{"id":201928,"date":"2025-06-21T07:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201928\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T07:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:11:08","slug":"sex-drug-viagra-has-surprising-new-health-benefit-and-could-help-3-million-ageing-brits-say-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201928\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex drug Viagra has surprising new health benefit and could help 3 million ageing Brits, say scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEX aid pill Viagra helps stiffen your skeleton, a study suggests.<\/p>\n

The little blue tablet was found to increase production of vital bone cells \u2014 so could one day prevent back pain and fractures in old age.<\/p>\n

Researchers found sildenafil, which is branded as Viagra<\/a>, helped human stem cells transform into osteoblasts, the bone-building cells.<\/p>\n

These are vital as the human skeleton regenerates and is completely replaced roughly once every ten years.<\/p>\n

As we age, we lose more bone than we build, increasing the risk of breaks or osteoporosis, which makes bones brittle and painful.<\/p>\n

The Peking University team\u2019s follow-up tests on mice also suggested sildenafil would prevent bone loss. <\/p>\n

Dr Menglong Hu and Dr Likun Wu said: \u201cOur findings offer new insights into the physiological effects of the medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSildenafil enhanced stem cell osteogenic differentiation and inhibited bone loss \u00ad\u2014 it may usefully treat osteoporosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than three million Britons suffer osteoporosis<\/a>. Other treatments exist but the researchers said it would be handy to have more cheap and readily available drugs. <\/p>\n

They said: \u201cAny new drug must be evaluated. This is time-consuming, expensive and risky. But sildenafil is approved and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viagra was invented as a heart drug<\/a> in the 1980s before it was found to help with erectile dysfunction. <\/p>\n

Studies have since suggested it might also reduce dementia<\/a> risk.<\/p>\n

Why You Should Think Twice Before Popping Viagra Just For Fun (1)\"Three<\/a><\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Viagra could be useful in treating osteoporosis, scientists now believeCredit: Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEX aid pill Viagra helps stiffen your skeleton, a study suggests. The little blue tablet was found to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[424,535,560,105,302,210,211,12946,118,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-anti-ageing","9":"tag-drugs","10":"tag-exclusives","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-heart-disease","13":"tag-mental-health-and-illness","14":"tag-nhs","15":"tag-section-healthhealth-news","16":"tag-the-sun-newspaper","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114720111968968473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}