Today In Men's Health

Most Internet Viagra Is Bogus

A new study presented at the World Meeting on Sexual Medicine 2012 finds that most "Viagra" sold over the internet is counterfeit and much of it contains little of the actual active ingredient. Dr. Irwin Goldstein works at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego and spoke last Wednesday about his paper "Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate) Ordered via the Internet is Rarely Genuine (#187)".

Dr. Goldstein's paper hasn't actually been published yet so all I have to go on is the abstract published at the WMSM website but here's the gist of it:

Dr. Goldstein punched "buy Viagra" into the top 2 internet search engines and then placed orders with 22 websites claiming to sell Pfizer's ED drug. When Goldstein got his packages he analyzed them for authenticity.

What he found was that only 4 of the websites actually sold him the real stuff. One company sent him an illegal generic drug and the other 17 sent him counterfeit Viagra. And when he analyzed the counterfeits he found that they contained--at most--50% of the amount of sildenafil citrate they were supposed to.

But the bogus Viagra certainly wasn't priced like a cheap knockoff. It cost between $3.28 and $33 a pill. Legitimate Viagra costs around $4 a pill--less if your insurance foots part of your bill.

It's hard to put exact numbers on just how big a problem the counterfeit Viagra is but the value of all counterfeit drugs worldwide was recently estimated to be $75 billion US.

Chocolate May Lower Stroke Risk

Guys, I hope you like chocolate because a new study says that men who eat moderate amounts of the stuff seem to have lower risks for stroke than men who eat little to none.

The study was published yesterday at the website for the journal Neurology and will be published in a print edition of the journal in the future. It looked at data on more than 37,000 men as part of the Cohort of Swedish Men, which is a massive database of medical info on the men living in 2 counties in Sweden. Of the men, 1995 of them had had a stroke in the 10-year follow-up period of the study.

When researchers began to break that information down they found that men who reported routinely eating 63 grams of chocolate a week had the lowest rates of stroke. Unfortunately, even though chocolate consumption was linked to fewer strokes, it was not linked to any particular type of stroke. In other words, eating chocolate did not seem to guarantee that any particular stroke would be less severe.

So what's going on with the chocolate to make it stroke-preventative? Well, in media interviews the study's authors have hinted that perhaps the caffeine in chocolate could have some effect. On of the study's authors, Susanna Larsson, published a study last year in the journal Stroke that looked at caffeine's effect on stroke risk in women.

But perhaps a more likely answer lies with the chocolate's flavonoids. It is, after all, the flavonoids in cocoa that seem to make it so good at lowering blood pressure and reducing LDL cholesterol.

Most Doctors Won't Talk To You About ED

In a presentation this week at the World Meeting on Sexual Medicine a researcher from Emory University School of Medicine said that most doctors still aren't talking to their male patients about erectile dysfunction, despite the fact that safe and effective treatments now exist to easily treat the condition.

In his study,which is titled Sexual health discussion in current day U.S primary care clinics, Dr. R. S. Gerhard explained that he took surveys from 75 men seeking medical care at either a private medical facility or a county-run medical clinic. He asked the men to fill out questionnaires about their experiences.

What Dr. Gerhard found was disappointing to anyone who cares about men's health. Fewer than 30% of the men said that their doctors had asked them about their sexual health at any time in the past 3 years. More than 60% of them said that they thought it was important for doctors to do so.

Gerhard said that when he compared the data between the private medical facility and the county-run clinic he found no difference in doctors' willingness to ask men about their sexual health. The study did not speculate on why doctors might be reluctant to ask men these intimate questions.

But doctors aren't the only ones keeping their mouths shut, at least according to this study. Only 25% of the guys said that they had initiated such a conversation themselves even nearly 80% of them said that they would not be uncomfortable talking about erectile dysfunction and other sexual health topics with a medical professional.

This study was presented at a conference earlier this week so it hasn't actually been published yet. But even just from the information that's already been published it seems clear that men are going to have to start this conversation themselves.

"Circumcision Benefits Outweighs Risks" Says American Academy of Pediatrics

On the heels of the recent study on the longterm health savings of circumcision comes a new policy from the American Academy of Pediatrics. In essence the group said that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risk. The AAP did not go so far as to recommend that newborn boys be routinely circumcised, however. In the group's opinion, "The benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision."

Just what are these "benefits"? The AAP says that circumcised men have fewer urinary tract infections, a lower rate of penile cancer and are less vulnerable to some sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists agrees and has formally endorsed the AAP's position. “This information will be helpful for obstetricians who are often the medical providers who counsel parents about circumcision,” said the ACOG's liaison. “We support the idea that parents choosing circumcision should have access to the procedure.” 

