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Calorie restriction may improve sexual function in men
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Sexual function improvements in healthy adults and increased sex hormone-binding globulin and decreased free testosterone in men were found when calorie intake was restricted.
Further, calorie restriction may improve mood, sleep and overall quality of life, the researchers wrote.
“Normal weight and mildly overweight individuals who wish to diet need not worry about decreased health-related quality of life, at least at the levels of calorie restriction and weight loss achieved in this study (12% and 10%, respectively),” Corby K. Martin, PhD, of Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, told Endocrine Today. “The results indicate that many of the improvements in quality of life that occur with weight loss among persons with obesity also occur among leaner individuals who lose weight.”
Corby K. Martin
Martin and colleagues evaluated data from the CALERIE 2 clinical trial on 218 adults (152 women; 77% white; mean age, 37.9 years; mean BMI, 25.1 kg/m2; BMI range, 22-28 kg/m2) randomly assigned to a 25% calorie restriction group (intervention group; n = 143) or an ad libitum group (controls; n = 75) to determine the effect of calorie restriction on mood, quality of life, sleep and sexual function. Self-report questionnaires in each category were administered at baseline and at 12 and 24 months, from Jan. 22, 2007, to March 6, 2012. In men only, researchers measured early-morning fasting SHBG, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, total testosterone and free testosterone.
Mean percent calorie restriction was 15.2% at month 12 and 11.9% at 24 months. Compared with almost no weight change in the control group, the intervention group lost 8.3 kg (11.5% of baseline weight) by month 12 and 7.6 kg (10.4%) by month 24 (P < .001 at 24 months).
Sexual drive and relationship subscale scores improved in the intervention group compared with controls at month 24 (P = .03).
In an analysis of men only, SHBG increased at months 12 and 24 compared with the control group (P < .001 for all). Free testosterone levels decreased in the intervention group at month 12 (P = .21).
There was a significant improvement in mood and tension from baseline to month 24 in the intervention group compared with controls. At month 24, overweight participants in the control group had worsening depression scores compared with the intervention group. Higher depression scores were found among men in the control group compared with men in the intervention group. General health at 12 and 24 months was improved in the intervention group compared with controls (P < .001 for both). The control group experienced worsening sleep compared with the intervention group at month 12 (P = .03).
“Calorie restriction had some positive effects and no negative effects on health-related [quality of life], and correlation analyses supported the association between weight loss and improved health-related [quality of life],” the researchers wrote. “The results from this study are helpful to health care professionals because they provide data on the effect of [calorie restriction] on health-related [quality of life] overall and sex hormones in men in a sample that included normal-weight individuals.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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