It varies a bit per man, but a healthy ejaculation consists of about 60 to 300 million sperm cells. That sounds like a good amount, but it doesn’t really fill you up. Per discharge, no more than three to five milliliters is injected from the penis. What if you swallow that? Which nutrients do you get then?
Sperm is low in calories
At least you don’t have to worry about gaining weight from a few milliliters of semen. An ejaculate consists of about 5 calories, and in any case no more than 25.
But what is actually in semen? Are there nutrients in it that your body can use? Provided the maker takes good care of himself and eats a healthy and varied diet, the nutritional value of sperm is excellent. But because he only produces such small amounts per session, the semen swallower will not notice any significant health effects. Let’s list its ingredients for you.
1. Calcium
One of the components of semen is calcium. This helps, among other things, with the motility of the sperm cells, so that they can reach the egg cell. The substance therefore plays an important role in male fertility, as evidenced by, among other things, a Iranian study.
Indian researchers wanted to know if daily masturbation did anything to the calcium and magnesium levels of sperm. Before that, they had 21 men masturbate for ten days in a row. Then they had to keep their hands off their pants for 3 to 5 days and make one last donation. The different discharges were compared with each other. Result? No difference.
2. Magnesium
We already mentioned it: magnesium. Like calcium, magnesium plays an important role in mobilizing the sperm cells. In other words, it makes them swim faster. The presence of magnesium also seems to to significantly increase the total number of sperm cells.
3. Citric Acid
According to an older study by the University of Maryland Dental School (USA), people have a fairly large amount of citric acid in their semen. Like other monkeys, we make that mainly in our prostate. Exactly how high the concentration of citric acid is seems to be an indicator of whether you have prostate cancer or not.
Brazilian scientists examined 31 men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and compared their blood and semen with that of 28 men in a control group. The men with prostate cancer had significantly less citric acid in their semen than the men in the control group.
4. Fructose
Sperm consists not only of sperm cells, but also of fluid. This semen fluid is made in the so-called seminal vesicles. This fluid contains fructose, the energy source for the mature sperm cells. Those cells have to travel a long way, so it’s nice that they have something ‘to eat’. When a man ejaculates, the fluid together with the sperm cells forms the sperm.
You may wonder if that fructose still has something to do with the taste of the semen. Unfortunately, the amount of fructose is too small to really give semen a sweetish taste.
5. Glucose
Like fructose, glucose is an energy source for the sperm cells. If there is little glucose present in the semen, the cells are less motile. Thus, glucose appears to be an important ingredient for male fertility.
6. Lactic Acid
When a man ejaculates in the woman’s vagina, the sperm cells look for an egg to fertilize. But sometimes it isn’t there (yet). The seeds have come up with something for that: to wait. But how can such avid swimmers decide to rest?
Japanese scientists investigated this phenomenon in birds, where sperm sometimes remains in the female’s body for up to fifteen weeks until an egg is present. The researchers saw that the sperm cells went into a resting position under the influence of the lactic acid in the sperm.
7. Protein
It is difficult to measure, but according to a 2013 study at Duke University (USA) one hundred milliliters of semen contains about 5 milliliters of protein. Most of that protein is made in the seminal vesicles. You know, where the fructose is also made.
8. Zink
And then we have zinc. This is added to the semen by the prostate. In semen, the substance stabilizes, among other things, the cell membrane (this separates the inside of a cell from the outside). In addition, zinc seems to protect the sperm cells against bacteria and to prevent damage to the chromosomes.
Zinc also plays a role in so-called capacitation. Before a sperm is ready to fertilize a sperm, it must first undergo some changes. After the sperm has passed through the cervical mucus, the so-called capacitation occurs. These are (physiological) changes to the sperm. Think of it like a soldier donning his gear. He was already strong before that, but a gun makes him just a bit more effective.
Not so crazy, then a 2016 Indian study shows that a low amount of zinc in the semen causes fertility problems.
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