Sugar and Erectile Dysfunction
Could sugar in your diet lead to erectile dysfunction? That hasn't been
proven yet, but it's inevitable and here's why:
Scientists have discovered a new risk factor for heart disease: sugar
consumption. We're all familiar with other cardiovascular risk factors
that include saturated fat/cholesterol, low HDL, triglycerides and so on and, as
I have shown, the Penis and the Heart are intimately linked.
If you injure the lining of your arteries and coat it with calcifying plaque,
you can expect your erectile strength to go down accordingly. The arteries
that supply blood to the penis and the veins within the penis are some of the
first to be noticably affected.
This means that, for the sake of your sex life (and life in general), you need to
be working on all cardiovascular risk factors and that now includes sugar
consumption. One recent study of Americans found that sugar was correlated
with higher triglycerides and lower HDL levels. Researchers grouped
participants into five groups based on the amount of sugar consumed and found
that, for men, the more the sugar, the worse the lipid profile. [1] And
researchers almost always find out that anything that negatively impacts your
lipid profile will lead to erectile dysfunction and impotence.
Do you know the foods and drinks that increase erection-boosting
Nitric Oxide? Check out the
Peak Erectile Strength Diet where I show
you how to dramatically and naturally improve your erectile strength.
The researchers found that the average person takes in 16% of their calories in
the form of simple sugars. For the typical guy, this means around 400 of
his calories come from sugar, i.e. 100 grams. This is enough, according to
the study, to elevate our lipid profiles negatively and increase risk of heart
disease.
Of course, part of the reason sugar is so hard on the heart is that half of standard table sugar is fructose
and you can read more about the Negative Effects of Fructose on Heart and
Erections elsewhere on my site. However, glucose, the other half of
table sugar, is nearly as evil. Glucose will, of course, raise blood
glucose levels and, if high enough, elevated blood glucose levels will lower
endothelial nitric oxide in various tissues throughout the body, including your
blood vessels. [2] [3] And decreased nitric oxide means higher blood pressure
and less blood flow for your erections.
One of the key reasons that glucose lowers nitric oxide is that it increase
superoxide, one of the "evil" free radicals generated within the body, which
impairs calcium metabolism leading to decreased nitric oxide. [4]
Sugar also has long term effects as well: it gives you a nearly instant
high from endorphin production and thus stimulates you to eat more and more
often than you should. That and the extra calories will help you to put on
weight and those extra pounds are correlated with lower testosterone and
increased erectile dysfunction.
So long term or short term, sugar is going to be bad for your sex life.
REFERENCES:
1) JAMA. 2010, 303(15):1490-1497., "Caloric Sweetener Consumption and
Dyslipidemia Among US Adults"
2) The Journal of Biological Chemistry, May 23, 2003 , 278:18791-18797, "High
Glucose Inhibits Insulin-stimulated Nitric Oxide Production without Reducing
Endothelial Nitric-oxide Synthase Ser1177 Phosphorylation in Human Aortic
Endothelial Cells"
3) Nephron Exp Nephrol, 2003, 95(2):e62-8, "Effect of high glucose on nitric
oxide production and endothelial nitric oxide synthase protein expression in
human glomerular endothelial cells"
4) Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2001, 280: E171-E178, "Impairment of
endothelial nitric oxide production by acute glucose overload"
