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Higher doses of Viagra may impair the ability to smell, which is possibly related to an increase in nasal congestion, German researchers say.
A team led by Dr V. Gudziol, of the University of Dresden Medical School, studied 20 healthy, young male volunteers who received Viagra, at 50mg or 100mg doses, or inactive "placebos" and were then exposed to an odour-dispensing device.
The volunteers' odour detection threshold, odour discrimination and odour identification ability were tested to find why the 100mg dose caused a drop in smelling or "olfactory" ability compared with the placebo. The 50mg dose, by contrast, had no effect.
"In our subjects, the most likely reason for impaired olfactory function was nasal congestion" brought on by Viagra, the authors write in the Journal of Urology. They note that, while it was not evaluated in this study, previous reports had linked Viagra with a drop in nasal airflow.
- REUTERS
