So sexual activity raises your risk of heart attack and erectile dysfunction has been linked to everything from obesity to gum disease. But did you know that if you take good care of heart, you could decrease your chances of developing erectile dysfunction?

Doctor Stephen Kopecky, M.D., a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., says that everyone knows this but they're not really talking about it. Or, for that matter, looking into the possibility of reversing ED by improving heart health. Until now.

Researchers in a recent study analyzed data collected from men suffering from erectile dysfunction in the U.S., Nigeria, Italy and Iran who participated in placebo controlled clinical trials. They found that in many cases when men improved their eating and exercise habits, and lowered their cholesterol, their ED improved and so did how their bodies reacted to ED medications.

“The common denominator is blood flow,” Dr. Kopecky explains. “If you look at a guy in his 40s who has erectile dysfunction and then you compare [him] to another guy in his 40s who doesn't have erectile dysfunction, the guy with ED is about 50 times more likely to have heart disease.”