Erectile dysfunction is defined as the recurrent or persistent inability to attain and/or maintain an erection in order for satisfactory sexual performance. It is present in up to 30 million men in the U.S. and approximately 100 million men worldwide. Wait a second. The U.S. has less than 8% of the world's population, yet up to 30% of the impotence? We're number 1!
Who cares, though, we've got red, white, and blue pills like Viagra. The problem though is the pills just cover up the symptoms of vascular disease, and don't do anything for the underlying pathology. Erectile dysfunction and our #1 killer coronary artery disease are just two manifestations of the same disease: inflamed, clogged, and crippled arteries, regardless of which organ. Atherosclerosis is considered a systemic disorder that uniformly affects all major blood vessels in the body. Hardening of the arteries can lead to softening of the penis because stiffened arteries can't relax normally, open wide, and let the blood flow. So erectile dysfunction may just be the flaccid tip of an iceburg in terms of a systemic disorder. In two-thirds of men showing up to emergency rooms for the first time with crushing chest pain, their penis had been trying to warn them for years that something was wrong with their circulation.
Why does it hit the penis first? Because the penile arteries in the penis are half the size of the coronary artery in our heart—that's the so-called widow-maker. So the same amount of plaque in the heart, that you wouldn't even feel, could half clog the penile artery causing symptomatic restriction in blood flow. You may not feel chest pain until about here. That's why erectile dysfunction has been called penile angina. In fact, by measuring blood flow in a man's penis you can predict the results of his cardiac stress test with an accuracy of 80%. Male sexual function is like a penile stress test, a ‘window to the hearts of men.’
