As I grew older I suffered from a gradually expanding case of erectile disfunction.
Mrs. Wolf, ever focused on making our lives better, was quick to isolate a number of nutritional aspects of this. Potassium, magnesium and niacin being the initial suspects. Horse chestnut was another candidate.
As we would add these supplements to my diet there were at least temporary and significant improvements. But nothing that seemed to really address the problem fully.
The underlying cause is "too much" Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) in your body.
Some studies:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15224127/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16387563/
Grok will provide numerous other links as a response to "provide links to studies discussion pde5 as a cause of erectile dysfunction".
Though attempting to track down exactly why this (erectile dysfunction and "too much PDE5" in general ) happens is not so easy.
In any case over time we came upon magnesium as the culprit.
The next element of resolving this was getting "enough" magnesium in the proper bio-available form. There are many types of magnesium: -glycinate, -citrate (or "shitrate" if you use too much), -malate, -aspartate, -gluconate, -ascorbate, -taurate, -oxide, -lactate, -carbonate, -chloride -hydroxide, and -orotate.
Along the way horse chestnut and magnesium hydroxide monohydrate and oxide stood out.
Horse chestnut works to address the problem of "venus insufficiency". You can read more here: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16872-chronic-venous-insufficiency-cvi. In particular from the link: "Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) happens when your leg veins become damaged and can’t work as they should. Normally, valves in your leg veins keep blood flowing back up to your heart. But CVI damages those valves, causing blood to pool in your legs. This increases pressure in your leg veins and causes symptoms like swelling and ulcers."
Using this for me stopped a progression of varicose veins.
Supplements of magnesium hydroxide monohydrate and oxide (as well as others) work pretty well but are difficult to manage. In particular it's easy to take "too much" resulting in many trips to the bathroom.
The result of this was not only a solution for the erectile dysfunction but also a significant increase in the ability tolerate cold. (for example, I used to need heated gloves below about 20°F to walk the dogs for 20 minutes). Now I can wear regular gloves to -5°F.
All this went along well until early in 2025. Mrs. Wolf determined the local "tap water" to be poisonous. She began to distill our water. Since distillation removes minerals she purchased a supplement to add minerals back in.
(The truth in the "poisonous water" was revealed in the distiller as an unnatural "crust" left after each distillation.)
Despite the supplements of magnesium hydroxide monohydrate and oxide and horse chestnut the erectile dysfunction reappeared. This created some confusion in large part because it was relatively abrupt. At the time we did not see the relationship.
Further, Mrs. Wolf suffered from excessive tiredness and a distinct lack of motivation.
This went on for a period of months until Mrs. Wolf discovered a magnesium supplement which contained small amounts of all the common magnesium forms: "-glycinate, -citrate, -malate, -aspartate, -gluconate, -ascorbate, -taurate, -oxide, -lactate, -carbonate, -chloride -hydroxide, and -orotate."
Then, almost overnight (re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon), Mrs. Wolf perked up and began spinning though the house like a tornado regaining probably a decade of youth. Less cold, energetic, enthusiastic and able to execute.
Observing this over the course of several weeks or a month I began to wonder what was going on (I did not know she was taking the 12-in-1 supplement).
So I thought hmmm, I should give this a try.
And, lo and behold, within days the ED problems vanished. Plus I also had more energy, a nasty cracked heal skin problem began to resolve, cold was less cold and "age spots" began to disappear.
The real story is a bit more detailed but this covers the salient points.
So what does all this mean?
I think it means that:
I think it means that:
The magnesium levels available in food today are shit - for sure in "processed foods" but probably in all foods healthy as well. The soil has been over-harvested to the point minerals like magnesium are substantially depleted (fertilizers add missing nutrient but do they add enough or, like I have mentioned in the past about vitamin C and subclinical scurvy is "just enough" added to make the plant "appear" healthy but not have enough to nourish you?).
No doctor I have ever read about or seen related ED to Magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesemia) - they'd much rather prescribe one of the "blue pill" alternatives. While these alternative address the PDE5 issue it is done artificially (by forcing the level down) rather than addressing the root cause of the issue. Yet studies exists, e.g., "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36407550/" - from the link: "Conclusion: Increasing dietary intake of trace metals (magnesium, zinc, copper, and selenium) within the upper limit is beneficial in reducing the prevalence of ED."
The dramatic, and I mean dramatic, effects shown by both my self and Mrs. Wolf and the accidental triggering to too little and "enough" (whatever that means is still not entirely clear) makes it hard to believe there is any other factor involved.
