Turmeric Benefits for Men: A Complete Guide

When it comes to supporting health, turmeric seems to be one of the first in line. It’s a spice common to Indian and South Asian cooking, and has been used for ages as a powerful medicine, but only recently are we catching on to everything this little root has to offer.

There’s a fair bit of research backing the role of turmeric, or more specifically curcumin, in all sorts of health conditions, so we’re breaking out the science to show you just how beneficial curcumin can be for men’s health, including its potential benefits for neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease and male sexual health issues such as erectile dysfunction.

It’s time to take this guy out of your spice rack and pop it in your medicine cabinet because it’s a real show-stopper.

What Is Turmeric?

If you’re not familiar with this spice, turmeric looks like ginger from the outside but bursts with a deeply yellow, almost orange, colored flesh with an incredibly earthy and pungent taste.

Turmeric is often used in its ground form for cooking and making turmeric tea.

Before diving into why we love turmeric, we first need to differentiate between turmeric and curcumin; they’re often used interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is the actual root that is extracted from the ground, whereas curcumin is one of the many phytochemicals contained in curcumin. It’s what gives turmeric its distinctive peppery flavor and is also responsible for many of the health-promoting properties of the spice.

Turmeric powder is a common form used in traditional medicine and cooking.

For aging men, prostate health is one of the most concerning issues, and turmeric is often supplemented to promote prostate health and fight inflammation and other inflammatory diseases.

But more recently, research has suggested that turmeric may offer more than just prostate protection. And best of all, it’s a completely natural supplement that isn’t known to cause adverse side effects or toxicity.

Let’s see what it has to offer.

8 Benefits Of Turmeric Supplements For Men

1. Improves Cardiovascular Function

Keeping your heart healthy isn’t just of importance when aging, but it’s also critical for maintaining health and performance throughout your life.

Studies show that turmeric extract has been shown to protect the cardiovascular system due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anti-thrombotic, and cardiovascular protective properties. Here’s what research shows:^(1-3)

• Antioxidant: May attenuate adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity and may prevent diabetic cardiovascular complications.

• Anti-thrombotic + anti-proliferative: Supports reduction of serum cholesterol levels that may protect against pathological changes associated with atherosclerosis—a key factor in the prevention of heart disease. It’s also been shown to inhibit low-density lipoprotein oxidation, suppress proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells, decrease thrombosis, reduce aortic fatty streak formation, and block homocysteine-induced endothelial dysfunction.

• Anti-inflammatory: May protect the myocardium against ischemic damage by suppressing pathways that generate reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation, as well as upregulating other pathways that detoxify free radicals. Cardioprotective: Reduces oxidative stress and decreases serum lipid levels to maintain proper heart and vascular function, contributing to the regulation of blood pressure.

2. Supports Libido

While turmeric may not fire up your sex drive like some other supplements do, it can have a pretty powerful indirect role in improving your performance in the bedroom. While a “normal” sex drive isn’t really a thing, if you find you’re not in the mood more than you’d like, popping back some turmeric may help with erectile dysfunction due to its anti-inflammatory properties.

This deeply golden spice has been shown to increase testosterone levels, which, in turn, can increase your libido. Some research shows that curcumin’s ability to inhibit arginase activity could result in higher levels of nitric oxide which increases blood flow, as well as testosterone levels,⁽⁴⁾ which may be due to its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

3. Improves Joint Function

Whether you're an athlete hitting the weights daily or are well into your 40s and 50s, the joints take on quite a beating throughout the day, which means they're susceptible to deterioration, pain, and inflammation. Because of turmeric's powerful anti-inflammatory properties, supplementing could support better joint health along with less pain and inflammation.

In conjunction with ginger supplementation, turmeric has been shown to improve arthritis symptoms and enhance joint health. Turmeric and curcumin exert their effects by modifying NF-κB signaling, proinflammatory cytokines production (interleukin and phospholipase A2), COX-2, and 5-LOX activities to reduce the development of inflammation.⁽⁵⁾ As such, supplementation with curcumin may improve joint pain and movement by reducing inflammation and associated pain.

4. Enhances Muscle Recovery

There's no denying that intense exercise is hard on the body, and while you may breeze through your workout, a couple of days later, you may not be moving so well.

Because of curcumin's powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, it could be beneficial for athletes looking to accelerate and enhance their recovery after training.

