The small blood vessels in the penis show signs of disease before the larger coronary arteries of the heart. Chinese researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong University showed that traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors also predicted erectile dysfunction (ED). They studied 222 patients with heart disease. Risk factors linked to erectile dysfunction included high blood pressure, chest pain, high (BMI), total cholesterol, age, smoking and the cholesterol-HDL ratio. Exercise, diabetes and alcohol consumption were not linked to ED in this study.