The day before writing this article I woke up quite surprised really. There was no morning wood standing tall from my sheets! The whole morning I was quite upset while working, but I thought that being upset never made someone a great man. Let’s say simply it does not move the needle anywhere. I figured that the absence of my morning wood seems to indicate my low testosterone. As a geek, I started research on how to boost the pillars of testosterone, called Follicle Stimulating Hormone(FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH).
I found a variety of suggestions. Steroid use, hormone replacement therapy, and some crazy natural boosters that promised to make me a sex savage. My inclination to mother nature suggestions powered my decision to search each one of these natural sources of manliness.
Many of them were fine and provided some small increments to testosterone production, but one of them caught my eye. “What the heck is going on here?” I asked in awe. The cheap and underrated food source that I was looking to, promised 200% more testosterone! “Damn!”
What was that magic food of the gods?
Onions and more particularly Onion Juice. Yeah, It seems bizarre but read on because we can prove that it’s not that strange.
Onion Nutritional Profile
Allium cepa. That’s the scientific sexy name of our humble mate called onion. It’s famous for crying scenes in Hollywood (actors use it for real) and for its distinctive aroma and taste. Onion is a vegetable root from Asia. It is used widely in many cuisines, especially in the Mediterranean and Mexican ones. Competing with other veggies it came second, earning the silver medal of “Vegetables World Production Games”. Is it performance? 44 tons of onion is produced and consumed every year.
Its nutritional profile is nothing less than important. Onions are high in Vitamin C, which is an anti-oxidant factor basically. Furthermore, they are full of B-Complex Vitamins, which are necessary for your nervous system. Last but not least, onions are a great source of biotin and have a balanced profile of potassium, calcium, and magnesium among other micronutrients.
The dietary fiber content of onions is maybe one of its biggest assets. They contain soluble fiber. Soluble fiber is fiber that gets dissolved and it’s a great food source for your good bacteria in your digestive tract. Remember that balanced gut microflora is a great way to ensure an optimal immunity system. This fiber also reduces your total cholesterol and LDL, through a process where fiber binds with bile acids. These bile acids need cholesterol to get transported and bind with fiber. Excessive LDL and cholesterol means inflammation and plagued arteries, which means overall worse blood circulation. Without optimal nutrients delivery, your whole organism will suffer. Onions are allies to that.
But you haven’t heard the best yet. Onions are an awesome Santa Claus bearing gifts of polyphenols. Their names? Anthocyanin, fisetin, and quercetin. These anti-oxidants are the main reason why you ‘re reading this article right now. Without them, no testosterone increase possible. Red onions contain more of the phytonutrient anthocyanin, whereas yellow ones contain a variety of flavonoids.
Especially quercetin is well studied and its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties are established. It positively affects your insulin sensitivity, which means that it balances your insulin receptors on your cells. Less inflammation and better blood sugar metrics is the result. Quercetin also seems to have a great impact on mitochondria, the tiny power cells of your body. All that from a small and smelly onion.
It’s no wonder why onions were worshipped in ancient civilizations. Pharaohs of Egypt thought of them as a symbol of eternal life for their healing properties. Chinese merchants traded onions back in 4.000 bc because people of China knew it’s tremendous potential as a nutrient. Lastly, the first Olympians, ancient Greek athletes, used to consume a ton of onions before the games, because it “lifts the spirit”. They even rubbed it on their body. Ok don’t, do the last one, but I think you get a grasp on how important this little-underrated root is.
How Is Onion Juice A Hero For Your Libido
It’s a nutrient dense little root, but can it help the mankind with Testosterone issues? Let’s find out what the science says.
There are not many studies that can confirm the statement: “Onion juice or onion increase testosterone in humans”. There are though some studies that are done with rats (science’s honored animal) and the results were promising till now. Let’s see each study and what the results were:
1st Study
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This is the most famous study on onion and testosterone. It was done in exotic Iranian labs. Iranian scientists wanted to prove that the high antioxidant content of onions can increase the sperm count and health of rats. Rats are similar to humans in many ways, so any discovery could lead to human reproductive system optimization.
To measure behavioral and systematic differences in rats, scientists divided them into three groups. Each one had a specific nutrition regime. The first group was the control group, which received its normal every day nutrition. The second group though received supplementation of 0.5 g/rat/day onion juice. Last, the third group received a double dose supplementation of onion juice, 1 g/rat/day. Rats were observed for 20 days of consecutive onion juice intake and the results were quite staggering.
