By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Showing that what's good for your heart is good for your sex life, researchers have found that regular, moderate exercise may prevent impotence.

In a large, long-term study, researchers found that men who burned at least 200 calories a day through exercise were less likely than inactive men to become impotent. This amounts to simply ``exercising off a soda'' every day, said Dr. Irwin Goldstein, from Boston University School of Medicine. Men can do that with a brisk, 2-mile walk, he told Reuters Health in an interview.

Over about 9 years, Goldstein and his colleagues followed nearly 600 men who initially had no problems with impotence. The researchers focused on lifestyle factors believed to contribute to impotence--smoking, heavy drinking, inactivity, and obesity. They found that men who had been active to begin with and those who took up exercise during the study were at lower risk for impotence.

Goldstein said the findings, published in the August issue of Urology, could have a ``huge'' impact. He believes one of the most important implications of this study is that men could reduce their risk for the condition even if they became active during middle age. The same was not true for those who waited until mid-life to quit smoking, lose weight or cut back on drinking.

``How much more do you need to make you get to the gym?'' Goldstein said.

Exercise appears to ward off impotence for the same reasons it can prevent heart attacks, according to Goldstein. Both conditions involve poor blood flow to the organ, and exercise helps keep blood vessels clear. In fact, impotence can be an early warning sign of heart artery disease since the penis is more sensitive to slow-downs in blood flow than the heart is, Goldstein noted.

Impotence affects about one quarter of American men by the age of 65, and there is no cure. It can be treated-most notably with Viagra--but preventing it in the first place should be the goal, Goldstein said.

``A Viagra pill is consumed every three seconds,'' he said. But, he added, ``if men exercise they'll have a lower chance of ever (becoming impotent.)''

Goldstein offered one caution, however: Avoid biking, since it may increase impotence risk.

SOURCE: Urology 2000;56:302-306.

(From Yahoo)