Sperm doesn’t have as much protein in it as you think --[Reported by Umva mag]

To spit or to swallow? When it comes to oral sex, there is much debate around whether we should or shouldn’t swallow semen.

It’s been on our minds for a while now, ever since pop icon Christina Aguilera shared her opinion on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

‘I think swallowing is really, you know, a good thing… and it’s got a lot of protein,’ the Genie In A Bottle hitmaker mused.

But when there are so many myths and rumours when it comes to sperm’s nutritional content, we wanted to know: is that actually true?

Dr Danae Maragouthakis says the first thing to note here, is that there’s nothing wrong with swallowing.

‘There’s nothing wrong with it, sexually,’ says the boss of Oxford-based sexual health start-up Yoxly. ‘It’s not dirty, it’s not shameful, it’s totally a personal choice.’

So if your preference is to swallow, is it actually good for you, as Christina implies?

Dr Maragouthakis tells Metro: ‘In semen you have a number of things, you’ve got the spermatozoa (sperm), and then there are different components in that fluid that essentially nourish the sperm.

‘There are different secretions from different glands. The prostate gland, the bulbourethral gland etc.

‘So you’ve got stuff like sugars which feed the sperm – you’ve got water – different types of nutrients like citric acid.

‘There’s zinc, and there’s a little bit of vitamin C or ascorbic acid – but everyone believes there’s loads of vitamin C in sperm, and that’s not true at all.

And what about sperm as a protein source?

‘Essentially the average volume of semen or ejaculate is about 5mls, and the components of that semen will change with age and with health,’ says Dr Maragouthakis.

‘So not every man is going to produce the same amount of protein in their semen or have the same amount of spermatozoa in their semen.

‘The volume of ejaculate, will depend on the last time he masturbated, sometimes it’ll be a little bit more sometimes it’ll be a little bit less.

‘So in terms of the protein content, you’re going to get maybe a quarter of a gram to half a gram of protein, depending on the man, in each 5ml volume of ejaculate. So on average, there is 250mg (or 0.25g) of protein in 5ml of ejaculate fluid.

‘If you compare that to egg whites for example, one large egg white contains 3.6 grams of protein so you would need to drink a couple of gallons of sperm to meet the recommended daily dietary protein requirement (which is usually 46g or 56g of protein per day!), which I do not recommend, in order to make up for that protein content.’

So, if you were wondering, the protein in semen ‘is not a substitute for a healthy balanced diet.’

And Dr Maragouthakis also warns that if you’re having unprotected oral sex, you could be at risk of STIs.

She says: ‘Sperm is bodily fluid and in the same way that other fluids like vaginal secretions saliva and sometimes blood, it can transmit STIs like chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

‘It’s totally a personal choice and personal preference but if you’re engaging in sex you should get tested regularly and practice safe sex.

‘If you don’t want to swallow you can always us a condom or dental dam.’

This article was originally published on April 6 2023.

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