If you're feeling all the symptoms of low T but your doctor won't prescribe testosterone, you need to check this out.
A lot of younger men aged 20 to 44 aren't feeling so good. It's hard for them to build muscle and easy for them to gain fat. Their sex drive is low, they feel fatigued, and their moods oscillate between irritable and depressed. All classic symptoms of low T.
Here's the first problem: If these younger guys go to the doctor and get their testosterone levels tested, they may not be prescribed testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Why? Because their serum testosterone levels didn't fall below 300 ng/dL. Since the 1980s, that's been the cutoff number.
That leads us to the second problem: The 300 ng/dL cutoff for testosterone deficiency was developed from population studies that included significant numbers of older men. This threshold isn't appropriate for younger men who have higher normative T levels. Their testosterone levels may indeed be low... for their age.
Luckily, a 2022 study challenged the 300 ng/dL threshold by applying some common sense.
The Study
The study looked at nearly 1500 men to reassess the commonly used 300 ng/dL cutoff for defining testosterone deficiency in men aged 20-44 years. Here's what they found:
- The men's testosterone levels ranged between 236 and 716 ng/dL, but only a small percentage were at those extreme ends. The median was 409 ng/dL.
- Overweight men had the lowest T levels.
- Black men had higher average T levels than whites or Hispanics.
- Age ranges looked like this:
- 20-24 years old: 409-558 ng/dL
- 25-29 years old: 413-575 ng/dL
- 30-34 years old: 359-498 ng/dL
- 35-39 years old: 352-478 ng/dL
- 40-44 years old: 350-473 ng/dL
- The researchers concluded that the 300 ng/dL threshold is too low for younger men.
What That Means to You
If you fall between the ages of 20 and 44, and you're experiencing all the signs of low T, make sure your doctor knows about these new findings. For example, a 29-year-old man sitting at 395 ng/dL would be denied TRT because he didn't fall below 300. But according to this study, that's low T for his age range.
If your doctor won't play along, or you're not ready for the needle, consider taking a natural testosterone booster like Longjack, which also goes by Eurycoma or Tongkat Ali. Researchers call it a safe and promising therapeutic option for men with low T. Its effects are strong enough to support its use as an alternative to doctor-prescribed TRT.
Longjack boosts T in three main ways: synthesizing testosterone by blocking its aromatization into estrogen, and stimulating testosterone production in testicle Leydig cells. It also lowers SHBG production, freeing up natural testosterone. (SHBG "kidnaps" testosterone, making it inactive.)
Just be sure to use the patented LJ100 variety. You also need to use a high dosage formulated with Labrasol, a delivery technology borrowed from the pharmaceutical industry that increases bioavailability. Omega-Man High Absorption Longjack (Buy at Amazon) contains the effective dosage (300 mg) of LJ100 and uses Labrasol. Take one softgel daily.
Longjack doesn't shrink the testicles or enlarge the prostate. And as a nice bonus, it appears to be a legit aphrodisiac.
Reference
- Zhu, Alex, et al. "What Is a Normal Testosterone Level for Young Men? Rethinking the 300 ng/dL Cutoff for Testosterone Deficiency in Men 20-44 Years Old." The Journal of Urology, vol. 208, no. 6, Dec. 2022.