Low sex drive? This diet boosted libido in mice so much that elderly ones had more kids

Could skipping dinner get your love life back on track?A new international study found that a particular form of intermittent fasting boosted the libido of male mice, raising questions about whether it could trigger a similar effect in humans.“A lack of sexual desire is not necessarily perceived as problematic — but some people suffer from it,” said Dr.Dan Ehninger, lead author of the study produced by the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

“Fasting could potentially serve as a useful addition to existing treatment options.”Low sex drive is more common than you might think, affecting up to one in five men and an even larger number of women at some point in their lives, according to the Cleveland Clinic. For some, this dips into hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).People affected by the condition experience a persistent lack of motivation or desire to have sex for no clear reason, which leads to significant distress in their personal lives.Experts say diagnosing and treating HSDD is challenging, mainly because the science behind sexual desire is still not fully understood.

However, there are medications available, and some people find that therapy and lifestyle changes can help. In the study, researchers set out to explore how fasting affects the offspring of male mice, but they stumbled upon an unexpected twist: senior male mice reproduced at a surprisingly high rate after being put on a long-term restricted diet.“It was a bit of detective work to uncover the real cause,” Ehninger said.

“Eventually, we realized: it is a matter of behavior.The fasting males had significantly more sexual contacts than mice that could eat freely.”Ehninger noted that this increase in mating behavior more than compensated for the age-related physiological limitations of the fasting seniors, such as lower testosterone levels and reduced sperm quality.In the study, male mice were put on an intermittent fasting regimen starting at just two months old....