REAL MEN EAT PISTACHIOS AND WATERMELON
ERECTILE dysfunction (ED) affects around 100 million men worldwide. But if you live in the West, your chance of this happening to you is much greater — due to our artery-clogging, cholesterol-rich diet.
Why? Because hardening of the arteries means they can no longer relax to let the blood flow properly, and that leads to softening of the penis.
Not to worry, though, because you can always pop a pill like Viagra . . . right?
The problem is that these pills just cover up the symptoms of vascular disease and don’t do anything to cure it. And no one should ignore clogged arteries.
Indeed, for two-thirds of men showing up in casualty with crushing chest pain, their private parts have been trying to warn them for years that something’s wrong with their circulation. So why does atherosclerosis tend to hit the penis first?
It’s because the arteries in it are half the size of the ‘widow-maker’ coronary artery in the heart. Therefore, they clog up faster.
Put it this way: 40 per cent of men over 40 have erectile dysfunction. And they also have a fiftyfold increased risk of having a cardiac ‘event’ — such as sudden death.
That’s why even young men should keep a sharp eye on their cholesterol levels because they predict erectile dysfunction later in life, which in turn predicts heart attacks, strokes and a shortened life span.
This is not just a male issue. Women with higher cholesterol levels report having significantly fewer orgasms and significantly less arousal, lubrication and sexual satisfaction.
What does all this have to do with pistachios? Well, here’s the good news. A clinical study found that men who ate three to four handfuls of pistachios a day for three weeks experienced a significant improvement in blood flow through the penis, accompanied by significantly firmer erections.
OK, three handfuls is a lot — but even one handful of pistachios may make a difference.
And if you don’t fancy pistachios, you could try watermelon instead — which contains a compound called citrulline.
This can boost the activity of the enzyme responsible for dilating the blood vessels in the penis.
A group of Italian researchers found that five servings of red watermelon a day improved hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction, leading to a 68 per cent increase in intercourse over a month.