Groundbreaking study shows taking Viagra could lower risk of Alzheimer’s by 69%

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia which impacts the memory, thinking and behaviour of an individual.

Symptoms could sometimes grow severe enough to get in the way of daily tasks like even holding a conversation.

Now scientists reckon that Viagra has the unexpected health benefit of reducing the risk of the disease by over two-thirds.

The discovery comes after years of searching for an effective treatment for the illness which impacts millions over the world.

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic used a large gene-mapping network to see if any of the 1,600 FDA approved drugs worked.

They scored the drugs on their effectiveness and were surprised to find that Viagra "shot up" to the top of the leaderboard.

Dr Feixiong Cheng of the Cleveland Clinic told the New York Post: "Sildenafil [also known as Viagra] has been shown to significantly improve cognition and memory in preclinical models, presented as the best drug candidate."

Researchers then analysed a medical database involving over 7 million people over a period of 6 years and found people using Sildenafil were 69% less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those not using the drug.

However, more research still needs to be done.

On the future of Viagra, Dr Cheng said: "Because our findings only establish an association between sildenafil use and reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease, we are now planning a mechanistic trial and a phase two randomised clinical trial to test causality and confirm Sildenafil's clinical benefits for Alzheimer's patients."

It might also surprise a lot of people to know that Viagra can be used for other non-sex related things.

Viagra was first designed to treat heart disease but soon it was discovered it could quickly increase blood flow for the penis, causing erections.

Scientific research has further shown that it can be useful in treating Pulmonary hypertension (when high blood pressure affects the arteries of the lungs) as well as Raynaud's phenomenon – where your blood circulation is affected by coldness or stress.

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