11 Nov 2025 · 21 min
Dr. Anne Truong explains how gut bacteria affect erectile function through nitric oxide production, hormone recycling, and inflammation. The gut microbiome influences erections via multiple pathways: a 2023 systematic review supports the connection, and animal studies show fecal transplants can restore function. Eat 30-40g fiber daily, fermented foods, and resistant starch; exercise and sleep matter too.
Questions this episode answers
Dr. Anne Truong, author of "Erectile Dysfunction Fix."
Approximately 37 trillion microorganisms.
30 to 40 grams of fiber daily from whole foods.
Lactobacillus acidophilus; Lactobacillus plantarum; Bifidobacterium longum; Bifidobacterium bifidum.
Multi-strain probiotic with at least 10–50 billion CFU per dose, shelf-stable and tested.
Chapters
This podcast is for you. The modern man. I'm Dr. Anne Truong, your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and best selling author of the book Erectile Dysfunction Fix. I'll do a deep dive into sexual health and performance and how it affects men of all ages and backgrounds. So let's get started and be sure to visit my website@sexualhealthformenpodcast.com for more information and resources from the show. See you on the inside.
Foreign.
Hello there, modern man.
Do you know that your gut isn't just digesting? Your breakfast is literally controlling whether you get hard or not. And most men have no idea this is happening. In this video, I'm breaking down the signs of why your gut is more important to your erection than you think. And I'm showing you exactly what, what.
You need to do about it.
So stay until the end. Hey there. I'm Dr. Antwuong. I've treated over 7,000 men with ED. What I have learned in treating so many men, especially my patient, is that what you eat, it really affect your gut. Your gut is your intestine and how it will affect your erection. And I'm going to talk about it. So let's dive into it. So your gut bacteria are directly controlling your erection. Here's the thing. Inside your gut there are trillions. I'm talking not a billion trillion with a T of bacteria living. They're talking there are trillions of bacteria living. It's about approximately 37 trillion microorganism. These aren't just guests taking up space. They're producing chemicals controlling your hormones and they're regulating inflammation and dictating where the blood flow is can come to your penis during arousal. Yes, your bacteria can determine the blood flow to your penis. Think of your gut as the operating system of the sexual health. And your penis, that's just the application running on that operating system. So when your gut bacteria out of balance, which is called dysbiosis, everything downstream suffers. All right, so. So here's what happen when you have a healthy gut. So what is a healthy gut? Well, a healthy gut supports nitric oxide pathway. So let's talk about nitric oxide production. Your gut bacteria produce something called nitric oxide. And nitric oxide is literally the chemical that makes the penis hard. It's the same chemical that Viagra and Cialis are designed to preserve. Here's how it works. When you eat leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale, arugula, or use my nitric oxide. Or use my nitric oxide capsule Here, you can get this@ed nomore.com so the, the vegetables and the nitric oxide contain nitrate, right? Nitrate. So your bacteria and gut bacteria convert those nitrate into nitrite. Then when your blood flow to your penis increases during arousal, that nitrite becomes bioavailable nitric oxide. So hold on a little bit. I know I got a little nerdy there. A little bit. So all you need to know is that nitric oxide. Boom. Erection. But what if your gut bacteria is compromised? So this conversion doesn't happen efficiently. So you could be eating the right food and, and still not getting the sexual performance you want because the bacteria in your gut can process those nutrients. Okay, so remember, nitrate become nitrite become nitric oxide. All right, so next second mechanism, let's talk about short chain fatty acid. This is where it gets really interesting. When you eat like fiber, right? The bacteria ferment that fiber and produce compound that's called short chain fatty acid, which is called butyrate, acetate and propionate. Okay? These fatty acids do three critical things for erection. Number one, they reduce systemic inflammation. And inflammation is a major cause of ed. Number two, they improve blood flow. Healthier blood vessel mean better blood flow to the penis. Number three, they regulate your blood pressure. Most men with ED have undiagnosed uncontrolled hypertension. Short chain fatty acid help fix that. So when you're not eating enough fiber or when your gut bacterias are damaged, you can't produce these compounds. You lose these protective benefits. Therefore ED right now. Third mechanism, testosterone regulation. Your gut bacteria expresses enzyme. Actually they're actually biological tools that metabolize and recycle testosterone. These certain beneficial bacteria, like these bacteria are directly correlated with a higher testosterone level. But here's the problem. Men with ED typically have drastically lower diversity of gut bacteria, so they have fewer of these beneficial strain. So what does that mean?
