The secret to a great sex life revealed: Two cups of coffee a day

Scientists may have solved this age old riddle

Drinking just two cups of coffee could boost your sex life by over 40 per cent (AFP/Getty Images)

Drinking just two cups of coffee a day could dramatically improve your sex life, a university study has concluded.

A study by the University of Texas has found that men who drank two cups a day where 42 per cent less likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction compared to men who didn't.

For an article for the American science journal PLOS ONE, scientists studied 4,000 men drinking caffeinated drinks including coffee, tea, fizzy and sports drinks and found the result was the same regardless of weight, age or blood pressure.

Scientists believe it could be because the caffeine triggers a chemical reaction that increases blood flow to the penis by relaxing muscles.

But two cups might be the limit as the researchers also found the result dipped slightly to 39 per cent for men drinking three a day.

It also appears to have no effect on men already suffering from diabetes.

Prof David Lopez, of the University of Texas, Houston, said: “Even though we saw a reduction in the prevalence of erectile dysfunction with men who were obese, overweight and hypertensive, that was not true of men with diabetes”, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Previous research has already suggested the caffeine can boost sex drive in women.

In a 2006 experiment on female rats by Southwestern University in Texas, scientists found drinking coffee stimulated the parts of the brain that signal sexual arousal. But this effect could possibly was only be seen in women who did not drink coffee regularly.

Scientists have long argued whether too much coffee is bad for you with some arguing drinking more than four cups a day is dangerous as it causes restlessness, tremors, irritability, insomnia and stomach pain.

But in March a separate study on 25,000 middle aged men and women suggested that drinking three to five cups a day could reduce the chances of heart disease or stroke.

The research showed that people who drank the least- and the most- coffee showed the most signs that their arteries were clogging up- which dramatically increases the likelihood of a heart attack.