Beware - too much testosterone could kill you!

A new study found that men who live the longest are those who have medium testosterone levels. High or low testosterone levels are linked to reduced mortality. Testosterone is a key male sex hormone involved in maintaining sex drive, sperm production and bone health. Physicians have long known that low testosterone levels can signal health problems, but the new study found men may not fare better when levels of the hormone rise too high.

‘Older men who had testosterone in the middle range survived longer than their counterparts who had either low or high levels of the hormone,’ the study’s lead author, Bu Beng Yeap, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, of the University of Western Australia, based in Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia, said. ‘When the body metabolizes testosterone, it produces dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is tied to a lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease. Having the right amount of testosterone and higher levels of DHT might indicate these men are in better health overall, or it could help them maintain good health as they grow older,’ the researcher said.

The population-based cohort study analyzed the mortality rate in a group of 3,690 community-dwelling men between the ages of 70 to 89 in Perth, Western Australia. Participants’ testosterone and DHT levels were measured between 2001 and 2004. Researchers analyzed the group’s survival rate as of December 2010.

Researchers divided the men into four groups based on their testosterone levels. Men with the lowest testosterone levels had the highest cumulative mortality rate, followed by the men with the highest testosterone levels. Men with circulating testosterone levels in the 9.8 to 15.8 nmol/L range tended to live longer. ‘Sex hormones are an important predictor of mortality in older men, but we haven’t determined if treatments to change testosterone and DHT levels can alter these outcomes,’ Yeap said.

The research is set to be published in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

What we’ve learned about testosterone till now?

We don’t get enough testosterone

More than 25 percent of urban Indian males have low testosterone hormones due to unhealthy lifestyles. However, lack of awareness means that many patients go undiagnosed, doctors say. ’Male Hypogonadism’ affects 26.1 percent of the working population of Indian men and is caused by unhealthy lifestyle, including smoking, consuming alcohol and junk food, high stress levels etc. The hormone plays a key role in masculine growth and development during puberty.

According to doctors, symptoms include decreased libido, impaired erectile function, muscle weakness, fatigue and depression. ‘It is an established clinical condition in medicine and in India the numbers are rising drastically over the years. However, many patients with this disorder go undiagnosed,’ Ajit Saxena, senior consultant urologist and andrologist, Apollo Indraprastha Hospitals, told IANS. ‘There is a clear need to increase the awareness of hypogonadism with the rising evidence suggesting a rise in the prevalence of the disorder in working population of Indian men,’ he added. Sadly, not many general physicians are aware of this disorder.

Testosterone keeps depression at bay

Testosterone, the primary male sex hormone, also keeps depression at bay. Now scientists have figured out how. Nicole Carrier and Mohamed Kabbaj of the Florida State University have found that a specific pathway in the brain’s hippocampus, involved in memory formation and stress response regulation, plays a major role in mediating the testosterone’s effects. Carrier and Kabbaj performed multiple experiments in neutered adult male rats. The rats developed depressive behaviour that was reversed with testosterone replacement, the journal Biological Psychiatry reports. They also ‘identified a molecular pathway called MAPK/ERK2 in the hippocampus that plays a major role in mediating the protective effects of testosterone’, said Kabbaj, according to a Florida statement.

It could be used as a male contraceptive

A hormonal gel combo applied daily to the skin showed promise as a male contraceptive by reducing sperm production, say US scientists. About 89 percent of men using the new combo of skin gels enriched with testosterone and a new synthetic progestin called Nestorone, reported very low sperm counts.

‘This is the first time that testosterone and Nestorone have been applied to the skin together to deliver adequate amounts of hormones that suppress sperm production,’ said principal investigator Christine Wang, professor at the University of California’s Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute.

‘Men can use transdermal (skin) gels at home – unlike the usual injections and implants, which must be given in a health care provider’s office,’ added Wang, according to a California statement. Prior studies of male contraceptives that combined testosterone and progestin used progestin pills, implants or shots, according to Wang.

Weight loss boosts testosterone levels

A new study says that weight loss can help obese, middle-aged, pre-diabetic males boost low testosterone levels by almost 50 percent. ‘Doctors should first encourage overweight men with low testosterone levels to try to lose weight through diet and exercise before resorting to testosterone therapy to raise their hormone levels,’ said study co-author Frances Hayes, professor at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. The now completed US study involved nearly 900 men with prediabetes, with an average age of 54 years, also called impaired glucose tolerance, who had participated in the Diabetes Prevention Program. It showed that people at high risk of Type 2 diabetes could delay or avoid developing the disease through weight loss. Because overweight men are more likely to have low testosterone levels, Hayes and her colleagues studied the effect of weight loss on men’s testosterone levels. They excluded men from the study who had a known diagnosis of hypogonadism or were taking medications that could interfere with testosterone levels, according to a St Vincent’s statement.

It makes men better drivers!

Maybe all the old jokes that women can’t drive have a seed of truth. Driving and understanding directions maybe a male trait powered by testosterone. Male superiority over females in spatial navigation may just be a ‘side-effect’ of testosterone, according to an analytical study. Previous studies have shown that women who take testosterone see an improvement in their spatial navigation skills, says Justin Rhodes, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, who led the study. Some argue, for example, that males’ slight, but significant, superiority in spatial navigation over females is probably ‘adaptive’, meaning that during evolution, the trait gave males an advantage that led them to have more offspring than their peers, the journal Quarterly Review of Biology reports.

Testosterone shots could protect against heart attacks

Testosterone shots can not only overcome low libido in men but also protect them against heart attacks, says a US study. A five-shot course of the hormone boosted male sex drive as well as their fitness levels, mood and their ability to concentrate. They also reported weight loss. The incidence of low libido dropped from 64 percent to 10 percent after treatment. The study was conducted on men with medically deficient levels of testosterone, known as hypogonadism.

Experts believe the findings could be relevant to the far larger group of ageing men whose testosterone has simply dropped to low levels. Testosterone, the hormone produced by the testicles, is responsible for the development of male sexual characteristics as well as maintaining muscle bulk, keeping bones healthy, helping the body to produce enough red blood cells and improving mood.

Sunshine can boost your testosterone levels

Forget virility drugs and aphrodisiacs. All you need is some sunshine. According to a recent study vitamin D created in the human body by exposure to the sun’s rays are essential for a high sex drive. Vitamin D is often referred to as the sunshine vitamin because it can be synthesized by the human body.

Men wishing to acquire a higher sex drive can benefit by exposing their body to the sun’s rays, as a study by Austrian scientists has found sunshine increases level of male sex hormone testosterone. According to the study at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, men with high blood vitamin D levels have significantly higher testosterone levels than men with less vitamin D, the Daily Express reported. Ninety percent of the body’s vitamin D is produced by the action of sunlight on the skin, say researchers, adding that sufficiently high levels of the vitamin have a ‘positive influence’ on testosterone.

With inputs from agencies

Published : November 22, 2013 11:05 am

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