This catuaba bark and erectile dysfunction post
was written by David Jaynes.
Inside he details how catuaba can improve your erections by…
- Relaxing your blood vessels
- Lowering penile oxidative stress
- Increasing dopamine sensitivity
- Elevating libido and sexual motivation
Now here’s David…
Catuaba Bark and Erectile Dysfunction
For hundreds of documented years (and probably thousands before recorded history) catuaba bark was used by the Tupi Indians of Brazil as an aphrodisiac.
Like many traditional aphrodisiacs, the stories of its impact on sexual health come from several compounds within the plant that impact a host of the factors that determine sexual health.
Modern research has identified many of these factors, and related benefits including improved mood and memory, reduced fatigue, better sleep, and sharper focus.
Here’s a list of how catuaba bark can help boost your erectile health and why.
Catuaba Bark Opens Up Blood Vessels
In a 2001 study performed by Antunes et. al of the UNICAMP Facility of Medical Sciences in Campinas, Brazil…
Catuaba bark extract given to rabbits caused relaxation in the tissues of blood vessels of the corpus cavernous, the tissue in and around your penis that swells with blood when you get an erection (source).
This might seem counterintuitive: relaxation in those tissues being good for erection — but let me break this down for you.
You get an erection because the tissues in the corpus cavernous fill with blood…
If the blood vessels leading to and inside that area are constricted, less blood flows and the erection is weaker. Relaxed blood vessels allow more blood flow, and erections become stronger.
Compounds in catuaba bark relax those blood vessels, allowing for that improved erectile health.
Catuaba Bark is and Antioxidant
A study by Dr. Tang and his team at Tokushima Bunri University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Tokushima Japan found strong antioxidant activity in catuaba bark extract.
Oxidation outside the body means rusting. A metal exposed to oxygen and other elements begins to break down and deteriorate.
Oxidation inside the body happens the same way, with your cells breaking down due to exposure to various elements and free radicals. Antioxidants both prevent the breakdown of healthy cells throughout the body and facilitate those cells in repairing after oxidant damage.
The tissue of the corpus cavernosum, and of the small blood vessels in and around it, are particularly vulnerable to oxidation because they are small and complex. So is your sperm, oxidative stress is one of the chief reasons sperm health deteriorates as a man ages.
Antioxidants improve the health of all of those systems, which in turn boosts your sexual and erectile health.
Catuaba Bark Increases Dopamine Sensitivity
At the physiological level, sexual arousal and orgasm depend on your body’s production of and sensitivity to dopamine.
Dopamine is one of your most important pleasure-related hormones, and is related to both happiness and to addiction.
You’ve probably read about how pornography use can hurt your erectile health. Dopamine resistance is why.
If you masturbate a lot (especially using video pornography), your body builds up a resistance to dopamine the same way an alcoholic develops a tolerance to alcohol. You need to produce more dopamine to get fully aroused, and to stay aroused.
Eventually you reach a point that you can’t get aroused without using video pornography, and ultimately you reach a point where you can’t get aroused.
A pair of pharmacology studies performed in Brazil found that moderate doses of catuaba extract improved dopamine sensitivity in mice and rats (source).
This means the body doesn’t produce more dopamine, but gets more benefit out of the dopamine it does produce. More dopamine sensitivity directly fights dopamine resistance, making for easier arousal, erection and orgasm.
It also improves sexual response in people who have difficulty producing dopamine for a variety of reasons. In related news, the same studies found that increased dopamine sensitivity could alleviate symptoms of depression and other mood disorders.
This isn’t as directly related to erectile function, but can help address some of the psychological, relationship, and social issues that often lead to erectile dysfunction.
Catuaba Bark Boosts Libido
We don’t know much about why and how catuaba bark boosts libido, but human beings have known that it does for millennia.
Histories of the Tupi Indians say they sang bawdy folk and drinking songs in honor of the bark to praise its effects on male performance.
It was used throughout the time of their culture — and among indio traditional healers to this day — as a cure for erectile dysfunction, a balm for marital discord, and a way to celebrate a kindling relationship.
To this day, anecdotal evidence of the bark’s aphrodisiac effects are numerous and consistent.
Like a lot of aphrodisiac plants, catuaba has not received much study on its effects on libido. Modern medical science tends to look down its nose at this particular part of human physiology.
Between the traditional and modern narratives, and the proven impacts it has on aspects of arousal and sexual health, it’s safe to say catuaba bark will have a positive impact on your sex drive along with its benefits to how capable you are of acting on it.
Catuaba Bark and Erectile Dysfunction-Conclusion:
Even today, this traditional remedy is linked strongly with male sexual health.
In Brazil, a popular saying is “Until a father is 60, the son is his. After that, the son belongs to catuaba.”
Supplementing your diet with Catuaba Bark will give you immediate help with the physical processes of having and keeping an erection, along with some long-term treatment of some of the factors that cause those processes to break down.
Be careful about long-term usage. It’s easier to overdose on water than on catuaba, and the bark has no known negative side effects.
However, you can build up a tolerance to its active ingredients the same way you can build up a tolerance to dopamine.
If you plan to use it for more than a few weeks, cycle your dosing with other erection enhancing supplements. This gives you the best results from each dose of catuaba bark, and from the doses of the other supplements you take.
