Expert reveals common takeaway item that's most likely to trigger bedroom problems for men

There's a loved takeaway item that could be causing more harm than good, in the bedroom of all places.

Strap in lads, this isn't news you'll want to hear, especially on a Bank Holiday Monday - so hold off on your takeaway order for now.

A study from the Urologists at the University of South China has discovered that a type of food may bring on a number of health issues if you're not careful.

One type of food is more likely to give you erectile dysfunction, according to a new study. (Getty Stock Photo)

This study appears in Translational Andrology and Urology, where researchers assessed the role of diet and smoking habits in about 400 men who both had and didn't have Erectile Dysfunction.

As part of the study, participants completed a questionnaire that asked about their diets, lifestyle and their ED status, while other tests looked at their experience with ED affecting relationships, health and mental health.

In the end, results showed that eating this one type of food more than three times a week resulted in the individual being at a higher risk of having erectile dysfunction, by 2.58 times.

These results were to do with non-smokers, while there was no associated risk with smokers that ate this type of food, which is likely because smoking is already a risk factor for ED.

The type of food that brings this on is anything spicy, so it might be time to cut down on those chicken tikka masalas.

Curries could contribute to erectile dysfunction. (Getty Stock Photo)

The researchers stated: "Our study suggests that frequent spicy food consumption may increase the risk of erectile dysfunction, especially among non-smokers.

"The higher their spicy frequency of eating, the higher the severity of erectile dysfunction. Diets of men with ED may need to be adjusted to consider the impact of spicy food."

Approximately half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 are thought to have some degree of erectile dysfunction, with other risk factors being things such as advancing age, smoking, nerve damage, and conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

The exact amount of spicy food that would have a detrimental effect is not clear, but results showed that the more spicy food eaten, the lower the levels of testosterone.

In fact, those eating spicy food every day had testosterone levels 12% lower than non-eaters.

Results also showed a correlation between the amount of spicy food eaten and the risk of marital challenges, based on what participants put on their questionnaires.

According to the study, the more spicy food you have, the more likely you are to argue with loved ones. (Getty Stock Photo)

Researchers theorised that men that eat hot food regularly are more irritable, explaining: "They frequently tend to form an irritable character, which is prone to quarrels and disharmonious family relations."

Professor Raj Persad, a consultant urologist at Bristol Urology, commented on the findings, saying: "This is an interesting observational study. There are all sorts of possible explanations for these observations. One may be that those who eat more spicy food may have more of a tendency to diabetes or high BMI - both of which could be implicated in erectile dysfunction.

"The study may illustrate one important principle in the management of erectile dysfunction. Not only should doctors look to use medication to enhance erectile functioning, they should also look to exclude toxic influences such as cigarettes smoking, and perhaps now high levels of spicy toxins in the circulation," he concluded.