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testosterone in men

6 Best Foods to Help Increase Low Testosterone

boost low testosterone

Having adequate levels of testosterone is a vital factor in determining your quality of life. For beginners, testosterone is a male sex hormone found in men and women found to be important for energy, fertility, healthy sexual functions, and building muscle. Testosterone is one of the main causes of physical changes for boys during puberty, like promoting deeper voice and hair growth. Generally, a person’s testosterone level will steadily decline as you age, depending on medical conditions, lifestyle choices, and other factors. A decreasing T level can result in a lot of changes in your body, including a lower sex drive.

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5 Signs Your Testosterone is Too Low

low testosterone


Like all hormones, testosterone plays an important role in regulating a host of different processes in the body. There is no question maintaining optimal levels of testosterone is ideal to a healthy lifestyle. Testosterone is an essential hormone responsible for male development, masculine characteristics, building muscle, fueling sex drive, and receptors exists throughout the body. This hormone is primarily produced in the male testicles and womens’ adrenal glands. As we age, testosterone production begins to slow down. If you have low levels of testosterone, the consequences can greatly affect your health.

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5 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone

testosterone

 

When you see the term “testosterone,” we typically associate it with masculinity and men. However, women generate testosterone too. So, what exactly is testosterone? Testosterone is a steroid hormone that plays a significant role in the male sperm production and produced in women’s ovaries in much smaller amounts. Rising levels of testosterone stimulates physical and chemical changes for boys and men such as increased muscle, pubic hair growth, deeper lengthened vocal chords, and increased sexual desire.


Testosterone production significantly spikes during puberty and starts to drop after age 30. Having optimal levels of the steroid hormone is essential from puberty throughout adulthood for general health, aids in preventing certain chronic diseases, and increases energy levels. As our levels of testosterone naturally decrease over time, rest assured there are ways to naturally boost it back up.

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Young Men, Waist, Testosterone and Erectile Function: Low-T is not only an old man's issue

Most people, including traditional doctors, think that testosterone deficiency is an old man’s issue. This is very wrong! Actually, an excess amount of body fat can cause a man’s testosterone levels drop to as much as 10 years of aging.[1]
 
Several studies have demonstrated that too much body fat is associated with reduced testosterone levels independent of aging.[2-4]
 
Low levels of testosterone (both total and free testosterone) are a consistent feature among young men below 40 years of age with metabolic syndrome, the hallmark of which is an enlarged belly.[5]
 
Young men (20–39 years) with the lowest baseline total testosterone levels have the highest risk of developing cholesterol and blood fat abnormalities (dyslipidemia). [6] Compared to age-matched men with the highest baseline total testosterone levels of 663 ng/dL or higher, those with the lowest baseline total testosterone levels of 418 ng/dL or below had up to a twofold greater risk of developing an adverse lipid profile 5 years later, which in turn could contribute to future risk of cardiovascular disease.[6]
 
Thus, testosterone deficiency clearly has health implications also for younger men. But how much does your belly actually impact your testosterone levels… and erectile function?
 
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Effects of long-term testosterone treatment on weight loss and waist size in obese men - is TRT the next obesity treatment?

Testosterone, historically believed to be important only for male reproduction and sexuality, has over the past decades transformed from niche hormone to multi-system player.[1] A rapidly accumulating body of research is showing that testosterone is an important metabolic hormone with marked effects on energy metabolism and body composition.[2]
 
In USA, 36% of the adult population are obese (BMI >30), (affecting a similar proportion of men and women) [3], and obesity prevalence is escalating worldwide. According to the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report “Overcoming obesity: An initial economic analysis”, obesity is “one of the top three preventable social burdens (along with smoking and violence/war/terrorism) generated by human beings” imposing an estimated annual global direct economic burden amounting to 2 trillion USD.[4] 
 
Obesity treatments with comprehensive lifestyle modification and/or drugs are notorious for their poor long-term efficacy and inability to achieve long-term weight loss maintenance.[5-9] Even with continued lifestyle treatment, significant weight regain occurs.[7, 9, 10] And obesity drugs have side effects which limit their long-term and widespread use. [11, 12] Therefore, new interventions are urgently needed to combat this alarming preventable threat to society. 
 
Here I summarize a recent study that investigated the effects of long-term testosterone treatment – up to 8 years - on weight loss and waist size in 411 testosterone deficient men with obesity classes I-III.[13]
 
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Critical Update of the 2010 Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for Hypogonadism

In 2010, the Endocrine Society published a Clinical Practice Guideline “Testosterone Therapy in Adult Men With Androgen Deficiency Syndromes”, which addressed important issues regarding the diagnosis and treatment of male hypogonadism.[1] 
 
Since publication of this Guideline, several high-quality trials have been conducted, warranting an update of the 2010 recommendations in several areas, especially that of testosterone therapy in men with the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, sexual dysfunction, and frailty.
 
In addition, many of the previously stated contraindications to testosterone therapy – including severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) - have been reexamined in recent trials.
 
Here I summarize the results of a recent systematic analysis of the latest high-quality studies, which call for some important updates of the 2010 Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for Male Hypogonadism.[2] 
 
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Testosterone Treatment and Hormonophobia – Cardiovascular risk, the Media, and the Authorities

 
One of the most controversial and debated issue related to testosterone replacement therapy is its effects on cardiovascular risk and related clinical outcomes.
 
In this video presentation, Dr. Morgentaler clarifies misperceptions of testosterone replacement therapy and cardiovascular disease risk, which have created unwarranted concerns and distorted public discussion of testosterone replacement therapy as a medical treatment.
 
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Video Summary of Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Cardiovascular Risk

One of the most controversial and debated issue related to testosterone replacement therapy is its effects on cardiovascular risk and related clinical outcomes.
 
In the February 2015 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings a comprehensive medical review paper, written by Dr. Abraham Morgentaler and his coauthors of the Androgen Study Group – www.AndrogenStudyGroup.org - was published.[1]
 
The aim of the review was to analyze all available studies on testosterone replacement therapy and cardiovascular effects, and to clarify the grossly misleading conclusions from two recent studies that caused a tremendous media scare.
 
In this 8 minute video, Dr. Morgentaler presents the key results from this comprehensive analysis…
 
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Health Consequences of Subclinical Testosterone Deficiency - riskier than previously thought

 
In discussions about diagnosis and health consequences of hypogonadism, aka testosterone deficiency, the prime focus is given to testosterone levels and signs/symptoms.[1-3] However, emerging research has identified a less clinically evident gonadal dysfunction called “subclinical” hypogonadism (or “compensated” hypogonadism).[4, 5]
 
Subclinical hypogonadism is characterized by normal testosterone levels in the presence of elevated LH level. As testosterone levels are not markedly reduced in subclinical hypogonadism, intuitively one may think it does not confer negative health consequences.
 
However, a recent study by Corona et al., which specifically was conducted to investigate the potential health ramifications of subclinical hypogonadism, shows that it should not be neglected. Surprisingly, subclinical hypogonadism is associated with an almost 10-fold increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, which is comparable to that for overt hypogonadism! [6]
 
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Testosterone Therapy and Cardiovascular Risk - Advances and Controversies

One of the most debated issues related to testosterone therapy is its effects on cardiovascular risk and clinical events, like for example heart attack.
 
January 27th, 2015 a comprehensive medical review paper was published, addressing the controversial topic of testosterone therapy and cardiovascular risk.[65] It was written by the Androgen Study Group academicians and published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
 
Here I summarizes key conclusions from this milestone medical review.
 
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