| In movies and on TV, smokers are portrayed as tough, | | | | involved over 4,000 Chinese men and took into |
| rugged, independent men who always get what they | | | | consideration the subjects' smoking habits and the |
| want and are irresistible to women. But the truth is far | | | | amount of sex they had. |
| removed from this rosy picture. Experts say smoking | | | | "After statistically accounting for other erectile function |
| can make you impotent and over 120,000 British men | | | | influences, researchers found that current smokers |
| are suffering because of this! | | | | had a 31 percent higher risk for (impotence) compared |
| This was revealed by Dr Godfrey Fowler from | | | | to men who had never smoked. A similar difference |
| Oxford University's Primary Health Department who | | | | was seen in former smokers who had a 35 percent |
| said that thousands of men in their 30s and 40s in the | | | | higher risk," said |
| UK have smoking-related impotence. Because of this, | | | | If you have high blood pressure, it gets worse. |
| British Medical Association (BMA) officers said | | | | Hypertensive smokers are 26 times more likely to be |
| cigarette packets should warn smokers of this risk. | | | | impotent than non-smokers, according to Dr John |
| "The tobacco companies have spent a fortune trying | | | | Spangler who led American researchers at Wake |
| to persuade people that smoking is sexy, macho and | | | | Forest University Baptist Medical Centre. He added |
| cool, but an impotence warning would bring home the | | | | that the risk of impotence in former smokers with high |
| sad and embarrassing reality," said Clive Bates, director | | | | blood pressure is 11 times higher. |
| of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). | | | | "Smoking affects erection in a number of ways. |
| "What we want is for girls to look at young men and | | | | Long-term damage is caused by a build up of fatty |
| think: 'He smokes - he's going to be impotent - I'm not | | | | deposits blocking arteries and restricting blood flow. But |
| interested.' This would be especially effective for the | | | | every time a cigarette is lit, nicotine circulates in the |
| under 40s," added Ann Craig, managing director of the | | | | blood, constricting blood vessels and restricting the rush |
| Impotence Association. | | | | of blood essential to triggering an erection," explained |
| This is not the first time smoking has been implicated in | | | | Jenny Hope in the Daily Mail. |
| impotence. Dr. Jiang He, steward associate professor | | | | Ironically, the BMA said very few are aware of the |
| of epidemiology and medicine at Tulane University | | | | smoking - impotence link. In fact, a poll conducted for |
| School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New | | | | ASH revealed that 88 percent of smokers have no |
| Orleans, said men who smoked more than 20 | | | | idea whatsoever of the link. Adding to the deception is |
| cigarettes a day had a 60 percent higher risk of | | | | that smokers are often portrayed as glamorous and |
| impotence compared to non-smokers. | | | | sophisticated individuals and smoking is usually |
| The risk was lower in men who had fewer cigarettes | | | | associated with sex, virility, and success. Doctors say |
| but still high compared to non-smokers. He's study | | | | it's time to wake up and see smoking in a new light. |