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Aren'T recycling testosterone efficiently. Testosterone being lost in the stool instead of being reabsorbed and reused. So you could have a perfectly normal testosterone production. But if your gut bacteria can't process it or you don't have certain strain, then you become testosterone deficient. All right, so what happen when your gut deteriorate? Well, here's, that's what happen is that your erection is compromised. So when you have dysbiosis, which means the imbalance of the gut bacteria, several things happen in rapid succession. First, your intestine barrier degrades. The scientists call it leaky gut. Your gut lining supposed to be selective about what gets into your bloodstream. So but when it's compromised, the bacteria component called LPS leak through. So the immune system sees this invasion and launches inflammation response, which is not good for your blood flow. So this chronic low grade inflammation damage your blood vessels, which then damage the penis muscle. And that is not good. No erection, then ED happen. Right. So that's where I kind of break this down about a metabolite called TMAO and why certain bacteria break down red meat and other animal products and they produce tmao. Right. TMAO does three things. One, it's bad for blood flow, it increases oxidative stress and inflammation. And number three, it reduces your nitric oxide availability. So, so what it means is you eat a lot of processed food, right? Food that is in a can or a bag. And red meat with dysbiotic gut, you actually tend to have high level otmao. Okay, let's talk about the psychological component. Now there's another layer to this that most people miss. The gut and the brain access your gut bacteria directly communicate with your brain through the vagus nerve and they do this by producing nerve transmitters. So 90% of your body serotonin is producing your gut. Serotonin is the feel me good hormone, right? Not in your brain, it's in your gut. So when you have dysbiosis or imbalance, you're not producing enough serotonin. Low serotonin, depression, anxiety, low libido. And psychological ED is real, it's not in your head, it's actually in your gut. So additionally, the imbalance in your gut activate what we call HPA axis, your stress response. So cortisol goes up. Elevated cortisol suppresses sexual function. So you're not just dealing with the vascular problem, you're dealing with neurochemical problem that originate in your gut. I know that's a lot to talk about and it's kind of little geeky, but let me show you what the research actually say. In 2023, a systemic review analyzing 12 trial found that probiotic intervention significantly improves sexual function score in women and also in men. But here's what's important, this same mechanism applied to men. The study shows that using a fecal microbiota transplantation in rats shows something fascinating. When researcher transplanted the gut bacteria from rat on a high fat diet into healthy rat, the recipient rat developed ed. So when they transplanted the bacteria from healthy rat into unhealthy rat, the erection improve. So this proves that the gut bacteria are literally contributing to your erection function. All right, so if you have bacteria imbalance then it will contribute to ed. If you have bacteria balance that it will help better erection function. So that's something to take away from this. That mean that if you have ED and your gut is probably compromised, it may not be the only problem is, but it's definitely part of the problem. Okay, so what actually ruined your gut microbiome? Well, here's the hit list.
Okay, modern man. If you're struggling with weak erection, low energy, the food you eat could be the big part of the problem. One of the best research back way to boost circulation, support healthy testosterone and improve sexual performance is the Mediterranean diet.
It's packed with food that open up.
Your blood vessel, lower inflammation and fuel your hormone naturally. I've seen men notice real improvement in both energy and direction within weeks when they shift to this style of eating. So check out the Mediterranean diet link right here below and get that as soon as you can. Stronger testosterone and better erection.
Number one, ultr. Processed food like seed oil, refined carbohydrate, artificial sweeteners. These literally select for pathogenic bacteria. And they're feeding the bad bacteria. Don't eat it. Number two, antibiotics. I know, I know. Sometime you need them, but they nuke your entire bacterial system. It would take months to recover and some bacteria never come back. Number three, chronic stress. Stress hormone directly suppresses the beneficial bacteria. Number four, not enough fiber. Fiber is what your bacteria eat. So no fiber, no short chain fatty acid production, no protection. Number five is excessive alcohol. Okay. Number six, sedentary lifestyle exercises increase bacteria diversity. Not moving, decreasing it. So here's the thing. Most men with ED are checking multiple boxes on this list. They're eating processed food, they're sedentary, they're stressed. And they haven't given their gut any consideration whatsoever. Or you may not know. Right. That's why you watch this channel. But the good part is I'm going to show you how to fix your gut and your erection. Are you guys ready? Here we go. Strategy number one, dietary changes. All right, so here's what you actually need to do about this. Number one, increase your fiber, all right, I want you eating 30 to 40 grams of fiber daily, not from supplement, but from whole foods such as vegetables, legume, whole grain. Follow the Mediterranean diet. This feeds beneficial bacteria and increases short chain fatty acid. So okay, check this link right here for the Mediterranean diet. All right, if you going to eat the food, you want to focus on leafy greens, spinach, kale, arugula, or try to take all nitric oxide supplement, right? You want lentil, bean, chickpea, you want whole grains such as oat, barley, brown rice and you want broccoli and cabbage. Number two, eat fermented food. So add this to your diet. High quality yogurt with live cultures, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, tempeh. So these provide beneficial bacteria that you can directly