There's a growing push in the medical community to treat a man's erectile function as an important indicator of overall health rather than just a lifestyle problem.
Some studies show that erectile dysfunction, or ED, may be one of the earliest warning signs of heart disease, giving men as much as three years' notice before more serious symptoms show up. And early research shows that the same things a man can do to boost his heart health---such as weight loss, exercise and lowering cholesterol---can also lead to better erections.
"The penis is a barometer of the health of the vascular system," says Andrew McCullough, director of male sexual health and fertility at New York University School of Medicine. "But unfortunately you're fighting this stigma of minimizing the condition."
The reason erectile function is so closely linked with heart and vascular health is that the penis is sustained by two main arteries. If a man has vascular disease that causes narrowing of the arteries or plaque buildup, the damage often shows up first in the small penile arteries rather than the larger arteries leading to the heart. The American Journal of Medicine reports that ED is particularly common among men with one or more cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, and strongly associated with lack of exercise.
The good news is that ED may be an early enough warning sign that men have time to help their hearts. An Italian study showed that in two-thirds of patients with both heart disease and ED, the erection problems showed up, on average, three years before other more obvious symptoms, such as chest pain.
"Many men's lifestyles are so unhealthy in terms of lack of exercise and terrible diet," says Drogo K. Montague, head of prosthetic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic's Urologic Institute. "Basically what is a heart-healthy lifestyle is also good for erections."
Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2007