2021/05/12 by Yi Lü, Jiaqi Kang, Zhongjia Li +5 · 2 citations
Environmental Science · Medicine · Psychology · #Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact #Sexual function and dysfunction studies #Eating Disorders and Behaviors
paper · pdf · doi:10.1186/s12610-021-00129-5
openalex publication_date 2021/05/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
BACKGROUND: Diet, one of the components of lifestyle, has been believed to have associations with erectile dysfunction (ED). However, whether there is an association between plant-based diet and ED is remains to be explored. Thus, we conducted the nested case-control study to investigate the relationship between the plant-based diet and ED in China. RESULTS: ED group (92 subjeczts) and ED free group (92 subjects) were similar in terms of basic features (P > 0.05), except for lifestyle (P < 0.05). The plant-diet index (PDI) and healthy plant-diet index (hPDI) in the ED group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.001). Adjusted multivariate analysis indicated that the presence of ED was negatively associated with nitric oxide levels, PDI, and hPDI (all P < 0.05), and was positively related to body mass index, metabolic syndrome, and E-selectin levels. Furthermore, both the PDI and hPDI increased significantly as the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) scores increased within the ED group (P < 0.05). Multi-model multivariate analysis indicated the robustness of results. CONCLUSIONS: More plant-based diet intake was associated with a reduced presence of ED and less severe ED in China. Committing to plant-based diet can be encouraged for many health benefits and to lower ED burden. Further well-designed studies are warranted to validate our findings.