This past week, I came across several testosterone-related research papers, just published this past month. Each study looked at different aspects of how testosterone affects our health, so rather than writing separate articles for each, I thought I'd include them all in a single article with a brief summary. This way, I suspect almost everyone who reads it will find something relevant.



In no particular order, here are five new findings on how testosterone impacts our health.



Low-Carbohydrate Diet, Testosterone and Erectile Function in Men



Becoming overweight or obese is the most effective way to squash a man's libido and sabotage testosterone production. And when you lower testosterone, you tend to make him look and think more feminine. With the extreme prevalence of overweight and obesity in American culture, it's little wonder that we're seeing such high rates of male sexual dysfunction, depression, and apathy.



In this study, 18 men were divided into two groups. Six men were put in a control group, and 12 were assigned a low-carbohydrate diet.da Silva Schmitt, C., da Costa, C.M., Souto, J.C.S. et al. The effects of a low carbohydrate diet on erectile function and serum testosterone levels in hypogonadal men with metabolic syndrome: a randomized clinical trial. BMC Endocr Disord 23, 30 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12902-023-01278-6



For those on the low-carbohydrate diet:




The percentage of men with low testosterone symptoms decreased from 78.6% to 21.4%



All men before the study had testosterone levels less than 300 ng/dL, and after the diet, half had testosterone levels greater than 300 ng/dL, the cutoff point for medically diagnosed hypogonadism



Systolic blood pressure decreased




These results add to the plethora of research that shows low-carbohydrate and/or high-protein diets improve body composition, even without the need to count calories, and that improving men's body composition improves testosterone production and libido. Here are a couple of articles you might like to read:




Low-Carb vs Low-Fat vs High-Protein: Which diet is best?



Visceral Fat: How to Lower Belly Fat with Diet, Lifestyle, and Supplements




Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Testosterone and Body Fat in Men



Dietary choices can cause the same kind of liver disease as alcoholism does. It's called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and is often found in those with type II diabetes or metabolic syndrome. As you should expect, excessive dietary carbohydrate consumption is the primary cause. A loss of muscle mass from a sedentary lifestyle or lack of strength training exacerbates the problem because as you lose muscle, you lose the capacity to properly store carbohydrates.



The prevalence of low testosterone and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was assessed in just over 1000 men with type II diabetes.Yang, L.J., Zhou, J.Z., Zheng, Y.F. et al. Association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with total testosterone in non-overweight/obese men with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Endocrinol Invest (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-023-02006-6 They found that the men with higher testosterone levels were less likely to have developed NAFLD and that this relationship was stronger in normal-weight men with type II diabetes than in overweight or obese men.



Although treating a patient with exogenous testosterone might improve liver health,Aksam A. Yassin, Mustafa Alwani, Riadh Talib, Yousef Almehmadi, Joanne E. Nettleship, Khalid Alrumaihi, Bassam Albaba, Daniel M. Kelly & Farid Saad (2020) Long-term testosterone therapy improves liver parameters and steatosis in hypogonadal men: a prospective controlled registry study, The Aging Male, 23:5, 1553-1563, DOI: 10.1080/13685538.2020.1867094 the testosterone therapy doesn't deal with the cause of the fatty liver or type II diabetes. The men's diet and lack of a consistent strength training program should be the first line of therapy,