Someone somewhere once said, "We are what we eat." This is a cheerful way of summing up our lives. In physical terms, we become a representation of our attitude to food and why we eat. Assuming a choice rather than circumstances forced on people through poverty or famine, an increasingly small percentage of the world’s population prefers to eat smaller portions of healthy food. The rest are hooked on food, eating vast quantities of often unhealthy food. The result is a world-wide epidemic of obesity. In terms of Body Mass Index (BMI) that’s a massive number of people with a BMI of 30 or more. We are merely overweight when we tip the scales at a BMI of 25. This is not only distressing because those with the buying power consume more than their fair share of the word’s food output, it’s also storing up a major public health problem for future generations to deal with. Everyone who is overweight has an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease. These are diseases requiring long-term and expensive care. With a healthcare service already struggling to cope with the present levels of illness, adding more people will overload it and cause it to break down unless major new funds are pumped in.

One of the most common first steps from obesity into disease comes in the form of late-onset diabetes. One of the early symptoms is erectile dysfunction. If the diabetes is not controlled, there’s increasingly severe damage to the nerve endings and impotence results. The research community is therefore beginning to look more closely at the role of diet in the treatment of diabetes. As it stands, many people simply look at the meal they propose to eat and adjust the dosage of insulin to counteract the likely effects on the body. This does little to reduce the weight problem and nothing to help the erectile dysfunction. This month sees the publication of a research study in Italy looking at the effect of adopting a Mediterranean diet. This should be the norm in Italy, but many people have abandoned the healthy approach to eating in favor of junk food. The results are interesting. Some 600 men diagnosed with diabetes and suffering some degree of erectile dysfunction were placed on a Mediterranean diet. They completed regular questionnaires on general health and sexual performance. At the end of the study, the men who had kept most strictly to the diet had all reduced their BMI, had lost inches from their waists, had better glucose and lipid levels, and were more active. They were more prepared to exercise and their sexual performance was improved by 10%. Men who failed to stick to the diet, were more likely to report a worsening in their sexual performance.

An improvement by 10% may not sound impressive, but this is improvement without relying on cialis or any of the other erectile dysfunction drugs. To see the real significance, remember diabetes slowly damages the nerve endings. You would always expect sexual performance to worsen without treatment. That sexual performance improved simply by changing the diet is remarkable. Now imagine the results if men both adopted a strict Mediterranean diet and used cialis. This would give a real boost to sexual performance and improve the quality of life.