September 18th, 2011 
nutrifile 
Middle-aged men who have healthy lifestyles, such as not smoking, maintaining weight, exercise regularly and have good cholesterol levels, not only will be protected from heart disease, but also will have a satisfying sexual life.
An estimated one in five men in the United States have difficulty maintaining erections or erections. In medical language, the condition is called erectile dysfunction (ED). In a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine noted, ED drugs, like Viagra or cialis, it is not the only solution and does not completely resolve the problem.
“If you have a healthy lifestyle, including being able to manage stress, the body will respond better than if you just taking drugs for erectile dysfunction. Moreover, if the drugs were no longer influential, meaning it’s a sign you need to start changing the pattern of life, “said Stephen Kopecky, Mayo Clinic cardiologist.
Scientists have long suspected is actually no relationship between impotence and heart health. A common theory states, the arteries that supply blood to the penis during an erection faster than clog the blood vessels of heart, a bigger one. Therefore, a soft erection can be an early warning that there is coronary artery disease in the future.
To find these relations, Jia-Yi Dong from Soochow University, Suzhou, China, and colleagues conducted a study with a combined 12 previous studies, which involved nearly 37,000 men.
“This meta-analysis. Indicates that erectile dysfunction significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality. And, independently of conventional cardiovascular risk factors increases,” he said in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
They found that men with erectile problems have increased 48 percent risk of heart disease, and also had a higher mortality rate than men who did not have sexual problems.
However, this study does not explain the relationship of other risk factors, like smoking, diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.
Meanwhile, another study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, in men who regularly exercise and Mediterranean diet rich in whole grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and olive oil, is reported to have increased 2.4 points on a scale of 25 – the point of erection problems.
“Our results strengthen the evidence that lifestyle modification and pharmacotherapy for cardiovascular risk factors are effective in improving sexual function of men with erectile dysfunction,” said Bhanu Gupta and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, after conducting tests on 740 volunteers.
They added that lifestyle changes seem to be more beneficial, regardless of whether men taking Viagra, the most common drug to treat impotence, or not.
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