Studies Show Testosterone Offers Little Benefits To Aging Men (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In decades of research, scientists have found only one medical condition that's clearly and effectively treated with testosterone supplements: pathological hypogonadism -- that's low testosterone levels due to disease of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, or testes. In a series of placebo-controlled, randomized trials, researchers tracked the effect of testosterone on the cognition, bone health, anemia, and cardiovascular health of 788 men for a year. All the men were aged 65 or older and had low testosterone levels that couldn't be explained by anything other than age. The results, reported Tuesday in JAMA and JAMA Internal Medicine, offer mixed results. Among the 493 in the trial who also had age-related memory declines, testosterone didn't have any effect on memory or cognitive abilities. In the study, 247 got testosterone and 246 got a placebo. But for cardiovascular health, there was an effect -- a bad one. Over the year, plaque buildup in the coronary artery -- which is a risk factor for heart disease -- increased in 73 men on testosterone compared with 65 on placebo. However, other studies have found mixed results on this. Longer, bigger trials will be needed to sort out the risks. In the anemia study, testosterone did seem to improve iron levels in men with mild anemia. The bone health study also showed that testosterone could improve bone density. However, it's unclear if those benefits outweigh the possible cardiovascular risks. And other drugs may be more effective at treating anemia and improving bone mass than testosterone.

Comments

How about muscles and virility?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know - the reasons people actually have for taking testosterone. Nobody takes testosterone for anemia or 'bone health'. It is always about muscle & sex.

Re:How about muscles and virility?

[Cytotoxic]

This was exactly my first impression.

And these are not easily dismissed reasons. Muscle mass is important as you move into your 70's and 80's for more than vanity.

I wish our obsession with sports didn't taint this area so much. So there's a couple of thousand people who would like to take steroids and hormones to enhance their chances in athletics at the top level.... big deal. There are tens of million of people who would love to have a safe and effective way to convert a couple of pounds of fat into muscle and improve the resiliency of their tendons and ligaments.

When I was in grad school back around 1990 there was a study on genetically obese rabbits that showed that doses of angesterone had a dramatic effect on the male rabbits. They didn't lose weight, but they converted fat to muscle without exercise. And they had a reduction in heart and coronary disease. And they had an increase in libido. All with small doses of angesterone.

Now, I don't know where that led. But how many people would line up for a pill or shot that would convert fat to muscle without exercise, make your heart healthier and increase your sex drive? But it gets squashed as an area of medicine because of fears of doping in sports.

Well duh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Testosterone is a cost you have to pay for the survival of the species, it has only bad effects on the long term,but a short term gain in building bigger, stronger, faster, more aggressive bodies at an early stage. The hormones for females help combat the fact they have to survive with a foreign body compromising their immune system.

Why do you think women live longer and healthier than men? Testosterone only builds for the young survival. Because men have to win fights or they don't get to pass on their genes, whereas women have to survive childbirth or they don't get to pass on their genes, and that childbirth is a long term issue, whereas males winning chances to be top dog drop dramatically after a few years, so optimising for long life is irrelevant.

Testosterone and Prostate Cancer

[lobiusmoop]

Interesting recent news article about treating prostate cancer by 'cycling' testosterone levels