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Testosterone is Your Friend
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Chapter 6: General Benefits ______________________________________________________
Almost every single study regarding the general benefits of testosterone supplementation has concerned men. A very few concerned both men and women to some degree. The little research on women and androgens has been concerned mostly with excessive hormones. “Modern day” science is so backwards that the idea of giving testosterone to women is just not comprehensible yet. “(The) last few years in the androgen field can only be de-scribed in the words of Charles Dickens, as ‘the age of wisdom, (and)…the age of foolishness’.” (Courtesy of Dr. Bhasin at Drew University.) Women should just realize that maintaining normal, youthful testosterone levels will give them the same basic benefits that men get. Women, like men, can test their own levels with sa-liva kits without using a doctor. If their level is too high they can lower it with better diet and lifestyle. If their level is too low they can raise it with very low doses of sublingual or transdermal preparations.
This chapter will be arduous to write for several reasons. There are countless studies showing the many benefits of keeping youthful testosterone levels, so the amount of information is simply overwhelming. There is also a lot of overlap with the other chapters as to specific benefits. There is just no way to clearly separate or compartmentalize these various advantages. The media and medical profession continue to tell us that testosterone replacement therapy is “unproven” and may even have “serious side effects”. Any side effects are always due to using the wrong types in the wrong ways. This is a review of the general benefits, so there will be some repetition from other chapters. It is inexcusable that the vast majority of doctors refuse to admit the obvious and common sense benefits to raising testosterone levels in aging men and women who are deficient in this very basic hormone. The scientific literature is full of studies showing many dramatic advantages of giving testosterone to men (no women need apply!) who are deficient. Even when the wrong types and delivery systems are used - which is most all of the time - the benefits are still dramatic and impressive. Medical doctors seem to have a common mentality of overcaution and understatement, yet international studies - especially in the last ten years- clearly proclaim how adventagious testosterone supplementation is in men and women who have low levels.
It just can’t be repeated too often that when men and women of any age who are testosterone deficient are given natural supplemental testosterone in natural ways there are countless benefits and no side effects whatsoever. There are never any side effects to supplementing low hormone levels naturally. The ideal is the youthful level you enjoyed at about the age of 30 years old. Even when the wrong forms are given in the wrong ways there are still dramatic benefits. Since at least 95% of the research is done using the wrong forms in the wrong ways, the best means to deal with this chapter is to concentrate on the few studies that used natural testosterone transdermally and sublingually (scientists cannot use DMSO delivery unfortunately due to the laws).
A rather amazing study was done over a half century ago (Journal of the American Medical Association v. 126, 1944, pp. 472-6) regarding the “male climacteric”. Middle aged men were given injections of testosterone salts (it was all they had at the time) and very dramatic benefits were found in only two weeks! “Definite improvement in the symptomatology was noted by the the end of the second week in all of the cases treated. Sexual potency was restored to normal with these doses (25 mg i.m. five days a week) in all but 2 (of the 29) cases.” This was groundbreaking stuff six decades ago.
Dr. Alex Vermeulen at the University Hospital in Belgium is someone who has probably done more research than anyone else on hormones, yet he still doesn’t understand that testosterone is good for prostate health and that low testosterone is a basic cause of prostate disease. He claims estrogen falls in men as they age (JCEM 86, 2001, pp. 2380-90) and supplemental estrogen is somehow good for men! He actually promotes estrogen therapy and androgen ablation for prostate disease! He recently did finally admit that testosterone replacement is important and men lose 60% of their free testosterone by the age of 70. He also admits that supplementation is called for even with prostate enlargement. This is really something for a traditionalist like him. He should see that literally 90% of men over the age of 50 would benefit from supplementation. He needs to realize that youthful levels are the ideal and not average ranges in old age. Nevertheless, he does document the general benefits of raising testosterone in men and women as they age and is now aware of transdermal delivery.
His many published studies on testosterone and other hormones are very positive overall. His concern with “risks” is really due to using the wrong types in the wrong ways, but he can’t see that. He demonstrates that testosterone is vital to bone health, sexual performance, muscle mass, strength, CHD health, cognition and memory, body mass index and body fat, blood glucose metabolism, energy levels, and feelings of well being and depression. Dr. Vermeulen even covers the various types of testosterone including injectable salts, oral salts, subcutaneous pellets, patches, gels and sublingual forms, yet he can’t seem to see how dangerous and damaging the injectable and oral salts are, or how unnecessary the patches are. He refuses to study women when his research could be of great benefit to the women of the world.
