Overweight men often have health problems. But now overweight men with type 2 diabetes have another reason to lose weight – it improves erectile dysfunction. A study from Singapore published over the past few months in the Journal of Sexual Medicine showed that losing 5% to 10% of weight (for a 200 pound man that’s 10 to 20 pounds lost) improves sexual desire and erectile function within 8 weeks. After a year, 25% reported normal erectile function. That’s important not only for the men, but for their female partners who can be encouraged to offer help with weight control.
The authors believe it is because losing body fat reduces the amount of inflammation in the body and that increases testosterone levels. Losing that much weight will also have a positive affect on the person’s diabetes, blood pressure and risk of heart disease.
New studies are now looking to see if losing weight can help erectile dysfunction in men without diabetes. Early results suggest it will.
