People have been drinking wine or some form of it for over 8 millennia. There’s always been some mention of it in every religious text dating back to the first civilizations. When we talk about wine these days, we’re talking specifically about fermented grapes, the most popular of which is red wine. Aside from being one of the most popular alcoholic drinks consumed in the world, it carries with it some pretty nifty properties. When you look at longevity studies, there are two groups that have significantly lower life expectancies: those who drink too much, and those who do not drink at all. For the individuals in the category that had one to two drinks a few days a week, researches saw a significant increase in life expectancy. Why is this? Well, one possible reason is that, aside from acting as a mild blood thinner, it can actually naturally increase your testosterone. Here’s how it does this.
Nitric Oxide
Red wine has been shown to increase levels of nitric oxide synthase during in vitro lab testing. This means that the potential increase of nitric oxide in the blood from drinking a glass or two of red wine is very real. Lab testing aside, red wine is a great source of nitric oxide in and of itself. The link between nitric oxide and testosterone rests on the initial steps of hormone production. When you have an increase of nitric oxide in your system, either from amino acid breakdown of L-Arginine or consumption of high nitric oxide foods, it triggers the release of a hormone called gonadotropin.
What Does Gonadotropin Do With Nitric Oxide?
Gonadotropin is a hormone that’s produced in the anterior pituitary, the “master gland” located in the center of your brain right under the hypothalamus. When your body releases the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, it tells your testicles to start producing follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. That, in turn, affects the production of testosterone from the cells in your testicles that are meant to care for and help adequately form and mature sperm cells. This entire process is jump-started by having adequate amounts of nitric oxide in your system.
Quercetin
Quercetin is also a pigment compound that is found in red wine. The role of quercetin in testosterone levels is not as well understood as the role that nitric oxide plays. According to research, quercetin actively binds with free testosterone and prevents it from being excreted by the kidneys. When you’re taking. Urine test for athletics or any kind of sanctioned sport, what is being tested is the amount of excess testosterone that you have circulating and filtering out. If you have quercetin, not only are you keeping it from being excreted, you’re actually keeping it from being detected as “high” in the urine.
All the science aside, red wine has been a staple part of human socializing and relaxation since forever. When we pour ourselves a nice glass of our favorite red wine, we can rest assured knowing that there’s an added benefit of increased testosterone. Furthermore, the number one killer of testosterone is stress. What better way to lower that than with a glass of red wine?