CHICAGO (Reuters) - Obese men with difficulties in getting an erection can improve their sexual function by exercising and losing weight, Italian researchers said on Tuesday.
Of 110 men attending a weight loss clinic, half undertook an intensive program and those who exercised more each day and lost more weight scored better on a measure of erectile function two years later.
"Our data demonstrate that lifestyle changes, including a reduced calorie diet and increased exercise, improve erectile function in obese men and resulted in about one-third of men with erectile dysfunction regaining sexual function after treatment," wrote study author Katherine Esposito of the Center for Obesity Management, Second University of Naples, Italy.
Improving blood circulation, a benefit to overall cardiovascular health, was the main reason cited for higher scores on erectile function tests, Esposito wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The second group of men received only general advice about healthy food choices and exercising and they scored just as poorly as before.
About 30 million American men have erectile dysfunction, which affects an estimated 12 percent of men younger than 59 and 30 percent older than 69.