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Mediterranean diet may improve sexual dysfunction in type 2 diabetes
Men and women with type 2 diabetes who adhered to a Mediterranean-style diet may reduce their risk for sexual dysfunction or see improvement in the condition over time, according to an analysis of the MEDITA trial.
“The current study is the first long-term dietary trial demonstrating that the Mediterranean diet conferred benefit on both prevention (56% relative risk reduction) and deterioration of sexual dysfunction in both men and women with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes,” Maria Ida Maiorino, of the division of endocrinology and metabolic diseases at Second University of Naples, Italy, and colleagues wrote. “In adults with type 2 diabetes, a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern may improve the inflammatory milieu and cardiovascular risk, both these effects being beneficial to achieving improvement of sexual dysfunction in people with diabetes.”
Maiorino and colleagues analyzed data from the Mediterranean diet and Type 2 Diabetes (MEDITA) study, a two-arm, single-center randomized trial, investigating the long-term effect of a Mediterranean diet on both incident erectile dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction in people with type 2 diabetes and the combined incidence of sexual dysfunction with worsening of sexual function in those participants with sexual dysfunction at baseline.
Researchers randomly assigned participants to a Mediterranean diet (n= 108) or a low-fat diet (n = 107), with a mean follow-up of 8.1 years. Participants completed sexual function
questionnaires (International Index of Erectile Function and the Female Sexual Function Index) at baseline and every 6 months. There were no between-group differences in sexual function at baseline in men or women.
Over follow-up, those assigned to a Mediterranean diet were less likely to develop erectile dysfunction vs. those assigned to a low-fat diet (HR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.19-1) or female sexual dysfunction (HR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.19-1). Secondary outcome was also lower in the Mediterranean diet group; the HR for new erectile dysfunction and deterioration of preexisting erectile dysfunction was 0.41 (95% CI, 0.21-0.83) vs. the low-fat group; HR for new female sexual dysfunction and deterioration of preexisting female sexual dysfunction was 0.5 (95% CI, 0.25-0.99). Those in the Mediterranean diet group also lost more body weight over follow-up vs. the low-fat group (–0.98 kg).
“Although the evaluation of sexual function was not planned in the original study protocol,
both primary and secondary outcomes were similar, suggesting that the results were robust,” the researchers wrote. – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: Two of the study authors report receiving speaker fees from and serving on advisory boards for Lilly, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi.