Does Semen Really Give You a Daily Dose of Vitamins?

The internet has a lot of ideas about the various, supposed, benefits of semen—facials can cure acne, semen provides essential nutrients and coming inside of someone can act as an antidepressant—and the list goes on and on. With so many rumors, deciphering fact from fiction can be difficult, and ultimately for cum-as-skincare believers, the truth is a little hard to swallow.

Semen is a skin-care powerhouse: Fiction, ish.

While it's tempting to believe a headline claiming that getting semen on your face can cure acne, the truth is a little more complicated. While it's true semen contains nutrients similar to ones found in tons of skincare products, including zinc, lactic acid and urea, as well as 200 different proteins, the amount of these ingredients in semen is too small to affect your skin health. Furthermore, the topical application of the nutrients in semen may not have the effects that consumption does.

That being said, one study discovered direct injections of spermidine, a derivative of (you guessed it) sperm, which also turns into the inflammation-fighting semen component spermine, can have anti-aging effects on a cellular level. However, there's no evidence to suggest topically applying spermine or spermidine to the skin would produce these anti-aging effects. As with many of the other nutrients in semen, there also may not be enough spermine in semen to manufacture any noticeable changes in your skin texture or health.

You can get your daily dose of essential vitamins and protein from swallowing: Fiction.

Sorry, swallowing can't replace your daily multivitamin. Semen doesn't contain enough of these nutrients to actually impact or improve your health. Some studies have indicated that men have about 1.4112 mg/ml of zinc, while the recommended daily intake of zinc is eight to 11 mg. Therefore, semen is unlikely to be the next superfood; your best bet is sticking to regular ol' veggies and supplements to get your daily intake.

Swallowing can improve cognitive function and lifespan: Fact, ish.

Ingesting semen may be able to enhance long-term memory, trigger ovulation, fight liver cancer and even extend lifespan. Studies on the consumption of spermidine-rich foods in animals indicate the compound seemingly prevents two of the most common types of liver cancer and extends lifespan by as much as 25 percent.

Spermidine may also improve your cognitive function, according to a 2021 Austrian study. Researchers found that increased spermidine intake was directly correlated with increased spatial and temporal memory, as well as general cognitive function. In long-term human trials, researchers found that increased spermidine intake improved cognitive function and memory ability. A related study also found that spermidine slowed cognitive decline in older patients at risk for dementia.

If you're solely interested in boosting your brainpower with spermidine, you might be better off with a spoonful of wheat germ.

In human studies, participants received 3.3 mg of spermidine a day by consuming a wheat germ-based bread. A lot of foods are rich in spermidine, such as mushrooms, soybeans, cheddar cheese, etc. Wheat germ has 243 mg/kg spermidine. How much is in the average person's semen? Around 31 mg/L.

The average person ejaculates approximately one teaspoon of semen per ejaculation. Doing some quick calculations, that means if you wanted to get the therapeutic dose of spermidine from semen alone, you'd have to give about 22 blowjobs per day. But if you're solely interested in boosting your brainpower with spermidine, you might be better off with a spoonful of wheat germ.

You can get an STI or allergic reaction from a facial: Fact (sorry!)

Semen carries STIs, meaning you risk infection when it gets on your face or in your mouth through porous membranes like your eyes, throat, lips and nostrils. While the risk of contracting an STI from swallowing is lower than the risk from penetrative sex, STIs like gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and others can cause throat infections that vary in severity. Chlamydia and gonorrhea can also cause conjunctivitis and eye infection, as well.

While rare, some people may have a semen allergy. Semen allergies range in severity and can cause symptoms ranging from itchiness to rash to anaphylaxis. Don't worry⏤semen allergies are incredibly rare, and mild allergies are relatively easy to keep under control.

It can be fun: Fact!

While swallowing isn't going to help your health, and facials aren't going to give you glowing skin, that doesn't mean they both don't have one huge benefit: they can be fun! If you're into getting facials or swear by swallowing, you don't need zinc content to back that up. On the flip side, if you're relying on an old wives tale as a silver lining for a sex act, it might be worth a conversation in the bedroom. No matter how you feel about it, the most important benefit of swallowing and facials is that it's up to you!