Men who smoke are more likely to experience impotence, study shows.

Men with high blood pressure who smoke are 26 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction - impotence - than nonsmokers, said Spangler, associate professor of family and community medicine in Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Erectile dysfunction, or impotence, is the inability of a man to achieve an erection or to complete intercourse, he said.

Erectile dysfunction, or impotence, affects an estimated 30 million Americans.

26-fold increase in erectile dysfunction occured among men with hypertension who also currently smoke, a rate that is also twice that of former smokers," said Spangler. The more cigarettes smoked per day the greater the chance of impotence, he added.

He said the study showed that former smokers among patients with high blood pressure are 11 times more likely to be impotent than non-smokers.

"Cigarette smoking, hypertension and erectile dysfunction are common disorders in primary care, and informing men who smoke of the exceptionally high possibility of developing erectile dysfunction may motivate many to quit their tobacco habit."

Spangler said smoking has "both acute and chronic effects on erectile physiology." In both human and animal studies, smoking inhibits the ability to achieve a full erection.

Smoking also is known to accelerate atherosclerosis - hardening of the arteries - and when the blood vessels in the pelvis area are narrowed, that contributes to reduced penile blood flow.

"It may be that cigarette smoking and high blood pressure are such powerful risk factors for impotence that it just overshadows stress," he said.

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Samantha Slims is a writer for ED treatment http://www.mensgenerics.com http://www.bettergenerics.com