One of the tragedies of illness is that it usually prevents a normal sex life. Because sex is a means of expressing love and is perhaps the deepest form of human communication, a marriage without it is sterile and often an outright endurance contest. Although major sexual problems, such as impotency and frigidity, and a horde of minor ones are emotional in origin, intercourse is often not enjoyed simply because a partner is tired, has a headache, has not slept well the night before, or feels tense or depressed and wants nothing more than to be left alone.

Any person who is irritable, critical, nagging, or lacks the energy to take a bath is scarcely setting the stage for an evening of ecstasy. During my years of consulting work, dozens of men and hundreds of women have talked to me about their sex problems; and some of the commonest complaints I have heard are that feet smell bad and that the mate has halitosis. Such seemingly insignificant things can prevent a woman from having a fulfilling orgasm and a man a sustained erection.

Much of the joy of sex depends on buoyant good health, which most people can achieve--if they really want it--to a far greater degree than they think possible.

Research is Meager

Partly because of reticence, little research has been done concerning the effect of nutrition on sexual performance. It is known, however, that protein, essential fatty acids, vitamin E, and several of the B vitamins are essential before the sex hormones can be produced. A lack of protein causes a loss of sex interest and a decrease in sperm count. Unless vitamin E is adequate. the testicles of all varieties of laboratory and farm animals degenerate and there is a decrease in both the sex hormones and the pituitary hormone gonadotropin, which stimulate the sex glands. Vitamin E also protects the sex hormones from destruction by oxygen. People in famine areas and in concentration camps have invariably reported loss of sex interest; and during World War II men in prison camps found discussions of recipes more fascinating than of sex. Malnourished individuals of reproductive age may have an almost total absence of sex hormones and of the pituitary hormone that stimulates the sex glands, though recovery occurs when the diet is made adequate. Men deficient in vitamin B6 have become impotent; and during stress, the sex urge and sperm production diminish. The motility and fertility of sperm are in proportion to the amount of vitamin E in a man's semen. Autopsy studies of poorly nourished people of sexually active age have shown shriveled ovaries and testicles, a decrease in the cells that produce sperm or ova, vast areas of dead tissue and much scarring; and the ovaries and testicles alike have been loaded with brown pigment characteristic of a vitamin-E deficiency. The changes were similar to those seen in advanced senility and in animals deficient in anyone of several nutrients, particularly vitamin E.

Too Few Calories

During World War II, scientists at the University of Minnesota undertook semi-starvation experiments to learn how to rehabilitate persons released from prison camps. When conscientious objectors were kept on diets supplying only 1,600 calories daily, they noticed a marked decrease in sexual desire, became melancholy, morbid, anxious, depressed, subject to hysteria, and were said to be "indistinguishable from many severely neurotic patients." They suffered fatigue, weakness, decreased ability to work, and cold hands and feet, found it impossible to concentrate, and became social introverts When their diet was restricted in both calories and B vitamins, all symptoms became markedly intensified. The investigators concluded that "a superior dietary throughout life may spell the difference between alert, successful living and marginal effectiveness."

Thousands of persons, especially women, eat less than 1,600 calories daily, presumably to be sufficiently attractive to be more loved. Yet fatigue, depression, hysteria, and lack of sex interest scarcely make them rollicking bed partners. Men who eat little because alcohol fills their calorie needs usually suffer from general malnutrition associated with a loss of sex interest and inability to maintain erections, both of which are corrected when an adequate diet is adhered to.

If the B Vitamins are Under Supplied

In dozens of experiments men and women volunteers have remained on diets lacking one or another of the B vitamins, and the symptoms produced would invariably make a fulfilling sex life impossible. Individuals under supplied with vitamin B1 quickly became fatigued, depressed, forgetful, irritable, quarrelsome, apathetic, confused, restless, anxious, and unco-operative; they neglected their work and appearance, became intolerant of details and noise, and suffered from insomnia, nervousness, paranoid tendencies, and hypochondriasis, all of which were relieved soon after the vitamin was given. When volunteers in a mental hospital stayed on a diet deficient in this vitamin, their emotional problems, even though psychological in origin, became greatly intensified.

A lack of the B vitamin niacin amide results in such confusion, disorientation, clouding of consciousness, and hallucinations that it can cause total mental breakdown. One doctor tells of a niacin-deficient woman who thought her neighbors were planning to kill her and who could see and feel vicious animals attacking her; yet 48 hours after the vitamin was given, she was completely rational. Mild deficiencies, associated with irritability, suspicions, imaginary unfairness, and mental depression, usually described as "the blues," are common and can prevent family life from being happy.

Induced pantothenic-acid deficiencies have caused persons to become irritable, depressed, quarrelsome, hot-tempered, easily upset over trivialities, and to want to be left alone; they were obviously uninterested in sex. Similarly, volunteers lacking vitamin B6 not only become highly nervous, tense, irritable, depressed, and mentally confused, but develop halitosis and hemorrhoids and pass quantities of malodorous gas, all of which would decrease both sex appeal and sex interest. Fatigue, confusion, irritability, and mental depression have also occurred when deficiencies of folic acid or biotin have been produced. The lack of B vitamins is so commonplace as to affect almost every American family not interested in nutrition. It can wreck a once good marriage and leave parents not only unable to be loving, kind, and patient toward each other but also quick with harsh words, which cause permanent emotional scarring of their children. In contrast, energetic good health allows richness, joy, harmony, and sexual fulfillment.

Other Deficiencies

An under supply of several other nutrients can also affect sexual expression. Persons mildly deficient in magnesium become highly nervous, irritable, quarelsome, and may change from friendly, outgoing, cooperative individuals to surly, belligerent, apathetic ones. Yet magnesium deficiencies are widespread indeed. Even the horrible mental torture of delirium tremens, which sometimes occurs in non-drinkers following acute infections, injuries, or surgery, has been corrected merely by giving water, salt, and a small amount of magnesium.

A protein deficiency or an imbalance of amino acids can cause mental depression, apathy, peevishness, and a desire to be left undisturbed; and a lack of calcium results in nervous tension and irritability. Such faulty nutrition is largely responsible for the present widespread use of tranquilizers, though a person who is drugged is scarcely a wholehearted sex partner.

Regardless of the cause, the exhausted or depressed individual finds it extremely difficult to eat highly nutritious foods, and his poor food habits result in ever greater emotional upsets and still less satisfactory sex life. A vicious circle is set up which not infrequently leads to a "nervous breakdown."