Not everyone thinks circumcising our boys is such a great idea, though. There are definitely risks to the procedure and those risks seem to increase as the child grows. (The foreskin toughens as the boy reaches his teens.) Scar formation, injury to the urinary tract and infection are rare but those things do happen, even under the care of a trained surgeon.

And as a TodayInMensHealth commenter pointed out on our original story on this topic, a lot of men (and their partners) report reduced sensation after circumcision, too.

Mike Golic Lends Name To The Game Plan For Diabetics

 

Former Philadelphia Eagle Mike Golic is teaming up with the American College of Endocrinology to raise awareness for type 2 diabetes. And he's doing it with something appropriately man-like--a program called The Game Plan.

In a press release issued at the website BloodSugarBasics.com Golic had this to say:  “As a former professional athlete, I’m used to hiding pain and injuries, so when I started to feel increasingly dizzy and shaky during a tough workout, I pushed through it until I realized I needed to stop and eat something to get my blood sugar up.”

Golic, who has reportedly had type 2 diabetes for 6 years, says that he's talking about his medical condition now to help other people with diabetes learn more about their own health--especially when it comes to the dangers of low blood sugar.

The Game Plan is a step-by-step program designed to walk type 2 diabetes through the process of understanding and then taking control of their condition. It begins with a list of questions to ask your doctor and then moves into nutritional education. Then it adds tips and support to get type 2 diabetics physically active. It closes by reminding program participants to assess what's working and look at areas that need improvement. All along the way it encourages diabetics to reach out for support from family, friends and medical professionals.

BloodSugarBasics.com is a website created by a joint effort from the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. It receives financial support from drug maker Merck.

Merck did not make Mike Golic's video messages about low blood sugar available for us to share but you can see all of them (and videos from others) at the site.

Non-Circumcised Men Are More Expensive

A new study published online yesterday at the website for the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine says that not circumcising our baby boys is already costing us--both in real healthcare dollars and in societal consequences like increased rates of certain sexually transmitted infections.

The researchers behind this study say that data shows that circumcision rates have fallen pretty dramatically in the past 20 years or so. Nearly 80% of boys were circumcised in the early 1990s but today that number is hovering at around 55%. And that drop corresponds almost exactly with a decline in the number of people who have insurance to pay for the procedure.

And along with that decline is a corresponding rise in vaginal yeast infections, HIV cases and even the viral infections that can cause cervical, penile and anal cancers.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're about to point out that kids are having more sex than the previous generation--and beginning it at an earlier age. But circumcision has long been recognized as a small (but very real) factor in things like HIV and HPV infections in both men and women. It's also pretty well, but not completely, accepted that women who have sex with circumcised men have lower rates of yeast infections and bacterial vaginal infections than women whose partners are unaltered.

But let's get back to this new study for a moment. Those increased rates of infections cost money and the researchers behind this study say that over a man's lifetime he'll spend an extra $400 treating them. That might not sound like a lot but the scientists then went on to say that if the US circumcision rate falls until it reaches 10%--which it has already done in many countries around the world--our healthcare system will spend another $500 million a year. And much of that cost will be picked up by taxpayers. 

Baby Boomers Should Be Tested For Hep C

Image from National Institutes of Health.

It's been in the works for a while now but last week the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, made it official. All baby boomers--male and female--should get tested for hepatitis C. And that recommendation stands, regardless of whether or not you think you have any of the "normal" risk factors for the disease.

“A one-time blood test for hepatitis C should be on every baby boomer’s medical checklist,” said Thomas Frieden in the CDC's news release. "The new recommendations can protect the health of an entire generation of Americans and save thousands of lives.”

So why this sudden push to get the boomers tested? Well, baby boomers actually represent the vast majority of hep C cases in the US. In fact, the 2 million or so boomers with hep C actually make up more than 75% of all the cases in this country.

Unfortunately, many of those who have the disease don't realize it. Many (if not most) of them were infected years ago but have few to no symptoms. And because many of them believe their younger, wilder days are behind them they falsely believe that they're no longer at risk.

Experts at the CDC say that if we could test every baby boomer in this country we would probably discover 800,000 new cases of the disease and cure as many as 75% of them completely. That means we could save 120,000 lives and millions of dollars over these boomers' lives.

Want a little more info about hepatitis C and the CDC's new recommendation about testing? The Centers for Disease Control, the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse and the National Library of Medicine have all put together fact sheets to help you understand the issue a little better.

 

Walnuts Improve Semen Quality

A new study published at the website for Biology of Reproduction says that large volumes of walnuts could help men struggling to conceive with their partners. Published as an ahead-of-print piece the study says that for otherwise healthy young men 75 grams of walnuts a day could help those men improve sperm motility, vitality and morphology.

