Apples for Health- Resolutions improve health, sex in men

Resolutions improve health, sex in men

LINTHICUM, Md., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Some New Year's resolutions can improve not only overall health but U.S. men's sexual health, officials at the American Urological Association advise.

About 75 percent of erectile dysfunction have an underlying physical cause, including serious medical conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol levels, officials at the American Urological Association said.

Erectile dysfunction can be an early warning sign of one of these diseases. Diagnosing and treating the condition that is causing your erectile dysfunction, whether it is stress or a more serious physical cause, can improve overall well being, as well as help restore sexual health.

Losing weight may help resolve erectile dysfunction in obese men, research presented at the 2008 annual scientific meeting of the American Urological Association. Morbid obesity, as well as other conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and smoking can impact sexual dysfunction.

"A study showed that weight loss and other risk factors for ED that are alleviated by weight loss may be keys to restoring sexual function," Dr. Anthony Y. Smith said in a statement. "These results give men another reason to improve their health by losing weight."

A study of 1,214 men without prostate cancer at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Carolina showed that prostate specific antigen levels were lower among men with lower total and low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol levels.