Rodent studies show that curcumin supplementation can reduce levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in mice muscle following downhill running-induced muscle damage, as well as suppress hydrogen peroxide and oxidative stress in skeletal muscle.^{(6, 7)}

The effects were attributed to the anti-inflammatory property of curcumin that blunted an increase in inflammatory cytokines and creatine kinase. As such, curcumin may be able to reduce inflammation and offset some of the performance deficits associated with eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage.

5. Improves Male Reproductive Health

Sperm are especially vulnerable to the effects of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress, which means that loading up on antioxidants is critical for protecting male reproductive function. Increased ROS production has been linked to reduced sperm motility, decreased capacity for sperm-oocyte fusion, and infertility.⁽⁸⁾

However, sperm cells are naturally equipped with a powerful defense system of antioxidants, but when there's an imbalance between the generation of ROS and available antioxidant defenses, the result is elevated levels of oxidative stress.

Because of curcumin's strong antioxidant activity, it has the ability to reduce oxidative stress and thus ameliorate the effects of ROS on motility, viability, total antioxidant capacity, and DNA integrity sperm; TAC in seminal plasma is closely related to male fertility, and decreased levels may be one of the causes of male infertility.⁽⁹⁾

One study of 60 infertile men supplementing with 80mg curcumin nanomicelle for 10 weeks found significant increases in total sperm count, sperm concentration, and motility, as well as significant improvements in plasma levels of total antioxidant capacity, malondialdehyde, C-reactive protein, and tumor necrosis factor.⁽¹⁰⁾

6. May Help Combat Weight Gain

We talked about turmeric for weight loss in another article, and while turmeric isn't going to burn fat or regulate appetite, it can help mitigate inflammation, which indirectly supports weight loss efforts.

Studies have consistently shown a link between inflammation and weight gain, as fat is a metabolically active tissue that can alter levels of hormones and release inflammatory compounds.

However, curcumin supplementation may help limit weight gain by regulating levels of inflammation. A chronic inflammatory state contributes to weight gain by increasing levels of pro-inflammatory markers, increasing insulin resistance, and increasing leptin resistance, all of which are involved in the pathology of obesity.

7. Enhances Cognitive Function

The rapid increase in the aging population has meant that there’s been a steady increase in neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia, which result in cognitive decline, loss of functional capacity, and reduced quality of life. But even if these diseases aren’t present, subtle cognitive changes are associated with the general aging process.

These changes may be attributed to chronic low-grade inflammation, elevated levels of oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction.⁽¹¹⁾

Curcumin has been shown to act on cell-signaling transduction pathways in multiple tissues by inhibiting reactive oxygen species and NF-κB activity, resulting in a reduction in proinflammatory cytokines.

Other studies of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease show that those supplementing with curcumin resulted in significant improvements in their memory and attention abilities compared to people taking a placebo.⁽¹²⁾ The people taking curcumin improved on memory tests by 28% over 18 months, but also saw improvements in mood.

Additionally, several studies suggest that oxidative stress is a major factor in neurodegenerative processes that accompany cognitive impairment and dementia because the brain is particularly vulnerable to free radicals due to its high concentration of fats; ROS are a natural byproduct of metabolism, and since the brain’s metabolism accounts for approximately 20% of all oxygen consumption within the body, free radical exposure is high.⁽¹³⁾

Oxidative stress in people with cognitive diseases is marked by increased antioxidant brain levels due to their role as free radical scavengers, and studies suggest that exogenous antioxidants like curcumin may help to inhibit lipid peroxidation, ROS production, apoptosis, and oxidative damage to proteins and DNA.

8. Mental Health and Stress Reduction

Managing stress and keeping mental health in check is paramount for men of all ages.

Curcumin has shown promise in improving mood and reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.⁽¹⁴⁾ Research indicates that curcumin can increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), potentially inhibiting the progression of stress-induced changes in the brain.

Additionally, its anti-anxiety effects, highlighted in several studies, suggest that turmeric could be a valuable natural supplement for mental wellness.

Final Thoughts

If a healthy lifestyle is high on your agenda, turmeric has a lot to offer for several aspects of health. If you haven’t started supplementing with it yet, you’re best to get started ASAP. While any conventional turmeric supplement may offer some benefits, you want the best. However, it is important to consult with a healthcare professional before taking turmeric supplements, especially if you are on medications such as pain relievers, chemotherapy agents, blood thinners, or immunosuppressive drugs.

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