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The queen of all beverages, coffee, isn’t just the miracle elixir waking millions of Americans up in the mornings. A new study shows that coffee also reduces the risk of erectile dysfunction. According to the study’s results, men who drank coffee daily were 42% less likely to suffer impotence.
Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center decided to investigate the nigh-miraculous properties of coffee and discovered that men consuming at least 85 milligrams of caffeine per day had a 42 percent decrease in likelihood of suffering from impotence.
Of course, moderation is key.
Your everyday instant coffee cup contains approximately 100 mg caffeine, while filter coffee can contain as much as 140 mg. Drinking more than three mugs of coffee (or more than 170 mg of caffeine) daily resulted in a 39 percent lower risk of suffering from impotence.
In order to obtain these results, the team of researchers analyzed the everyday caffeine consumption and correlated that with the medical information of over 3,700 male participants aged 20 or more.
David S. Lopez, lead author, explains that this newly discovered property of caffeine is remarkable, although not all men can reap the benefits. In the case of diabetic men, the same effects were not observed.
“Even though we saw a reduction in the prevalence of ED with men who were obese, overweight and hypertensive, that was not true of men with diabetes,” Lopez said, adding that diabetes is one of the foremost risk factors for erectile dysfunction.
The study’s participants were also questioned as to their lifestyle and eating habits as well as their preference for caffeinated or sweetened drinks. Researchers than took the data and searched for possible correlations between caffeine intake and the men’s overall health.
Unsurprisingly, coffee did not represent the sole source of caffeine in the participant’s diets. More than half of the participants admitted to having consumed caffeinated soft drinks, while 21 percent were regular tea drinkers and 3 percent energy and sports drinks fans.
The properties of coffee are already well researched: it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, it has a protective effect against dementia, skin cancer and even type 2 diabetes.
Study authors believe that one way in which caffeine may be involved in erectile dysfunction risk lowering is by relaxing the arteries and muscles serving the penis. As such, it improves blood flow and raises the likelihood of having normal erections.
There are limitations to the study. Because it did not investigate the cause-and-effect relationship between caffeine and impotence, additional research is required.
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