Recent reviews show that overweight/obese men who’ve undergone bariatric surgery show significant improvements in erectile function.
Carrying around a great deal of excess weight is not just bad for your overall health, but it can also pose a serious threat to your love life as well.
Men who are seriously overweight or obese are far more likely to suffer from elevated cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and diabetes than men of normal weight. And each of those conditions individually can lead to erectile dysfunction, and in combination are even more likely to interfere with healthy erectile function. One study estimated that overweight/obese men are 30 to 90 percent more likely to develop ED than men of normal weight.
Bariatric Surgery Helps
Thus, it’s hardly surprising that a couple of recent reviews and meta-analyses of relevant studies found that overweight/obese men who undergo bariatric surgery showed improved erectile function after those procedures.
In a review chronicled in the July 2017 issue of Sexual Medicine Reviews, a team of Brazilian researchers analyzed data from seven studies to determine what, if any, effect bariatric surgery had on patients’ erectile function.
Five of the seven studies showed significant improvements in the erectile function of bariatric surgery patients. Meta-analysis of data from two of the seven studies showed that men who underwent bariatric surgery scored an average of 5.66 points higher on the erectile function portion of the International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire. For three of the seven studies, improved scores averaging 4.10 points higher were noted in IIEF results.
Similar Findings in China
A similar review of the scientific literature was undertaken by a team of researchers at China’s Soochow University. The team published its findings in the September 2019 issue of Sexual Medicine. Researchers focused on 12 studies covering a total of 420 participants. The Chinese research team looked at the effects of bariatric surgery on not just erectile function but other measures of sexual function/confidence as well.
Of the 12 studies, 10 included data from IIEF-15 questionnaires completed before and some months after bariatric surgery. Researchers reported that men who’d undergone weight-loss surgery scored higher on all but one portion of the full IIEF questionnaire.
Evaluating post-surgical IIEF-15 questionnaire results, the Chinese researchers found higher scores in erectile function, sexual desire, sexual intercourse satisfaction, and total satisfaction. The only portion of the IIEF-15 questionnaire that showed no significant change was orgasmic function.
What Bariatric Surgery Entails
Bariatric surgery includes a variety of procedures designed to achieve weight loss by reducing the capacity of the stomach. This result can be achieved by removing a portion of the stomach, or temporarily reducing capacity by placing a gastric band around the stomach, or through a gastric bypass. Generally speaking, this is a major surgery and not appropriate for just anyone. Some surgeons reserve such procedures for those who are morbidly obese but still healthy enough to survive the rigors of surgery.
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