Ever wonder how Tony Soprano managed to be so ... virile? Over the six seasons of "The Sopranos," he never let the stress of his life as a mob boss get in the way of his pursuit of all sorts of goomahs, not to mention time with his wife Carmella.
Maybe the secret to his stamina was on his dinner plate. At a recent conference on men's health in Naples, Italy, Giorgio Franco, the president of the Italian Society of Andrology, argued that a "strict Italian diet" is a highly effective cure for erectile dysfunction.
“Good sex starts at the table,” Franco said, according to The Local. “Statistics show that Italian people eat well. Our obesity rate is one of the lowest in the developed world.”
Franco didn't exactly mean that a big bowl of fettuccine alfredo works as a substitute for Viagra in a pinch. Rather, he explained that Mediterranean diets can promote vascular health and reduce obesity, which many scientists believe help combat erectile dysfunction.
He's on solid scientific ground here. Studies have found in the past that Mediterranean diets -- which are high in omega-3 fatty acids, nuts, lean protein and whole grains -- can help fight erectile dysfunction in older men. And more generally, it's been proven that obesity is a serious risk factor for erectile dysfunction.
Further evidence of Franco's conclusions? Italy has lower rates of both obesity and erectile dysfunction than many other countries in the developed world.
So if you want to try out this idea, where should you start? Maybe by eating what Italian men say is their favorite aphrodisiac: salami. Though not too much, of course.
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