Healthy Lifestyle May Fight Impotence

Diet, exercise battle both erectile dysfunction and heart disease, study suggests

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

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FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- For men affected by erectile dysfunction, help may be a workout away.

A major new study of American males suggests regular exercise and a healthy diet may help banish ED and the heart disease that often accompanies it.

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"Lifestyle intervention, such as exercise and diet, may be effective treatment for ED," said study author Elizabeth Selvin, a research fellow at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Her team presented the study Friday at the American Heart Association annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in Phoenix.

"This is the first study with national data on the prevalence of ED in the United States," Selvin said.

"ED varies by age, with 5 percent of men aged 20 to 40 having ED, to 70 percent of men 70 and older," she noted. In fact, the study suggests that about 18 million American men are affected by erectile difficulties.

ED is especially prevalent among men with high blood pressure, diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors, Selvin said.

Her team collected data on ED from more than 2,200 adult men, all participants in the U.S. federal government's 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

"The results suggest that in men with ED, screening for cardiac risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension may be warranted," Selvin said. "The converse [is also true], that screening for ED in men with hypertension or diabetes should be considered," she added. In fact, she said, "we found ED in 50 percent of men with type 2 diabetes."

Selvin noted that "couch potato" men were much more likely to develop erectile difficulties, suggesting that getting off the couch and getting active might help fight the problem.

"The association of ED with cardiovascular risk factors may be a powerful motivator for men for whom diet and lifestyle changes are indicated," Selvin said.

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