Obese Men Can Revive Their Sex Lives
June 23, 2004 -- How can obese men revive their sex lives? Exercise more and eat less.
A new study reports that one third of obese men with erectile dysfunction, or ED, regained sexual function after two years of treatment at a weight loss clinic.
Some experts say the finding is yet another reason to encourage their patients to lose weight and take on healthy habits. A healthy lifestyle will not only improve sexual function, but also provide myriad other benefits to the patient.
And the results are tangible, not only during the patient's physical exam, but also in the bedroom.
"If a patient is obese and has erectile dysfunction, losing weight has a positive effect of regaining sexual function in one in three patients," says Christopher S. Saigal, a urologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles.
The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, reports that out of a group of 55 obese men between the ages of 35 and 55 who had erectile dysfunction, 17 men regained sexual function after two years of intensive help at a weight loss clinic.
"That almost one third of obese men reversed their ED after exercising more and losing weight is striking," wrote Saigal in an accompanying editorial to the study.
The successful men upped their level of physical activity from an average of 48 minutes of exercise a week to three hours of exercise a week — mainly walking, but also swimming or aerobic games like football or baseball. By adopting a low-calorie diet, they also reduced their body mass index from an average of 37 to 31, a marked improvement over the control group.
Risk Factors
Thirty million American men suffer from ED, which the American Urological Association defines as "the consistent inability to achieve an erection that is adequate for satisfactory sexual function."
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