1st group: Control group -
LH (luteinizing hormone): 1.51
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FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone): 20.37
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Total Testosterone: 160
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Sperm Count: 49
2nd group: 0.5 g/rat/day group
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LH (luteinizing hormone): 2.01 (+33%)
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FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone): 23.49 (+15%)
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Total Testosterone: 390 (+140%)
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Sperm Count: 573rd group: 1 g/rat/day group
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LH (luteinizing hormone): 2.94 (+94%)
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FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone): 26.61 (+30%)
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Total Testosterone: 509 (+218%)
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Sperm Count: 76
You can make your assumptions without our help. Let’s see the next one.
2nd Study
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The second study examined the potential beneficial attributes of onion and ginger in male and female sexual behavior. We will focus on the onion and male part for now. The lads were into cages with ladies rats. The male rats received either onion juice, ginger powder or lamotrigine (a substance used for bipolar disease treatment). Onion juice significantly increased the sexual desire and actual act of male rats. In addition, it lengthens the amount of time before orgasm of the rats. Serum testosterone also increased proportionally. Lamotrigine was used to reduce sexual behavior ( a common side-effect in antidepressant drugs) but onion juice and ginger were effective. Onion juice kept the rats “busy”.
There are many other studies on the antioxidant effects that onions possess. Scientists conclude that this testosterone and sperm boosting effects of onion and onion juice are because of specific mechanisms. These mechanisms include age-fighting antioxidants who clear the testes from free radicals. They allow for more sperm production by freeing the highways of the nervous system. That way, the brain can send the right messages and the right amount of LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). These hormones signal the production of testosterone and sperm.
There is even a study in 1967 that showed 25% increase of the testes size when male rats got juiced up with onion juice! Another study showed optimal results for testosterone increase when onion juice was combined with zinc supplementation.
It seems also that that onion juice has an insulin-like action, lowering blood sugar. That controls inflammation which leads to more cortisol and less testosterone (simplistically speaking).
How To Make Onion Juice
Now you are all fired up and ready to binge on onion juice. Before we proceed on how to make your own onion juice, let me warn you: Don’t overdo this. A good thing can be a bad thing too. Ancient Greek philosophers said “metron areston”. Meaning “balance is perfection”. Keep in mind and let’s jump into the blender (metaphorically speaking)!
The procedure of onion juice is the following:
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Understand that the juice contains fewer nutrients than the whole onion because some of them are in the flesh. So there is always the option to eat the onion.
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Peel the skin of your onion. Do not remove the outer layers of the onion because some of the phytonutrients are contained there.
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Cut the root and the opposite end of the onion so that you have only the “flesh”.
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Clean your peeled onion with water and make sure that it’s free of dust or dirt. (although some dirt may help your gut bacteria)
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Take a knife and stab the onion like Leonidas did with Persians. Just kidding. Cut the onion in small pieces.
- Cry.
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Put all these onion pieces into your blender and slaughter these bad boys.
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If some of them survive the first attack, rage again like a good soldier until they form a juice like substance (yikes).
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Take on your glass (shot glass for tequila will do) and celebrate.
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Serve yourself the onion juice in your glass but try to hold the remaining small pieces out.
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Enjoy your manly juice.
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If you didn’t like it too much (why? it’s manlicious!), next time add 1 teaspoon of honey and experiment add it in salads.
If your juice quantity is low, it’s ok. Although most onions have great water retention (and thus juice) some of them may have less. It’s ok. The most important thing here is to find a way to consume this stuff consistently without vomiting after. You can also make a salad dressing consistent of honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard and onion juice. Whatever is less torturing! It boosts testosterone, so don’t be grumpy! Just sip it, it tastes pretty good(that’s a lie right there)!
The End
That was a strange article even for us in Boldape Team. We tried though and it was …. let’s say difficult to sip. It reminded us the horrifying meal that Spartans ate to get stronger and ready for battle, called “melas zomos” (dark soup in Greek). Pork with a great amount of pork’s blood and figs. What’s the lesson here? Men always try to find an edge on their strength and masculinity, which usually works but has horrible taste.
Of course, if you want to avoid it, you can try other more nice options to boost your testosterone with much nicer smell! Or eat exotic cousins of onions if you like to eat something and boost your manliness. Whatever you choose, first take a last look on our infographic.
Special thanks to: