Reducing risk factors for heart disease may improve erectile dysfunction

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.,  concluded the lifestyle changes and medications used to reduce risk factors for heart disease may also improve sexual function in men with erectile dysfunction.
Moreover, erectile dysfunction appears to be an indicator of heart disease, the researchers said. “Men with ED provide an opportunity to identify CV risk factors and initiate lifestyle changes,” the authors wrote.
The study, published online Sept. 12 in Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded that when cardiac risk factors improved, so did sexual function in men with erectile dysfunction. When either drugs or lifestyle changes to combat heart disease were considered alone, the benefits to the men’s sexual function was still significant, the researchers noted in a journal news release.