Problems with 16-bit DDR2-SDRAM connected to Nios

The actual problem is that, when i dont declare a 32 bit int variable to store the result of noofblockstoeras e*erasesize and use it as

flashutils_eraseflash(flashoffset,noofblockstoeras e*erasesize);

the flash erase is executed only till 2^16 locations, even when i try erasing a larger block, but this works when i explicitly declare a 32 bit int variable to store the multiplied value.

This may cause problems in my software application where i havent declared variables explicitly.