Erectile Dysfunction

Last winter the National Football League revised its marketing game plan and lifted a self-imposed ban on doing business with drug companies. Bayer Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline - joint distributors of the new erectile dysfunction pill, Levitra - quickly signed a three-year sponsorship deal worth a reported $18 million. Those new bedfellows have just launched a public education campaign titled Tackling Men's Health. TMH is geared toward pulling the average-guy football fan away from his buffalo wings long enough to get him up to speed on a variety of topics, including diabetes, stress, heart disease, mental and sexual health and prostate irregularities.

THERE IS a breaking point in all human beings at which they can no longer stand the sight of the AFLAC duck, or the Sprint guy in the black raincoat, or Brian Henderson of 12 Maple Lane tossing Bud Light bottles into the sea with his precious be-my-pen-pal notes. There is a point at which the brain begins to recoil at the 200th viewing of Fran Drescher's goofy winks in those Old Navy painters' jeans spots. There is a point at which one no longer cares to "ask your doctor about Levitra," because seeing that aging jock throw the football through the tire over and over and over again has sapped one's will to live.

I have read that pomegranate juice has health benefits, but I haven't been able to find any. Would you get the same benefits by eating pomegranates, which I love? You might get some benefit from eating the whole fruit. Another reader who had trouble finding juice discovered that after eating pomegranate fruit, her cholesterol went down. Although there is no research to prove that pomegranate lowers cholesterol, it reduces the oxidation of bad LDL cholesterol, which contributes to artery-clogging plaque.

Radio talk show from hospital lobby schedules topics Radio station WCBM broadcasts the program Talkin' Back from North Arundel Hospital's main lobby from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. every other Wednesday. During the show, hospital medical staff members and other health care professionals discuss health-related topics. Free health screenings also are offered from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The program, broadcast on 680 AM, began Jan. 16 with a show about colds and the flu with emergency room physician Dr. Andrew Milsten and pediatrician Dr. Shahab Malik.

Baltimore ranks No.4 among the nation's most unhealthy cities for men, according to Men's Health magazine. Among the factors in the ranking were the city's high rates of sexually transmitted diseases (No. 1 in the nation) and erectile dysfunction (No. 2). Boston was rated the healthiest city for men. To figure a city's score, the magazine used an average of health, environment and fitness scores based on 28 relevant statistics. Memphis and Nashville were moved out of the bottom five because they lacked a score for fitness.

WASHINGTON -- As the public affairs director of a nonprofit health institution, I spend much of my time reading news stories about medical advances. But I must say to my friends in the news media and my colleagues in public relations that if I see or hear the phrase "silent epidemic" one more time, I am just going to (deleted). What is a "silent epidemic"? Is it an outbreak of bone disease or upsurge (or downturn) of erectile dysfunction? What is not a "silent epidemic" -- thousands of people writhing and screaming from bubonic plague, or, perhaps, the pain of something as frequent and joyful as childbirth?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A few weeks before coming here, Winston Cup rookie driver Jeff Fuller stood beside his vibrant blue-and-white race car. It was the car that was attracting the attention, not the driver. Not then, anyway. The car, the No. 27 Pontiac, had its sponsor's name sprawled across its hood. V-I-A-G-R-A. The jokes inevitably came. "Jeff, if you should happen to win a race, do you get out of your car in Victory Lane and say, `I owe it all to Viagra?' " Fuller didn't even crack a smile.

Just one year after the anti- impotence drug Viagra burst onto pharmacy shelves, the baby blue pill that roared is being sold in 50 countries worldwide, ranging from Thailand to Chile to South Africa.How popular has it been? Before gaining government approval in Thailand, Viagra sold on the black market for about $30 per pill -- about triple the U.S. retail price. And before the Canadian government approved the drug, men there flocked across the border to fill prescriptions -- leading some to dub the honeymoon capital of the world "Viagra Falls."

BOSTON -- The woman is sitting at the beauty parlor scanning the pages of Esquire when he pops up. Bob Dole, World War II veteran, presidential candidate, Senate leader and svelte spokesman on impotence -- no, Erectile Dysfunction -- is staring out at her. Again.Surrounding his photo is the word "Courage." Beside him is the admonition that other men go see their doctor. In the lower right hand corner is a small logo for Pfizer, maker of Viagra.This woman is a certified believer in male openness and sharing and touching and feeling.