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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.
As someone on TRT I can't imagine coming off. If it helps older men as much as it has helped me with my lethargy and depression, there is no reason to deny them.
You know - the reasons people actually have for taking testosterone. Nobody takes testosterone for anemia or 'bone health'. It is always about muscle & sex.
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
What are you smoking? 73 against 65 IS a mixed result!
73/247 against 65/246 is 29% against 26%. An increased risk of 11% in a small sample is well within bounds of expected variance.
My trophy husband doesn't need any testosterone, I only married him for his fat wallet, and I fuck young guys I meet at the gym.
Considering that in age hairs on your head fall out anyway while all they do is grow like weed in other places where you definitely do NOT want them (ears, nose, ass), that's certainly a benefit!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
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.
Interesting recent news article about treating prostate cancer by 'cycling' testosterone levels
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
Old white guys have all the money.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
The studies were conducted by military doctors in a MASH unit, but it was more than just lining up field personnel to give them so-called malaria vaccine or STD protection (penis-sealin' as the privates continued testing their privates on the unsuspectin' infectin' whores)
The Rolling Stones were visiting, and one of the surgeons concocted this scheme just to get a private performance of Mick and the band in the MASH unit "to lift the morale" of the wounded.
The Stones were knocked unconscious and the testosterone shots were administered, with their consent and the patients being witnesses. The Stones were going to go public with these unofficial tests. Unfortunately Altamonte happened, and the rest is history. When they tried revealing the test results, it was drowned out by the media wildfire from Hells Angels at Altamonte.
You can make this shit up.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
All I can say is duh at the results of the study. Most doctors, who are not endocrinologists, don't understand that the the androgen cycle is a negative feedback loop. That means that if you are a heathy adult on TRT your body will compensate for the extra testosterone in your body by producing less testosterone in your gonads. Any endocrinologist worth their salt knows this. This is why you never take TRT if you are trying to have children, because TRT can make you sterile by halting testosterone production in the gonads. You need to take clomid instead of TRT if you want to get around this negative feedback cycle.
A long history of not working particularly well. And testosterone hacking is the grand-daddy of them all. You know all those steampunk-y horror stories about rich Victorian eccentrics who go mad because they implanted monkey testicles into themselves in a bid to achieve eternal youth? People actually did that.
There's a thin line... or rather let's say a fork in the road between pseudoscience and science. I think they both start in the same, non-scientific place. And that place is a kind of magical thinking. It's what happens after the initial inspiration that makes the difference between science and pseudoscience.
Testosterone is higher in men than women, an in particular higher in young men, and higher in men who achieve social dominance. It also rises after sexual intercourse. So by magical thinking testosterone must be the "manliness" hormone; it makes you young, vigorous, dominant and sexually potent.
There's nothing wrong with that as a starting point, but in the long history of testosterone hacking it hasn't worked out, except for gaining muscle mass in conjunction with resistance training. Sure if you treat men with a testosterone blocker they'll eventually lose interest in sex, men generally have less sex as they get older, and at the same time their testosterone levels decrease. So it's natural to jump to the conclusion of a chain of causality: worn out old glands put out less testosterone, and that causes a reduction in interest in sex. But if you actually test that hypothesis, it doesn't work out: individuals with least decline in testosterone levels actually have less sex than their normal counterparts. The normal decline isn't large enough to produce on its own any measurable effect in interest in sex. So if your interest in sex is dropping as you get older, look elsewhere for the cause.
This is the danger of calling testosterone "the male sex hormone", as if God had a punch list of features He wanted and implemented each feature with a single steroid compound that works in isolation from everything else. Yes, testosterone is involved in masculinization of adolescents, but it's not as simple as the more testosterone you are, the more male you are. The endocrine system is complex and dynamic, responding to internal and external changes -- including aging. Both men and women have and need testosterone and estrogen, in ways we don't fully understand yet.
If you want to get the most out of your life, eat a variety of real food in moderation, exercise, sleep, and in general alternate stress with rest. The ancient Greeks could have told you that, and in thousands of years we have not been able yet to improve on that as far as lifestyle advice is concerned. Go to your doctor if you're sick or injured, or even for a testosterone treatement if you have abnormally low testosterone for your age. But don't go to the doctor for a magic pill that will make you youthful, manly, sexy and dynamic. All that's up to you.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.