The docs: Get an ED-ucation

Here’s some juicy news: Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, blueberries, cherries and blackberries can really keep your juices flowing, guys! It turns out that a diet rich in those tasty treats, as well as black currants and radishes, delivers a good dose of circulation-lovin’ phytochemicals called anthocyanins, flavanones and flavones.

A new study of 50,000 men from the University of East Anglia and Harvard University published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a higher total fruit intake was associated with a 14 percent reduction in the risk of erectile dysfunction. They also say that consuming a mix of flavonoid-rich foods is as good for maintaining healthy erectile function as briskly walking for up to five hours a week. But, add exercise to that phytochemical-rich diet, and you reduce the risk of ED by 21 percent. (Just think what doing our recommended 10,000 steps a day can do!) The benefits were strongest among guys under 70 -- or, we’d add, guys whose RealAge is under 70!

So get out that blender. A Berry Orange Smoothie combines 1 cup nonfat or low-fat vanilla soy milk; 1 cup frozen and/or fresh blueberries, blackberries and/or raspberries; 1 medium ripe banana; 1/2 cup orange juice with one ice cube or 1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate.

Add some Green Power to the mix with a blend of fresh or frozen berries and citrus; nonfat Greek yogurt; kale; unsweetened almond/soy milk and a little flaxseed. That’s a nutritional ED-ucation that’ll keep the juices flowin’.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 5:37 PM with the headline "The docs: Get an ED-ucation."