Testosterone, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease
April 12, 2011 by Dr. Marc Darrow, M.D.
Filed under Testosterone - Men
New research says Testosterone may have a protective role in the development of metabolic syndrome and subsequent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease in aging men.
Svartberg J. Epidemiology: testosterone and the metabolic syndrome Int J Impot Res. 2006 Jul 20.
From the study abstract:
Low levels of testosterone, hypogonadism, have several common features with the metabolic syndrome.
In a population-based health survey, testosterone levels were inversely associated with anthropometrical measurements, and the lowest levels of total and free testosterone were found in men with the most pronounced central obesity.
Total testosterone was inversely associated with systolic blood pressure, and men with hypertension had lower levels of both total and free testosterone.
Furthermore, men with diabetes had lower testosterone levels compared to men without a history of diabetes, and an inverse association between testosterone levels and glycosylated hemoglobin was found.
Thus, there are strong associations between low levels of testosterone and the different components of the metabolic syndrome.
In addition, an independent association between low testosterone levels and the metabolic syndrome itself has recently been presented in both cross-sectional and prospective population-based studies.
Thus, testosterone may have a protective role in the development of metabolic syndrome and subsequent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease in aging men. However, clinical trials are needed to confirm this assumption.
From Our Booklet: Age Management
TESTOSTERONE FOR MEN
The medicinal value of testicles have been documented in the Bible, the writings of the ancient Egyptians and from India. Indeed, nearly every ancient culture believed that the testicles held some form of masculine power.
The use of testosterone as a means of restoring vitality can be traced in the modern era to the work of famed medical researcher Charles Edouard Brown-Séquard (1817-1894). Brown-Séquard had been hailed as a medial pioneer for his ability to treat difficult and previously untreatable disorders of the nervous system. At the age of 72, when he noticed his declining vitality, he injected himself with the extracts of crushed testicles from dogs and guinea pigs and increased his physical strength and intellectual abilities and announced his results to his colleagues.
Brown-Séquard’s work sparked an influx of research and medical use of testicles, however, technology could not, at that time, substantiate his claims. Read more
