{"id":1212,"date":"2025-06-21T03:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T03:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1212\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T03:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T03:04:10","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\/us\/1212\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex drug Viagra has surprising new health benefit and could help 3 million ageing Brits, say scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SEX aid pill Viagra helps stiffen your skeleton, a study suggests.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>Researchers found sildenafil, which is branded as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/health\/11921920\/record-amounts-viagra-prescribed-nhs\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Viagra<\/a>, helped human stem cells transform into osteoblasts, the bone-building cells.<\/p>\n<p>These are vital as the human skeleton regenerates and is completely replaced roughly once every ten years.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>The Peking University team\u2019s follow-up tests on mice also suggested sildenafil would prevent bone loss. <\/p>\n<p>Dr Menglong Hu and Dr Likun Wu said: \u201cOur findings offer new insights into the physiological effects of the medicine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSildenafil enhanced stem cell osteogenic differentiation and inhibited bone loss \u00ad\u2014 it may usefully treat osteoporosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than three million Britons suffer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/health\/13791645\/how-to-protect-bones-osteoporosis-fractures\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">osteoporosis<\/a>. Other treatments exist but the researchers said it would be handy to have more cheap and readily available drugs. <\/p>\n<p>They said: \u201cAny new drug must be evaluated. This is time-consuming, expensive and risky. But sildenafil is approved and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Viagra was invented as a heart drug in the 1980s before it was found to help with erectile dysfunction. <\/p>\n<p>Studies have since suggested it might also reduce dementia risk.<\/p>\n<p>Why You Should Think Twice Before Popping Viagra Just For Fun (1)<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Three blue pills on a pink background.\" height=\"694\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/580fa282-3371-40f4-ae50-fe89c84234e2.jpg\" data-caption=\"Viagra could be useful in treating osteoporosis, scientists now believe\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/580fa282-3371-40f4-ae50-fe89c84234e2.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1<\/p>\n<p>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&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1689,1230,1690,210,1691,1692,565,1693,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-1212","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-the-sun-newspaper","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114719140544345807","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}