Ways to Naturally Boost Testosterone

Paul Turek, MD — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:00:28 +0000

Sunset or sunrise? You choose.

Honestly, it seems like testosterone is to blame for everything these days. The epidemic of low testosterone has been linked to economic recession, wars, bank failures and even global warming. Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating, but many men feel (or are told) that their testosterone levels are the root cause of much of the way they feel. Leaving aside causality and association, what can you do about it?

Testosterone and You

I am the first one to say that testosterone is important for a healthy, long life. Clearly, men with low levels, termed hypogonadism, do not live as long as men with normal testosterone levels. I understand too, what testosterone isn’t and can’t do.

So, I am entirely empathetic to patients who ask: “Doc, what can I do to naturally increase my testosterone levels?” Forget about expensive gels, creams, injections, pellets or patches of testosterone that have side effects. They want to know what they can do, on their own, to improve their testosterone balance. As a big fan of self-empowerment, I dedicate this post to these men.

Lifestyle Changes to Improve Testosterone Balance

Lose weight. Fat converts testosterone to female hormones called estrogens. Less fat means less circulating female hormone levels.
Exercise. Although it is true that while you exercise, testosterone levels may be lower, exercise stimulates muscle recovery and growth through increased testosterone at rest.
Don’t overtrain. Rest between exercise sessions allows testosterone to work its magic.
Get good sleep. Poor sleep habits stress the body as a whole and stress reduces testosterone levels. Perpetual jet lag is no place to be.
Eat smart and cut the alcohol. Eat healthy meals regularly; skipping is not allowed. Also cut down on alcohol as it tends to impair testosterone production and increase conversion to estrogens.

Dietary Supplements That Improve Testosterone Balance

Get zinc. Zinc is a co-factor for testoterone production. Oysters, peanuts, chicken, lamb and (how timely) pumpkin seeds are excellent source.
Get vitamin B. This vitamin is also a co-factor for making testosterone. Bananas, avocados, watermelon, eggs and raspberries are excellent sources.
Control cholesterol. Eat plenty of monounsaturated fats, as found in fish, yogurt, almonds, and olive oil.
Eat garlic. Some evidence suggests that allicin within garlic can help improve testosterone balance. Watch your breath, though.
Herbal remedies: Tongkat ali, Catuaba bark-Muira pauma, Mucuna pruriens, Tribulus, Yohimbine and Ginseng. You know my opinion on these so take at your own risk.

Medical Treatments that Improve Testosterone Balance

If all else fails, see a specialist, as there are excellent prescription medications that can boost your body’s testosterone production, which is not the same as testosterone replacement. Clomiphene citrate, tamoxifen and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are not anabolic steroids, but nor are they FDA approved in the U.S. for this purpose. But they are drugs that either convince the brain to send more gas (luteinizing hormone, LH) to the testicles to make more of your own testosterone, or directly provide the LH to stimulate testicles to make it. Unlike anabolic steroids, they encourage bioidentical (read: “your own”) testosterone production and do not impair fertility or shrink testicles.

You should try to optimize testosterone balance naturally, as these behaviors are generally healthy and good for a long and happy life.

Does Male Infertility Begin in the Womb?

Paul Turek, MD — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:59:19 +0000

This Da Vinci fetus is way past the critical window of exposure.

A relatively alarming study was published a couple of years ago that suggested that a pregnant woman’s behavior can determine the fertility of her unborn son. Sperm quality from 387 men was compared to beef consumption their mothers reported while pregnant with them. They found that the sons of “high beef consumers” (>7 beef meals/week) had sperm counts that were 24% lower than in men whose mothers ate less beef. Interestingly, sperm counts in the sons were not related to mother’s consumption of other meat or to the son’s consumption of meat. In essence, the author’s thought that estrogens in beef consumed by women may alter the testis development of their unborn sons and may adversely affect the son’s fertility. Similarly impressive decreases in semen quality have been described in the sons of women who smoked during pregnancy.

Sounds almost biblical, doesn’t it? I bring this up because of a point that I made in last week’s blog. In “The Curse of Women’s Urine,” I mentioned how xenoestrogens or environmental estrogens have been shown in animals to act at a very precise point in the developing male fetus and result in intersex conditions at birth or infertility as adults. Well, as the study of mothers’ beef intake reveals, the same issues may also exist in humans. As Aristotle once said: “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”

Time for a quick lesson in biology. When do testicles develop in humans? Believe it or not, when male fetus in just 4 weeks old, the location where the future testis will be is organized (the urogenital ridge). Two weeks later, the primitive germ cells (sperm precursor cells) migrate to the urogenital ridge and set up what is to later become the testis. About 1-2 weeks after that, “sex cords” develop in the primitive testis, setting up the architecture of the mature organ. So, by 8-12 weeks of pregnancy, the human testis is virtually a complete organ, holding within it all of the potential it will ever have.

So the “critical window” of exposure for the human testis, that period in which even a potentially small exposure could wreak significant developmental and long lasting havoc, is about the time when women actually just realize that they are pregnant. The time of morning sickness and painful breasts.