SEX aid pill Viagra helps stiffen your skeleton, a study suggests.
The little blue tablet was found to increase production of vital bone cells — so could one day prevent back pain and fractures in old age.
Researchers found sildenafil, which is branded as Viagra, helped human stem cells transform into osteoblasts, the bone-building cells.
These are vital as the human skeleton regenerates and is completely replaced roughly once every ten years.
As we age, we lose more bone than we build, increasing the risk of breaks or osteoporosis, which makes bones brittle and painful.
The Peking University team’s follow-up tests on mice also suggested sildenafil would prevent bone loss.
Dr Menglong Hu and Dr Likun Wu said: “Our findings offer new insights into the physiological effects of the medicine.
“Sildenafil enhanced stem cell osteogenic differentiation and inhibited bone loss — it may usefully treat osteoporosis.”
More than three million Britons suffer osteoporosis. Other treatments exist but the researchers said it would be handy to have more cheap and readily available drugs.
They said: “Any new drug must be evaluated. This is time-consuming, expensive and risky. But sildenafil is approved and safe.”
Viagra was invented as a heart drug in the 1980s before it was found to help with erectile dysfunction.
Studies have since suggested it might also reduce dementia risk.
