Treatment with statins can perk up a man’s love life

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Updated: 01:50 BST, 23 April 2013

Statins could be a cheap and effective treatment for erectile dysfunction. The pills, which cost as little as 40p a day and are already taken by an estimated seven million people in Britain to control cholesterol, appear also to boost a man’s ability to have sex.

One in ten men in the UK suffers from erectile dysfunction at some point.

Drugs such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra have revolutionised treatment in the past ten years, but around 30 per cent of men who take them see no improvement.

One in ten men in the UK suffers from erectile dysfunction at some point

Statins have attracted interest because evidence suggests that in some cases erectile dysfunction may be a warning sign of heart disease.Blood vessels in the pelvic region can become furred through poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise.

To see if the drugs worked, researchers at Tanta University in Egypt recruited 60 men diagnosed with erectile problems but who had all failed to see any improvement with Viagra.

They were split into three groups and given a daily 80mg dose of atorvastatin (the normal dose for furred arteries), 레비트라구매 also known as Lipitor, or a vitamin E supplement or a placebo capsule.

Vitamin E was included because of anecdotal reports that it, too, could bolster a man’s performance, possible by improving blood flow to the groin. After six weeks, patients were tested for improvements in their ability to achieve and maintain an erection.

The results, published in the International Journal of Impotence Research, showed that only the men taking a statin saw a significant improvement in their condition. Doctors assessed the men using a 25-point scale called the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction — statins saw an average improvement of 53 per cent in their score.

Researchers think the cholesterol drug helps by increasing production of nitric oxide, which helps blood vessel walls relax and improves blood flow.

In the pelvic area, this better blood flow would lead to improved erections.

Dr David Edwards, a GP who runs a male sexual health clinic at the White House Surgery in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, said the findings were ‘interesting’ because while small studies hinted that statins might work for impotence, patient information leaflets on the drugs warn they can actually cause erectile dysfunction in some people — although the reasons for this side-effect is unknown.

‘A lot of men stop taking them because the data sheet lists erectile dysfunction as one of the potential side-effects,’ he said.

‘But there is increasing evidence that a high dose of statins can improve vascular blood flow, which might help some men.’

Meanwhile, a new study suggests that a daily supplement may work as well as statins in lowering levels of inflammation.

Inflammation is thought to play a pivotal role in cancer, heart disease and arthritis.

In the new study, researchers looked at the effect of different supplements — glucosamine, chondroitin and fish oil — on levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), a protein produced in the liver in response to inflammation and tissue damage.

The researchers, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the U.S., studied 9,947 adults, and measured CRP levels in regular supplement takers (having supplements at least 20 days a month) with non-users.

Taking glucosamine (a building block of cartilage extracted from shellfish or plants) was associated with a 17 per cent reduction in CRP in men  and women.

Chondroitin (another compound vital for cartilage) produced a 22 per cent reduction in CRP, and regularly taking fish oil was associated with a 16 per cent drop.

Among women, glucosamine was associated with a 27 per cent CRP reduction, and chondroitin with a 33 per cent drop — although  it was unclear why  the supplements seem to be more potent  in women.