Boosting Female T
What happens when women start using testosterone replacement gel? Some good things and some bad things.
We know what anabolic steroids or actual testosterone does to a woman's body. When taken in moderate amounts, they help create women's figure champions. When taken in scary amounts, they help create women's bodybuilding champions. But what would happen if women took a really small amount of testosterone? Would it affect physical performance, strength, or body composition?
Surprisingly, some Swedish scientists tried to answer that question. They knew that a certain percentage of the female population was genetically inclined to produce more testosterone, but what interested them was that these naturally high-test women were 140 times more likely to be found among top-level female athletes.
With that observation in mind, the scientists wanted to find out whether these high testosterone levels contributed to their success in sport, and if so, to what degree. What they found has implications for not just female athletes, but women who are just interested in having a more aesthetically pleasing body.
What They Did
Forty-eight healthy, physically active women between the ages of 18 and 35 were randomized into 10 weeks of treatment with 10 mg. of testosterone cream daily or placebo.
During the 10 weeks, the scientists measured blood levels of testosterone, running time to exhaustion (on an inclined treadmill), cycling as fast as they could for 30 seconds (the Wingate test), vertical jumping ability, and leg extension torque.
What They Found
The women receiving the cream experienced blood levels of testosterone that were 4.8 times their non-treated state. While the cream didn't have any effect on their leg extension ability or their jumping ability, it did improve their treadmill endurance and their cycling ability.
They also increased their muscle mass by 2%. Even so, they didn't gain any weight, indicating that the additional muscle had simply displaced body fat.
Unfortunately, more than 70% of them experienced an increase in acne and facial and body hair.
How To Interpret This Info
The women in the study were given AndroFeme, a product typically given to women in Australia to treat menopausal symptoms and low sex drive. The recommended dosage for these women is 5 mg. a day, half of what the Swedish researchers used to create their superwomen.
Granted, the dosage used in the study was still small, at least when compared to what female physique competitors use, but the researchers were trying to replicate the relatively high blood levels of testosterone found naturally in certain female athletes.
However, even at that small dose, the women did see progress in speed and endurance. That likely occurred because the testosterone increased red blood cell count, which is often low in women in the first place because of menstruation. One wonders what the results would have been, strength and size-wise, if the women had concurrently participated in a structured resistance-training program.
Are the Side Effects of Testosterone Worth It?
Even if an American woman wanted to recreate the Swedish experiment to improve her athletic performance, she couldn't because AndroFeme isn't available in the United States. Neither is any female testosterone cream (although some are currently being considered and different types are available through compounding pharmacies).
However, several creams are available for American men, and their recommended daily doses could easily be tittered down for female use. For instance, the generally recommended dosage for men is to apply one tube of 1% testosterone cream (Testim) daily. Women could easily use the same product, only making the tube last for 10 days instead of one day (by applying ONLY three to four drops of gel per day).
This would give them a dosage of about 5 mg. of testosterone a day, which is equal to what's contained in the AndroFeme product and half of what the Swedish researchers used in their study.
But would this very small dose convey any positive benefits to women? For post-menopausal women, the answer is probably yes. For younger women, the answer is less certain, although the results would at least lean in the direction of the results found in the Swedish study: It would make it slightly easier for these women to lose fat and put on muscle, as well as increase their red blood cell count, giving them more endurance.
Doubling that dosage to the amount used in the study has its risks, like additional body hair and acne. Those side effects would go away upon cessation of the drug, but any deepening of the voice (however unlikely at these tiny doses) would be permanent. Less grim side effects include a stronger sex drive and more energy.
Still, given the high number of women in America who appear to be low in the "male" hormone, it's easy to understand how this makeshift method of testosterone replacement is something they might consider.
The Natural Route
Another alternative is to use Longjack, also known as Tongkat Ali or Eurycoma longifolia. In women, this herb works by lowering sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). It prevents the testosterone that women make naturally from being chemically bound up and made inaccessible to the body by SHBG.
Longjack is found in Biotest's Omega-Man (Buy at Amazon) supplement. Just don’t let the name throw you.
Reference
- Hirschberg, Linden, et al. "Effects of moderately increased testosterone concentration on physical performance in young women: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study." British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2019.