It is not recommended to treat normal aging with testosterone therapy. If you don't have a medical condition that contributes to a decrease in testosterone. If you don't have any medical conditions that contribute to lower testosterone levels, your doctor may recommend natural ways to increase testosterone, such as losing weight and increasing muscle mass through resistance exercise. Testosterone levels naturally decrease as you age. While testosterone therapy may be an option, it also has disadvantages.
Some older people who receive testosterone therapy may be at greater heart risk. Instead, you may be interested in natural testosterone boosters. Many over-the-counter (OTC) products make claims, but there's limited research to back them up. The substantial increase in men's life expectancy has increasingly focused attention on quality of life problems associated with reproductive aging.
Serum levels of total and free testosterone in men, after peaking in the second and third decades of life, gradually decline with age. The trajectory of age-related decline is affected by comorbidities, adiposity, medications and genetic factors. Testosterone treatment in older men with low testosterone levels improves general sexual activity, sexual desire, and erectile function; improves areal and volumetric bone density, as well as estimated bone strength in the spine and hips; corrects unexplained anemia caused by aging; increases skeletal muscle mass, strength, and power, self-reported mobility, and some measures of physical function; and modestly improves depressive symptoms. The long-term effects of testosterone on major cardiovascular events and the risk of prostate cancer remain unclear. The Endocrine Society recommends not giving testosterone therapy to all older men with low testosterone levels, but suggests considering treatment on an individual basis in men who have consistently low testosterone levels and symptoms or conditions that suggest a testosterone deficiency.
The researchers randomly assigned 237 men between 60 and 80 years old with low testosterone levels to take a placebo or testosterone supplement twice a day for six months. You can also include foods rich in zinc (oysters, beef, oats), magnesium (nuts, seeds, spinach, beans) and vitamin D (fatty fish, fortified milk), which naturally increase testosterone. Physiologically, only about 2% of total testosterone circulates in free form, while the remaining 98% is closely bound to globulin or albumin, which binds to sex hormones; however, the binding to albumin is not very strong and most of that fraction of testosterone is finally bioavailable, which can then be measured and indicated as a fraction of bioavailable testosterone. On the contrary, resistance exercise, such as riding a bike for hours or running marathons, can actually lower the level of testosterone.
That's why he takes special care when talking to his patients about testosterone supplements and their harmful side effects. Aging 10 years increases your chances of having low testosterone levels by 36%, but a 4-inch increase in waist size can increase your chances by up to by 75%. Research has shown that testosterone levels decrease as men age, causing an increase in body fat, loss of muscle mass, decreased bone density, and changes in mobility and cognitive function. More research is needed to determine the balance between these potential benefits and risks, as well as the precise clinical utility of testosterone treatment.
Research has found that excessive drinking over a long period of time can cause the body to produce less testosterone. In general, due to the current lack of long-term safety studies on testosterone therapy, testosterone replacement therapy in older men should be used with caution. Therefore, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels should be closely monitored in older men receiving testosterone replacement therapy. The results of these studies indicate that testosterone treatment in older men with low testosterone levels may offer some benefits. In some older men, serum testosterone levels decrease to such an extent that they are classified as hypogonadal.
The men in the experimental group applied a testosterone gel daily (AndroGel) for 12 months; the placebo group received a placebo gel (without testosterone). The inconsistency in the clinical trial literature, which is limited by a small number of publications and a sample size that is not powerful enough to assess prostate cancer risks in older men receiving testosterone replacement therapy, indicates that only very large clinical trials involving several thousand patients/years of treatment can provide an answer.
