or they
couldn't finish the act and they
assessed this by using something called
the erectile hardness score and people
had an average erectile hardness score
of three they then gave these men 1.5
grams per day of l-citrulline divided
into two doses so 750 milligrams each
dose and each patient was actually their
own control because For the First last
month they were given a placebo but they
didn't know it was a placebo then the
next month they took the l-citrulline
and what they found was that in the
al-citrulline group 50 percent saw an
improvement in their erectile hardness
score from three to four meaning that
their penis was completely hard and
fully rigid whereas only two percent of
men saw the same change when they were
taking the placebo So based on this very
small study it seems that l-citrine
could work for people if they have very
mild erectile dysfunction which means
like these patients you're still getting
an erection but it's not hard enough or
it doesn't last long enough so like I
said before this is a really small study
so you have to take it with a grain of
salt the good news however is that
l-citrulline is relatively safe and has
very few side effects but remember the
issue with all of these supplements is
that there's no regulation so we never
know if what is on the label is actually
in the powder or capsule that you're
taking but more importantly than trying
to treat it when you get it is to try
and prevent erectile dysfunction before
it even starts work on your diet and
exercise to keep your blood vessels
functioning normally and your erections
strong thank you so much for watching if
you like my video make sure to subscribe
and if you enjoyed this video check out
my video on psychogenic erectile
dysfunction this explains another cause
for erectile dysfunction which is in our
brains as always you want to take care
of yourself because you are worth it