Now, I think it's important to point out that 75 grams of walnuts is a lot. The USDA is the official guide for nutrition in this country and according to its database 75 grams of walnuts will get you nearly 500 calories and nearly 50 grams of fat. If you're a guy who's shooting for fewer than 3000 calories a day those walnuts will really take a chunk out of that. And if you're aiming for, say, 2400 calories a day eating 500 just in walnuts won't leave you a lot of room to spare.

On the other hand, if you're among the 4 million or so American men who will seek treatment for fertility issues this year this might be something worth talking over with your doctor. Walnuts are rich in nutrients that can be hard for even conscientious eaters to get enough of and the researchers behind this study say they specifically chose the 75 gram "dose" because it was large enough to provide meaningful amounts of those nutrients but not so large that most men would have to worry about packing on pounds.

This study did not, however, follow these men beyond the run of the study. Whether the walnuts actually made it easier for the men to impregnate their partner was not studied.

"Homeopathic" Sex Remedy Warned For Bogus Claims

Hey, Guys, would you like to improve your disposition, feel stronger and just have a better sexual experience all around? Grato, Inc's Vitál Male Sexual Energy remedy will fix you right up. It's homeopathic so it's just "two sprays, three times a day".

Just don't ask the US Food and Drug Administration what it thinks of Grato's "homeopathic" sex remedy. Come of think of it, you don't have to ask because that agency has already fired off a warning letter about the product and its allegedly bogus claims. In it the agency says the product is automatically in violation of current FDA regulations because there's no such thing as homeopathic testosterone. Homeopathic testosterone is one of Vitál Male Sexual Energy's main ingredients.

But even if there was the product would violate FDA regs because it's just never, says the FDA, been proven to be a safe or effective treatment for bladder pain, prostate discomfort or sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, says the letter, those aren't even conditions that a man can treat by himself at home, anyway. Those are all conditions that need to be diagnosed by a competent medical professional and treated under medical supervision.

Vitál Male Sexual Energy wasn't the only product mentioned in the letter and the agency was quick to remind Grato that it's letters are not intended to be a full list of all possible violations. Grato has 15 working days to either remove the allegedly illegal therapeutic claims or present a rebuttal to the FDA.

Products like "homeopathic testosterone" bother me almost as much as the spiked remedies I write about so much here. The homeopathic testosterone that this product uses, for example, is made to what's called a 30X dilution. That means that 1 part of testosterone was diluted in 100 parts of an inert solution and then diluted again--30 times. At that dilution, according to the "law" of chemistry known as Avogadro's Number, some of the doses will be so dilute they actually won't contain even a single molecule of testosterone. Homeopaths get around this little bit of scientific nitpicking by claiming that the process of succussion, in which the bottled remedy is slammed against a leather cushion, imparts a chemical "memory" on the water so that no actual testosterone needs to be present for the remedy to work.

 

Grapes Benefit Men With Metabolic Syndrome

New research from the University of Connecticut says that something as simple as eating grapes could potentially benefit men who have metabolic syndrome.

For the study researchers recruited men between the ages of 30 and 70 who had previously been identified as having metabolic syndrome. (Metabolic syndrome isn't actually a disease--it's more like a collection of medical conditions that make it far more likely that you will develop heart disease or have a stroke.) The men were encouraged to eat their normal diets and exercise--or not--as they normally did. The only advice they were given was to abstain from foods that are high in organic compounds called polyphenols.

Then the men were given supplements. Half the men got a supplement made from freeze-dried grapes and half the men were given "blanks". They took these supplements for 30 days. Three weeks after that the men who had taken the grape powder were given the placebo and the men who had previously been given the placebo took the grape supplement.

What researchers discovered as they studied these men was that the men who used the powdered grape supplement had lower blood pressure, better blood flow and less inflammation than the men who used the inactive supplement.

The researchers behind this study designed it specifically to look at the polyphenols in grapes. Polyphenols are organic compounds that act as antioxidants in the human body. They're the compounds that seem to make things like green tea, for example, so good for you. The scientific data on polyphenols is still scant but emerging evidence suggests that the compounds could, potentially, prevent cancer and/or slow the growth of certain tumors as well as have significant heart benefits, too.

The scientists behind this study say that theirs is the first to look specifically at grapes for metabolic syndrome but it is most certainly not the first to look at other grape products and their polyphenol components. A study published this month in the Journal of Food Science, for example, looked at extracts made from grape skins and suggested that eating a wide variety of foods rich in polyphenols--and not just focusing on one particular food--could benefit people prone to blood clots.