You have seen the TV commercials for erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs, that promise enhanced performance for men.
But is there a drug-free way to improve the sexual health of obese men?
A new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine reveals that in obese men with type 2 diabetes, weight loss improves erectile function, sexual desire and lowers urinary tract symptoms.
Study on Obese Men with Type 2 Diabetes
Researchers led by Professor Gary Wittert, MD, of the University of Adelaide studied 31 obese men with type 2 diabetes over 8 weeks. The men received either a meal replacement-based low-calorie diet or a low-fat, high-protein, reduced-carbohydrate diet prescribed to decrease intake by 600 calories a day.
In obese men with type 2 diabetes, results found that, a modest weight loss of 5%, resulted in a rapid reversal of sexual and urinary problem, within 8 weeks, and the improvement continued out to 12 months.
Read Dad’s High Fat Diet Boosts Kid’s Diabetes Risk
"Our findings are consistent with the evidence that not only erectile function, but also lower urinary tract symptoms are a marker of cardio-metabolic risk," Wittert notes. "The evidence that improvement can be achieved by modest weight loss, in particular when a diet is of high nutritional quality, is of public health significance in framing public health messages that resonate with men."
Positive Effect of Weight Loss on Sexual Function and Cardiovascular Health
"This important paper supports earlier publications that lifestyle is relevant and can positively affect sexual function" stated Irwin Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. "At a time when oral drugs are very popular, it can now be shown that weight loss is an important non-pharmacologic therapeutic intervention in restoring erectile and urinary function and cardio-vascular health. Obesity is an epidemic, and such data reinforce the positive relationship between eating right, losing weight, improved sexual function and voiding and overall cardiovascular health.
Read Live and Let Diet: What Hurts and What Helps
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Reference: The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Published Online August 11, 2009.
“Effects of Weight Loss Intervention on Erectile Function in Overweight Men with Type 2 Diabetes in the Look AHEAD Trial,” Rena R. Wing PhD, Raymond C. Rosen PhD, Joseph L. Fava PhD, Judy Bahnson, Frederick Brancati MD, Isaias Noel C. Gendrano III MPH, Abbas Kitabchi PhD, MD, Stephen H. Schneider MD, Thomas A. Wadden PhD
