Viagra is known as the "little blue pill" that gives men's sex lives a boost, but a recent British study found it also protects against heart attacks and heart failure.
Researchers at the University of Manchester studied 6,000 diabetic men who had been prescribed Viagra for erectile dysfunction. Viagra, or sildenafil citrate, treats erectile dysfunction (ED) by increasing blood flow to the penis. It works by increasing the amount of nitric oxide (NO) which dilates blood vessels and inhibits an enzyme called PDE5, which prevents smooth tissue from relaxing.
The researchers found that the men who took Viagra had a much lower risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart failure than men who didn't take the pill.
The British study isn't the first to link Viagra with improvements in conditions that have nothing to do with improving lackluster sex lives. In fact, Viagra may turn out to be a wonder drug useful for treating a wide range of conditions. They include:
Diabetes: Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine studied overweight men and women with pre-diabetes who took either a Viagra pill or placebo three times a day for three months. At the end of the study, which was published in the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, those taking Viagra were significantly more sensitive to insulin. They also had lower albumin levels in their urine: High levels of albumin are markers for heart and kidney disease.
"Weight loss and exercise regimens can be difficult to maintain, and some current medications have been limited by concerns about adverse effects," said study author Dr. Nancy J. Brown. "Sildenafil and related drugs could offer a potential avenue for addressing the rising number of diabetes diagnoses."
Another study at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social found that the drug improved sugar control in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Memory: Several studies have found that Viagra can improve memory and learning. A three-week study in mice at New York's Columbia University found that Viagra sharpened their memories and reduced the load of beta amyloid in their brains, which is also found in the brains of human Alzheimer's patients. The improvements were long-lasting. Some scientists believe the brain boost could also be due to improved blood flow in the brain and improved processing of glucose in the brain.
Scientists at Alabama's Auburn University have conducted studies suggesting that Viagra can boost human memory and learning skills. It might also soon be of help in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. "Viagra offers a new strategy for memory improvement and a novel therapy for Alzheimer’s disease in the future," they wrote.
Weight loss: Viagra can also help in the battle of the bulge. In treating mice with Viagra, German scientists had noticed that they didn't gain weight, even when fed a high-fat diet. Researchers at the University of Bonn found that Viagra increased the conversion of white fat cells, which are found in human "'problem areas" like the stomach, into beige ones. "Beige fat cells burn the energy from ingested food and convert it to heat," said researcher Dr. Alexander Pfeifer. In addition to burning fat, researchers noticed that Viagra also prevented white cells from releasing hormones which researchers believe cause inflammation and result in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Painful periods. After revolutionizing the sex lives of millions of men, Viagra may also be able to help women by easing painful periods. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen are effective in relieving pain, but don't work for some women and can cause side effects, such as stomach ulcers and kidney damage. Viagra causes tissues to relax and increases blood flow to the pelvic area, which relieves pain. Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine say that when Viagra was delivered via a medical device inserted into the vagina, it worked as well as painkillers but without side effects.
Cancer: The body naturally produces antibodies to fight cancerous tumors, but the tumors themselves produce chemicals that surround them with a protective "fog" which makes them invisible to the body's cancer-fighting T-cells. The nitric oxide action of Viagra appears to expose the tumor and allow immune cells to see and attack it.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center tested mice with colon cancer and found that when they were given sildenafil, the sizes of their tumors decreased fifty to seventy percent. Sildenafil given to lab-grown cancer cells produced the same results. But when mice that were specially bred not to have an immune system were given sildenafil, the drug had no effect on their cancers, showing the oxide boosted the body's own immune system. "Impotence drugs won't cure cancer," said researcher Ivan Borrello, "but it could be used in addition to standard chemotherapy or immunotherapy treatments."
Schizophrenia: Viagra may also be able to turn off the hallucinations of schizophrenia. The little blue pill treats impotence by turning off the PDE5 enzyme, and scientists believe that similar enzymes in the brain are linked to mental illnesses including schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Jet lag: Scientists at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires found that Viagra can affect the body's natural clock and can counteract the effects of jet lag and shift work. Sildenafil is active in an area of the brain that controls the circadian cycle or "body clock."
Researchers injected hamsters with Viagra at night, then turned on bright lights six hours earlier than usual to simulate a flight from the United States to London. To judge the drug's effect, they watched the animals to see how long the hamsters, which are nocturnal animals, waited before beginning to use their exercise wheels after the lights went out.
The found that the Viagra helped the hamsters recover 25 to 50 percent faster than animals that didn't get the drug, but it worked only when taken before a light/dark cycle, the same as flying east.
"Shift work and chronic jet lag reduce mental acuity and increase the risk of a number of medical problems," said researcher Dr. Diego Golombek. "A potential jet-lag treatment could also be important for the safety of rotating shift work and the potential long-term health consequences for airline crews regularly crossing time zones."