Erectile dysfunction might be an early warning sign of blood vessel problems that can lead to heart attack or stroke, says a report in the Jan. 21 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“If [patients] have erectile dysfunction, they should be treated more aggressively for high blood pressure, smoking and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Alan J. Bank of the St. Paul Heart Clinic in Minnesota. Drugs used for those risk factors might also improve sexual function.
Bank’s study examined the brachial artery in the arms of 30 men in their mid-40s with erectile dysfunction and 27 men without. All were free of known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The arteries of men with erectile dysfunction had a worse response to measures to make them expand, such as nitroglycerine tablets. That failure to increase blood flow, a known factor in erectile dysfunction, also can affect arteries in the heart and other parts of the body.
Dr. Melvin D. Cheitlin of the University of California at San Francisco called for more study but said a flagging penis is a “red flag.”
When arsenic tastes like chicken
Arsenic levels in young chickens, or “broilers,” may be three to four times greater than in other poultry and meat, government researchers report in the January issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
Although arsenic ingested from chicken (it’s in their feed to fight parasites) appears well below tolerable daily intake levels, it may require federal agencies to reassess total exposure.
