News
15 Apr, 2006
Viagra and the Mountains
Researchers Say the Drug May Help Performance at High Altitude, Help Soldiers Fight in Afghanistan
As the commercials continually remind us: Viagra is all about performance.
Now it turns out, that's not just referring to in the bedroom.
Researchers say the drug, approved for erectile dysfunction, could
eventually help some athletes train at high altitudes and soldiers
fight in the mountains of Afghanistan.
In a study at Stanford University, some volunteers riding stationary
bicycles and breathing through masks to simulate the low oxygen
conditions found at 12,700 feet, improved their times for six
kilometers by an average of 39 percent after taking Viagra.
The drug, which became an instant blockbuster for Pfizer in 1998, works
by causing blood vessels to relax - not only in the penis but in the
lungs.
Last year, the company won approval for the drug, also known as
sildenafil, to treat a medical condition called pulmonary hypertension,
or high fluid pressure in the lungs. Pulmonary hypertension is also one
of the effects of exercising in oxygen-poor environments such as high
altitudes.
"It provides a pretty clear advantage to some people," said Annie
Friedlander, the senior author of the study, which appears in the
Journal of Applied Physiology.
It does not help everyone. Only four of the 10 riders saw their times
improve - 10 minutes, 48 seconds with Viagra compared to 15 minutes
when they took a placebo.
Researchers are not certain why only some volunteers responded to the
drug, but they noticed that they were the ones whose times had suffered
the most at high altitudes. Viagra, it seems, allowed them to make up
the performance they had lost.
None of the riders saw any improvement from the drug at sea level, and none reported an erection during the trials.
The next step: The U.S. military plans to test Viagra, at high altitude, on about a dozen soldiers later this summer.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2111548
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