Turmeric has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years as a supplementary addition to people's diets. It offers many benefits that make life much easier for those who consume it. However, one question might be at the back of your mind. Can turmeric increase your sex drive? 

Turmeric has been used for many things; some of them are more important than others when it comes to the consumer's overall health. But its relation to the human sex drive is something that has not been explored by many. Yet, for all its renown, curcumin might have another untapped node of benefits that can help you overcome a common issue in our country. If you have found yourself dealing with decreased libido, you might wonder if this impressive root can help. With this article, we hope to help you find out.

What Decreases the Human Sex Drive?

Low libido is a more common issue in America than most are willing to admit. This is primarily due to the stigma of being "unable to perform" that plagues our social hierarchy. However, it is not an unmanageable condition and is not necessarily a long-term issue depending on the root cause. 

The way our bodies work varies depending on one's sex, but there are a few root causes that are shared between men and women alike. Fortunately, some measures can be taken to combat this issue as well. First, however, let's focus on what might be the source of your diminished sex drive.

In women across the globe, the sex drive is a more delicate system due to all of the more sensitive aspects of female reproduction. However, even something as complex as that is subject to comparatively common issues. In addition, there are a host of psychological issues that might adversely affect the female sex drive and the other serious side effects associated with the conditions. 

One significant condition known for reducing the sex drive of women includes mental health issues like anxiety and depression. These conditions adversely affect the mood and hormone balance of the person suffering from them. So, it tracks that they would diminish your interest in intercourse. 

In addition to psychological conditions, many physical conditions make having sex something of an unappealing prospect. Conditions like arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even simple inflammation can leave a woman less than well enough to commit to sexual activity. These conditions make strenuous actions with the body difficult, if not outright painful. So, the act of having sex would only compound the strain.

Men are no exception to the medical troubles that reduce libido and turn sex into an unappealing event. They, like women, could experience a reduced sex drive as a result of depression, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Both mind and body can adversely affect one's sex drive and make getting into the swing of things a trying experience unworthy of the effort. 

Unfortunately, the medications used to combat these conditions can contribute to a reduced sex drive almost as much as the overarching condition. This effect is especially true of antidepressants, making depression a big issue regarding reduced libido. Fortunately, pharmaceutical assistance might not be the sole solution for combatting diminished sex drives. That is where turmeric comes in.

How Might Turmeric Help?

It does not. 

To clarify, the specific root turmeric is not the source of your potential tool to bring your sex drive back up. Instead, the power of turmeric is contained within a single compound found in all turmeric roots on the planet: curcumin. Curcumin is the powerful compound that gives turmeric its distinctive coloration and contains all the natural components that make the root an effective health supplement. But the real question is how this compound could help rectify those conditions causing your reduced libido.

Let us start by tackling the inflammation issue. Inflammation is a significant contributor to conditions known to decrease libido, such as arthritis, cancers, and heart disease. With curcumin, these issues can be resolved to a certain capacity. 

As an anti-inflammatory, curcumin can mitigate the inflammation caused by these overarching conditions and make it easier to get in the mood. The effects of curcumin as an anti-inflammatory have been researched extensively. For example, one study was conducted on patients who have ulcerative colitis, which can also result in a diminished sex drive. The subjects taking 2 grams of curcumin throughout the study had reduced inflammation and higher odds of remaining in remission compared to those who did not.

In addition to combatting the inflammation that contributes to it, curcumin has been researched as a potential tool against arthritis itself. Arthritis is a highly unpleasant condition that generally manifests long after your sexual prime. However, in rare exceptions, it can manifest while you are still young and negatively impact your sex life. 

Most arthritic conditions result from joint inflammation, and curcumin's anti-inflammatory properties were researched concerning arthritis' specific inflammation hotspots. One study was conducted on patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and found that curcumin proved to be even more effective than the commercial anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat it.

However, while inflammation can be a prominent cause of reduced libido, it is not the only one. Fortunately, it is also not the only one that curcumin can be used to counter. It might shock you to learn that curcumin has a place in mental health care as well as physical health. 

Specifically, curcumin might prove to be an effective weapon against depression. This was discovered following a controlled trial involving 60 patients suffering from depression. The groups were divided into three groups, with one taking Prozac, the second took 1 gram of curcumin, and the final group taking a combination of both. By the end of the 6-week study period, the third group demonstrated the best results in minimizing depressive symptoms. 

