Scientists are working on a male birth control pill designed
to block the release of sperm and prevent unwanted pregnancy. So far many of
the attempted methods involving inhibiting hormones appear to lead to
testosterone problems and decreased libido.
There are however some potential natural methods of birth
control without such side effects. One of the most interesting is using pawpaw
seeds for male contraception. Ahead is what we know about using the seeds of pawpaw as a
contraceptive for men, potential precautions if you choose to use them and the
simplest and best tasting way to add papaya seeds to your diet.
In some traditional societies, women use the unripe green
pawpaw, with its enzyme rich milky white sap, to avoid pregnancy. For this
purpose it is either eaten in large amounts or used as an abortifacient when
applied directly to the uterus.
Both unripe pawpaw and pawpaw seeds are high in the enzyme
papain.
Papain is a beneficial aid to protein digestion but best
avoided for women currently or trying to get pregnant. Pawpaw seeds are also reported to have been used by men in
the Asian continent as a long-term natural birth control method. The equivalent
of around a teaspoon is suggested daily and is taken for around three months to
be fully effective.
The effect is then said to last for several months after
treatment is stopped, to be completely reversible in the long-term and with no
observed negative effects on libido during treatment. Two interesting studies
on the contraceptive effects papaya seeds shed more light on their potential.
As is often the case with natural treatments, there has not
been a wealth of scientific studies on non-pharmaceutical birth control
methods. Two promising animal studies have been done though on the
effects of taking pawpaw seed extract on male sperm. The first on Pubmed is a
study of the long-term safety of a Carica pawpaw seed extract on male rats over
a full year of daily doses.
In this research, while sperm became completely ineffective
during the treatment, no decrease in testosterone or damage to internal organs
was observed compared to the control animals. The researchers said the pawpaw
seed extract ‘affect sperm parameters without adverse side effects and is
clinically safe as a male contraceptive’.
The second study though involving adult male langur monkeys
is significantly closer to human biology. In it an extract of pawpaw seeds,
equivalent to 50 mg per kilogram of body weight per day, was administered for
360 days.
Testing found sperm concentration, motility and viability
notably decreased within 30 days and was significantly impaired by 60. After 90
days azoospermia (no sperm count) was observed in all the test subjects.
Once treatment was withdrawn, sperm function slowly
increased and returned to the fertile range after 150 days with no noted
long-term side effects. The study concluded that the year-long administration
of pawpaw seed extract ‘disclose no significant toxicological effects and the
serum testosterone level was not affected’.
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