eat and it will populate your gut. Number three, eliminate the destroyers. Cut out ultra processed food as much as possible. Reduce seed oil consumption, minimize your carbohydrate or the sweet the pastries. And if you consume alcohol to keep it under 14 drinks a week. Number four, add resistant starch. What that mean is that cook pasta, rice or potatoes and let them cool. When they cool the starch, convert to a form that is resistant to digestion so that your bacteria will ferment producing butyrate. So if you implement this right now, starting tomorrow, one change you will increase. If you increase your fiber content by 10 gram, eat one medium apple or servings of legume. Do that for a week and then you start adding fermented food. All right? And then you start eliminating processed food category. Boom. I will bet you your erection will get better or you'll be noticing better. Morning wood. And now you could take probiotic as well. So this is where most men get confused. There are thousands of brands. Here's what the research shows. What work for sexual function specifically, you want Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bifidobacterium longum, and Bifidobacterium bifidum. So these strains have been shown and studied to improve sexual function, increase testosterone, reduce inflammation. But this is important. A good probiotic need multiple strain, not just one. At least 10 to 50 billion CFU per dose. And make sure that it has shelf stability and that it's been tested. Okay, so don't just grab whatever cheapest on Amazon Quality matters. Here you can check out our store have a probiotic that we recommend that has this in there that go to our store@ed no more.com. so in a 2025 systemic review found that combining probiotic with dietary changes produce significant better result than either one alone. So my recommendation is this. Start with dietary changes that I show you first. After about four to six weeks, you're not seeing improvement. Add a high quality multi strain probiotic. Okay? So this is another pro tip. Take your probiotic with a prebiotic, something that feed the beneficial bacteria like inulin and fos or plain old oak fiber. Works great right now. Don't forget lifestyle optimization, right? You want to be able to exercise 30 minutes four times a week, sleep at least seven hours at night time and decrease your stress with either box breathing or with meditation, okay? Drink plenty of water. Normally drink 2/3 of your weight in ounces of water and avoid antibiotic if you can. And so the most important thing, guys, is that do one thing at a time, all right? So if you start doing this, you can start seeing your gut will start shifting and you will actually improve your erection within about four to six weeks. All right? And what you're going to know, you're going to have better digestion, better mood, better sleep, less anxiety as well, better focus and definitely better erection as well. So you're really treating the root cause of the problem and easier and it will be easier for you to get erection as well. Improve libido, improve sensitivity, and you're going to see major changes at around three to six months. Okay? So the key is to be consistent and keep going at it. All right? So here's what I want you to take away from this. It's a lot, I know because I'm just so excited about this. The ED isn't just a penis problem. It's not just a heart problem. It's also a gut problem, health problem as well. So most men treating ED are focusing on like the symptoms, like taking Viagra, right? But those things have their place, but they're not addressing the root cause of the problem. Your gut bacteria is supporting your erection or even destroying it. There's no middle ground. But the good news is I just show you steps on how you can fix this. It's not complicated. Eat more fiber, add more fermented food, manage your stress, move more. Eat a Mediterranean diet, right? And then consider a high quality probiotic. So start with your diet first. Nothing works better than diet and exercise at this time. So let me know how you enjoyed this episode. I know that is a lot of information and I hope that you listen to this again and I'd love to hear from you. And if you started doing any of these strategies and see how it's going. Be consistent, be patient and just know that we're giving you strategies on how to beat Ed and that you are not alone. You are not broken will mean the world to me if you subscribe to the channel and also get notifications, share with somebody that you love. A lot of the viewers on our channels are not subscribers. I would hope that you would subscribe to the channel as well and therefore just know that there are alternative to Ed and that we are here to support you. Check out the Modern man club@noedman.com and I will see you in the Modern Man Club and in the next episode.
Okay Modern man. You are not alone and you don't have to suffer anymore. Ed can feel isolating, frustrating and even defeating. The endless guessing, the quiet shame, the weight of not feeling like yourself. It's exhausting. But here's the truth. You are not broken, you are not alone and you don't have to figure this out alone anymore. The Get Wood Now Boost program is your step by step path to sexual confidence and restoration. No more suffering in silence. No more trial and error. Just real solution, real result and the confidence you deserve.
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Let's get this journey started together. Check out the course@getwoodnow.com I'll see you there.
Thanks for listening to the Sexual Health for Men podcast. If you love this episode then please take a screenshot on your phone and post it on Facebook, Instagram or wherever you post. And be sure to tag me and let me know why you like this episode and what you'd like to hear in the future that will help me know what's great for you. And I would love to give you the most incredible free gift design to help you improve performance quickly. Go to my website@sexualhealthformenpodcast.com to get the book the Five Common Costly Mistakes Men Make When Facing Ed. I would appreciate if you subscribe, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and just know that you can have sexual vitality for life. I appreciate you. Until next time.
