Drug News Could statins boost your bedroom performance?
By Sue Mueller
Nov 17, 2008 - 2:07:32 PM
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There have been a lot of news reports on statins,
particularly Crestor, lately.
A new
study, media reported, suggests that Crestor can help apparently healthy people
with normal body weight to reduce heart risk.
But should we jump start taking statins? The medicine does not come without
side effects.
Statins are well known to effectively lower cholesterol,
which is believed to be the culprit for heart disease although experts have
said it clearly that this type of medicine works well in people with underlying
heart conditions, but not in healthy people simply because the risk reduction
in healthy people is not that significant.
After all, we have quite some alternatives available to
be readily used to reduce not just cholesterol, but directly cut the risk of
developing heart disease and stroke.
For
instance, Dr. Dean Ornish's diet along with his lifestyle program works in
99.999 percent of people to stop plaque buildup in arteries or even reverse the
progression.
By the way, don’t think you
have no problem with artery blockage.
Evidence
shows that as many as 70 percent of healthy young people may have their artery
blocked to certain degree.
Those who feel uncomfortable with the cheap dietary
invention and are reluctant to follow the famous Ornish’s diet and lifestyle
program may still try to take some supplements like vitamin D and red yeast
rice, which have been known to be very effective in lowering cholesterol.
Just remember that cholesterol is not the
only risk factor that is involved in heart disease.
As mentioned early, statins can help people with heart
condition and there is no doubt about it.
For those people, the benefits may well outweigh the risks.
Still there is one possible benefit which may not be well
known to many people.
Taking statins may
boost sexual performance in men with erectile dysfunction (ED).
At least one study by Ferrer E and colleagues from Prous
Science in Barcelona, Spain and published in the Jan 2007 issue of Drugs Today
suggests that statins have emerged as a promising therapeutic option due to
their multiple modes of action.
Ferrer et al. writes in their report that ED is a disorder
involving impairment of the vascular endothelium and is associated with
cardiovascular disease. They say not all phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5)
inhibitors may help patients with ED.
They suggest that "The use of statins as adjuvant or
alternative therapy in erectile dysfunction has opened new avenues for the
treatment of this disorder."
The possible use of statins in men with ED is not
far-fetching.
Miner M and Billups KL
from Brown University in Swansea, MA reviewed previous studies and found that
Ed is linked to hyperlipidemia/dyslipidemia. Statins can modify the blood conditions
and thus at least theoretically they may help men with ED.
But no one should venture to start taking statins for
that possible effort because of the efficacy and safety issues.
Still, there are many things men can do to
improve their performance.
Physical
exercise, vitamin C, peanuts or arginine supplements, omega 3 fatty acids and
garlic are some foods
that men can
eat to boost their performance in bedroom.