Claims by Australian researchers that the consumption of alcohol enhances male sexual performance are being received with some skepticism, the New York Daily News reported Jan. 26.

The study of 1,580 Australian men found up to 30 percent fewer reported erectile problems among drinkers than abstainers.

Experts continued to warn against the dangers of excessive drinking, however. “Most drinkers are in denial that they have a problem,” said Andrew McCullough, director of male sexual health, fertility and microsurgery at NYU Langone Medical Center. “This study had drinkers reporting that they had fewer problems than non-drinkers, but there was no partner corroboration.”

The study stated that results were consistent across several levels of alcohol consumption, with binge drinkers, weekend drinkers, high-risk drinkers and those who exceeded alcohol-intake guidelines showing lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who drank one day a week or less.

Jonathan Alpert, a New York-based psychotherapist, cautioned that “there’s a fine line between what might be therapeutic and calming, and what might be detrimental to performance,” adding that the consumption of alcohol “should not be used to calm anxieties around sex, because it is easy for a man to become reliant upon alcohol as a way to calm down.”

The research appears in the online edition of The Journal of Sexual Medicine.