In some cases, curcumin was even found to increase the effect of the neurotransmitters that induce the release of serotonin and dopamine. Both of which are responsible for elated and generally happy states of mind. With curcumin's ability to both combat depression as well as increase the release of those specific hormones, it can make getting into a healthy mindset for sexual activity that much more straightforward. Unfortunately, it can be easy to forget that no product, natural or otherwise, is perfect with all of these benefits.

The results seen in these studies, while prevalent, are not necessarily guaranteed for everyone. However, the odds of curcumin being able to help with these conditions and bolster your sex drive is higher than not. But what if you have a diminished libido without these underlying issues?

Can Curcumin Directly Affect Sex Drives?

Curcumin has been shown to indirectly benefit one's sex drive by resolving the underlying issues that might physically or mentally impair it. However, the bigger question is if you lack the drive at all. Generally, an absent sex drive is due to a hormonal imbalance or simply the manifestation of asexuality, a natural orientation that renders it impossible for you to become sexually aroused. While the latter is not an issue, the former can be if you have the proper hormones and are simply not producing enough of them.

In men, the driving hormone for sex drives is testosterone. While it is responsible for developing a male's sexual characteristics, it is also what dictates a man's ability to become sexually aroused. So, when suffering from a deficiency of any kind, you might start seeing a decrease in your sex drive. 

Ordinarily, a doctor would prescribe testosterone-producing supplements to help increase the hormone levels in your system. However, curcumin can also be used for similar purposes. This effect was discovered following a study conducted on male rats. The study involved giving the rats 10mg/kg a day of curcumin and ginger, both closely related. The result saw the testosterone levels of the rats increase and a noted increase in the motility of their sperm. 

However, another natural affliction reduces sex drive—this time for the females of our species. Women eventually go through a hormonal decline known as menopause that limits their reproductive capabilities, eventually eliminating it and reducing their sex drives. While testosterone is the hormone predominant in males and is responsible for their sexual development, it also has a place in the female system in limited quantities. 

Limited doses of testosterone have been shown to increase the sex drives of menopausal women, and curcumin's testosterone-promoting effects can offer you much the same benefit. However, it should not be overly relied on to increase testosterone levels since the hormone can cause the development of secondary male sexual characteristics (i.e., facial hair) to begin manifesting in the women taking it. However, the testosterone boost provided by curcumin is not liable to cause this if your body naturally produces estrogen, the female counterpart of testosterone, at an average level.

So, to answer whether or not curcumin can directly affect the human sex drive, the answer would appear to be a tentative "yes." However, care should be taken when consuming anything to adjust hormone levels.

Potential Side Effects

Almost everything on this planet has secondary effects when consumed in excess. Turmeric, and by extension curcumin, should be treated with the same level of caution. However, whether or not there is anything to worry about remains to be seen. To date, turmeric has been found to be completely safe when ingested. This has been tested at a rate of three grams a day for up to three months. It is reasonably safe to say you can ingest turmeric safely indefinitely so long as you do not overload your system with it.

However, there have been some mild, if rare, side effects observed in higher doses of turmeric. These can include nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea. However, these side effects are rare enough that they are unlikely to afflict you. And the amount of turmeric you would need to ingest to experience them is higher than anyone would recommend. Furthermore, the side effects are rarer still in supplements that focus on turmeric and do not use the entire turmeric root.

Ultimately, the side effects of turmeric are negligible enough to not present problems to the average consumer. As always, however, we recommend that you consult with your primary care physician to ensure that turmeric and curcumin are safe for you specifically, as any new substance added to your system could always risk a shock to the system.

Wrapping Up

Diminished libido is a common occurrence in the United States as more and more people develop the underlying conditions that cause it. Men and women alike can be affected, and it is far from a good time. However, treating those underlying conditions with turmeric can help to overcome the effect and bring your sex drive back up. Be the reason psychological or physical; if it meets the criteria discussed here, the odds are that curcumin can help mitigate the effects regardless of your biological sex. So, using it to try and recover some of your lost desire can be an effective method. The only issue is getting ahold of supplements that maximize the beneficial curcumin.

To that end, we at NuVitality would like to offer our aid. We offer a powerful curcumin supplement bolstered with black pepper, which is known to increase curcumin's effects, which can help make your sexual troubles a thing of the past. So, if you want to start taking advantage of curcumin to overcome your diminished libido, consider purchasing a bottle on our website and see how it can help you. We are here to help on your journey to the Nu, healthier you.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding turmeric, curcumin, or our curcumin supplement, please feel free to reach out and contact us at any time! As a whole, the topics can be a little confusing to understand at first, so we would be more than happy to assist and answer any of your potential questions or concerns that you may have.