image by theogeo

Lili Von Shtupp: Would you like another schnitzengruben?
Bart: No, thank you. Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben.
Lili Von Shtupp: Well, then how about a little…
[whispers in his ear]
Bart: Baby, please! I am not from Havana.
Lili Von Shtupp: Will I… see you again?
Bart: Well, it all depends on how much vitamin E I can get my hands on.

– Blazing Saddles (1974)

You know, as funny as I think the line is I’m not sure I’ve ever really understood the whole “I am not from Havana” thing.  Maybe I’m naieve.

Yeah, ok.  Maybe not.

So.  After an evening of…strenuous activity…our hero in the quote above mentions needing more Vitamin E in order to recover his strength.   With that in mind I did a little delving to see if Bart really would have been able to benefit from Vitamin E in that situation.

According to the National Institute of Health, Vitamin E is an antioxidant that can “protect your cells against the effects of free radicals, which are potentially damaging by-products of energy metabolism.”  Which means, in essence, getting in the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin E may help prevent Heart Disease and Cancer.  If you’re following the Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Americans you are probably getting all the Vitamin E you need from your diet, but if for some reason you don’t eat a lot of leafy greens or nuts you might benefit from some additional Vitamin E in your life.  As a matter of fact, one writer claims that having too much Vitamn E in your diet can actually be bad for your heart.

Now, the question that the above quote…er…raises…is “Can Vitamin E increase my sexual performance?”

Well, the National Institute of Health doesn’t have anything to say about Vitamin E in that particular regard, so I guess I’ll have to go out to some less objective sources for that information.  Unfortunately it can be a bit of a challenge to track down objective-free information about vitamins, as just about every Google search on the subject returns a slew of sites that are trying to sell you something.  What Bart is dealing with in the scene above is the Male Refractory Period (potentially NSFW due to clinically detailed descriptions of sexual activity) – the amount of time after a male has an orgasm in which it is physiologically impossible for him to do so again.  This time varies based on many factors, including age, but is different for all of us (some lucky guys seem to have no refractory period at all).  While Vitamin E is believed to help increase sperm count, that’s really only going to help someone out who is trying to conceive a child.  There really isn’t much Bart could do beyond getting some rest.

And maybe an ice pack.