Association between composite dietary antioxidant index and erectile dysfunction among American adults: a cross-sectional study

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is closely related to oxidative stress, and antioxidant is a treatment and prevention method for erectile dysfunction. The Compound Dietary Antioxidant Index (CDAI) represents the overall dietary antioxidant intake of the human body. However, the link between CDAI and ED is unclear. The objective of this research was to examine the linkage between CDAI and ED. The research utilized information collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning the years 2001 to 2004. To assess the association between CDAI and ED, the analysis employed weighted multivariate logistic regression along with weighted restricted cubic splines (RCS). Additionally, subgroup interaction analysis was conducted to confirm the findings. In this investigation, 3184 adults from the U.S., all above the age of 20, were part of the study cohort, with 863 of them identified as having ED. Adjustments for potential confounding variables revealed that the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of CDAI associating with ED was 0.95 (0.92–0.99; P = 0.01). Besides, compared to the lowest tertile, the highest tertile of CDAI was associated with a lower risk of ED (0.63 [0.46–0.88]; P = 0.01). The application of weighted restricted cubic splines (RCS) analysis delineated a nonlinear inverse relationship between CDAI levels and the probability of ED. Subgroup analysis further demonstrated that the association between CDAI and ED remained consistent across subgroups. This cross-sectional analysis revealed a significant correlation, indicating that elevated levels of CDAI are closely linked with a lower likelihood of ED.