Overweight and obesity in men threaten with potency problems. They are both the result of obesity-related diseases and an independent cause of sexual problems – it was reported during the XNUMXth Congress of the Polish Society for Obesity Research in Zawiercie (Silesia).
Doc. Paweł Bogdański from the Medical University in Poznań quoted, inter alia, results of studies of patients with erectile dysfunction. It was found that nearly 8 out of 10 of them had an abnormal body mass index. Other studies indicate that overweight is associated with a 1,5-fold increase in the risk of erectile dysfunction, obesity – more than 3-fold.
On the other hand, cross-sectional studies conducted in the United States and 5 European countries, assessing the relationship of erectile dysfunction with the incidence of obesity and overweight, clearly indicated that in countries where a greater percentage of men had a normal body weight, erectile dysfunction was less frequent than in countries where whose body mass index was higher.
Erectile dysfunction is the inability to obtain or maintain the hard erection necessary for satisfactory sexual activity. The causes of erectile dysfunction include diseases, long-term medication, depression, medication, conflict partnerships. Other risk factors include age, smoking, low physical activity, and alcohol abuse.
Undoubtedly, diseases related to obesity, such as diabetes, hypertension, lipid metabolism disorders and diseases of the cardiovascular system have a significant influence on the appearance of erectile dysfunction. Type 2 diabetes, strongly associated with the obesity epidemic, accelerates the incidence of erectile dysfunction in men by an average of 10 to 15 years – said Assoc. Bogdanski.
In turn, erectile dysfunction in patients with arterial hypertension affects – according to some studies – 50-60 percent. men struggling with this disease. Another very important factor in the occurrence of erectile dysfunction is atherosclerosis. Erectile dysfunction in 50% are associated with this chronic disease – the murderer of the XNUMXst century. We also know that obesity in many different mechanisms accelerates the development of atherosclerosis – said the scientist.
He recalled that the blood vessels supplying the penis were the size of a 1-2 millimeter vessel. Erectile dysfunction is an early marker of the development of atherosclerosis, because in such small vessels with such a small cross-section, critical stenosis appears more often and faster – he said.
Bogdański gave examples that obesity is also an independent risk factor for erectile dysfunction. The specialist cited, inter alia, an American study in which 9 men were observed for 513 years, who at the time of their initiation did not suffer from potency disorders and the diseases that affect them, and did not smoke. It turned out that too much weight doubled the risk of erectile dysfunction.
Among the mechanisms explaining the direct influence of obesity on the increased risk of erectile dysfunction, hormonal disorders, impaired endothelial function and insulin resistance are analyzed. Of key importance for erectile dysfunction is the reduced concentration of testosterone, which also affects the histological change of the penile tissues – it causes a loss of elastic fibers in the whitish sheath of the penis and a loss of smooth muscle cells in the corpus cavernosum, which are replaced in both cases with collagen – explained Bogdański.
As a result of these unfavorable processes, there is a deficiency of nitric oxide, which is the primary mediator responsible for the relaxation of smooth muscles in the corpus cavernosum – the basic element of an undisturbed erection.
Doc. Bogdański emphasized that well-designed studies analyzing the impact of weight loss on erectile dysfunction are still needed. “Previously, they were often treated as taboo subjects, overlooked in large clinical trials,” he noted.
However, he cited the result of an Italian study on a group of 110 men with potency disorders, followed for 2 years. The intervention group was educated on the principles of healthy eating and started physical activity. Participants in this group saw a significant improvement, and 30 percent. the erection problems have completely disappeared. The authors of the study explained this with the positive effect of weight loss and physical activity. (PAP)
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