Young Men and Declining T Levels
Young males have 30% less testosterone than they did in the recent past. Why, and how can they fix it?
A recent paper documented the rapidly declining levels of testosterone in young men. Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), scientist Sodum Lokeshwar extracted the total testosterone (TT) blood levels of thousands of American men ages 15 to 39 from 1999 to 2016.
Back in 1999, the average TT level of young men was close to 600 nanograms per deciliter, which is right in the sweet spot for most men. However, when Lokeshwar looked at 2016 levels, he found that the average TT levels had dropped to approximately 400 nanograms per deciliter, about a 30 percent decrease.
Lokeshwar looked at the numbers again, this time accounting for confounders like unhealthy body mass index, chronic diseases, smoking, alcohol intake, and exercise. None of that affected his initial findings.
The testosterone levels of young men had, in a very short time, plummeted… and that was over eight years ago. What are their TT levels like today?
What's Causing This Epidemic?
The authors weren't sure. The scientists offered up a couple of guesses, the first of which was an abundance of phytoestrogens in young men's diets. That's definitely a possibility. Soybeans are a top-five U.S. crop, and soy is notorious for containing estrogen-like phytochemicals. Even if you're not drinking soy milk, soy is found in numerous foods today.
Lokeshwar also considered the possibility that the growing popularity of marijuana might have something to do with this epidemic. The drug can indeed lower testosterone and elevate estrogen.
Some More Plausible Explanations
While the researchers pointed their finger at phytoestrogens, xenoestrogens are a more likely cause. These chemicals mimic estrogen and accumulate in more and more tissues every year. Examples include synthetic chemicals like DES and DDT and industrial chemicals like phthalates.
Xenoestrogens are found in foods, adhesives, fire retardants, detergents, drinking water, perfumes, waxes, household cleaning products, lubricants… virtually everywhere.
Although we don't know the exact scope of damage caused by these chemicals, we have seen widespread reports of biological anomalies in animals and humans in the last couple of decades (mutations, indeterminate sex organs, lessened fertility, etc.).
There's plenty of evidence that these chemicals are in all of us. Researchers found that 75% of the samples taken from 400 adults contained significant levels of industrial xenoestrogens, whereas 98.3 percent of samples contained DHT and its derivatives. To make matters even more troubling, different xenoestrogens appear to act synergistically so that their effects are magnified.
As far as marijuana goes, the testosterone-lowering and estrogen-elevating effects are usually marginal and temporary, more likely to plague men who spend the bulk of their days peering through a smoky haze or chewing THC gummies like they were Starburst candies.
But other things could be to blame, too. Let's look again at NHANES and CDC statistics. The most recent findings show that approximately 78% of men are either overweight, obese, or morbidly obese – an increase of almost 50% from 1999.
There's a connection between body fat and testosterone. Increasing obesity in males leads to increased aromatase levels, which irreversibly converts testosterone to estradiol, resulting in lower TT and elevated estrogen levels.
And then there's the possibility that this low TT has to do with psychology. There's a strong link between depression and low testosterone and these are somewhat depressing times for a lot of young men. There's often a lack of purpose, a lack of achievement, and a lack of winning. No wonder their testicles shut down.
Low-Testosterone Fixes
It's difficult to figure out how to fix a problem if you don't know the exact cause, but here are some suggestions:
- Keep Your BMI Below 25: BMI is a poor measurement of body fat for most T Nation fans because having an appreciable amount of muscle screws up the BMI, giving a false "fatty" reading. However, you get the point: Stay lean.
- Take Aromatase Blockers: While there are several powerful prescription aromatases on the market, good luck finding a doctor open-minded enough to give you one. Besides, proper dosing of these powerful drugs is difficult. An alternative is to use a natural aromatase blocker like resveratrol, found in high amounts in Rez-V (Buy at Amazon).
- Testosterone Replacement: This is the heavy artillery. TRT, doesn't care if you're fat or depressed. It'll crowbar your testosterone levels up.
- Take a Testosterone Booster: Pro-testosterone supplements won't raise testosterone levels to supra-physiological levels (beyond normal blood values) like testosterone replacement, but certain ones do wonders in men who are in the low to middle ranges. The most effective one on the market is the LJ100 version of Longjack, found in the Omega-Man (Buy at Amazon) supplement.
- Fight Depression: Several clinical trials show that men with below-average T levels are more prone to depression. However, that might be a "chicken and egg" thing – did the low T cause the depression, or did depression cause low T? It's a tricky issue. However, certain supplements, like micellar curcumin and fish oil can help alleviate depressive symptoms.
- Lift Weights: As muscle mass increases, so, generally, does testosterone. Of course, part of that may also have to do with the depression-fighting properties of exercise in general.
Reverse the Course
Having low testosterone levels has profound implications for the health of these men. Low T is implicated in heart disease, osteoporosis, and increased deaths from all-cause mortality. Let's hope this trend doesn't continue.
References
- Lokeshwar SD et al. "Decline in Serum Testosterone Among Adolescent and Young Adult Men in the USA." Eur Urol Focus. 2021 Jul;7(4):886-889. PubMed: 32081788.
- Le M et al. "Current Practices of Measuring and Reference Range Reporting of Free and Total Testosterone in the United States." J Urol. 2016 May;195(5):1556-1561. PubMed: 26707506.