Lisa Tenover at Emory University is the second leading researcher on hormone replacement and has published many articles on the subject. Why doesn’t she include women in her various studies? Overlooking how beneficial testosterone is for both men and women, in her many reviews she always warns about the “dangers” of androgen replacement and thinks supplemental testosterone is bad for the heart and prostate. She doesn’t see that any “risks” are due to using the wrong types of testosterone in the wrong ways. She also can’t seem to figure out that transdermal (or sublingual) dosing is the natural way to supplement hormones like testosterone, progesterone and estriol. Nevertheless, she admits there are many benefits to raising testosterone in men and women who are deficient. She feels “4% of men in the 40-70 year age range would be hypogonadal” when the facts are that at least 90% of men over the age of 50 are hypogonadal and would benefit greatly by raising the levels of free testosterone. She doesn’t seem to see that free, not bound levels, are the only ones with any meaning. By ignoring the facts researchers are holding back science by damning testosterone with very faint praise.
Her many studies have shown great improvements in health generally with testosterone no matter which forms were used in what ways. For example, hypogonadal men were given patches to place on their scrotums, although the scrotum has high alpha re-ductase activity and is not a suitable place to apply testosterone (but is ideal for other hormones such as progesterone). Patches, as we have discussed, are expensive, uncomfortable and unnecessary. These men were unusual in that the average age was only 36. They were treated for at least seven years, so the long term effects were documented. Bone density increased and their bones got stronger. This proves testosterone is vital to bone and joint health. Their prostate health was good in all facets including sonogram analysis for actual prostate volume. This proves 99.9% of the medical doctors in the world are wrong about their antiquated ideas on prostate health. Their testosterone to estradiol ratio improved greatly by a factor of more than 100%. There were no side effects at all. Finally, she saw the usual injection of unnatural esters salts don’t work, never did, and never will for many reasons. Why doesn’t she study women? Why doesn’t she realize that natural testosterone given in natural ways is the way to go? Lisa keeps using the wrong types in the wrong ways but still gets dramatic benefits in men (why isn’t she helping other women?). In one of her many published studies (Endocrine and Metabolism Clinics, v. 27, 1998, pp. 969-87) she shows men improve muscle mass, strength, body mass index, and other parameters.
If the endocrine researchers of the world would just wake up to the facts they could be guiding lights in the medical world. If they would just use natural testosterone - and all other basic hormones - in natural ways in both men and women they would find even more dramatic benefits with no side effects at all. Men and women, especially over the age of 40, would then be routinely tested for testosterone and all their other basic hormone levels and supplemented as needed. These doctors are fully aware that testosterone supplementation results in higher muscle mass and strength, CHD health, better mood, clearer mentality and cogni-tion, increased libido and sexual satisfaction, better quality of life in general and all the other benefits we’ve discussed in this book.
Some good and heavily documented research came from such well known institutions as Johns Hopkins University and UCLA (American Journal of Medicine v. 110, 2001, pp. 563-72, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism v. 82, 1997, pp. 3793-6, and Drugs and Aging v. 15, 1999, pp. 131-42). Of course, they are just concerned with men, but women will get parallel benefits in every basic way. They show oral and injected ester salts as well as implanted pellets don’t work well, but newer trans-dermal patch systems are effective. Monitoring serum levels is emphasized to insure safety and effectiveness. They realize that testosterone does not cause nor worsen prostate cancer to their credit. Body composition, lean muscle mass, physical strength and body fat are all improved by testosterone therapy. Sexual function-ing and genital dysfunction (such as low sperm count and small penis) are improved, but this is no panacea for impotence. They found that many diseases are correlated with low levels of testosterone such as HIV and coronary heart conditions. “There is a substantial prevalence of low testosterone levels in men with cancer.” Psychology is improved especially cognition, mood, depression, memory and sense of well being with testosterone supplementation. “Many autoimmune diseases are associated with low testosterone levels.” Bones are stronger with youthful testo-sterone levels. “Reversal of hypogonadism is associated with im-provement in bone mass and maintenance of skeletal integrity.” Blood parameters such as anemia, hemocrit and hemoglobin values are improved with supplementary testosterone as well. All in all, they see that as men get older their testosterone levels fall and are clearly correlated with every problem of aging. They do point out that women only produce about 150 mcg of testosterone from their ovaries after menopause. Women with hysterectomies (one third of American women) are generally testosterone deficient. Women may get many other benefits from testosterone supplementation after menopause, but more research is needed. Why aren’t these re-searchers doing this much needed research on women? They are clearly in favor of routine androgen therapy in men as they age. Soon such clinicians are going to be making the same recommend-ations for women.
At Christie Hospital in England men were given 5 mg a day of testosterone via patches (Hormone Research v. 56, 2000, pp. 86-92). The subjects had improved body composition, lean mass and less body fat. Their psychology improved overall. Sexual function was much better. Bone density was higher. Cardiovascular health was better. They were still concerned with prostate cancer because they don’t yet understand that youthful levels of testosterone are necessary for good prostate health. There were 60 references to other studies showing the validity of testosterone supplementation in aging men.
At Harbor University in Los Angeles (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism v.85, 2000, pp. 2839-53) trans-dermal gel was used delivering 10 mg a day to men. This sounds low, but it is still too much considering men only produce 6-8 mg a day and 3-5 mg is a much safer dose. “We conclude that testo-sterone gel replacement improved sexual function and mood, in-creased lean mass and muscle strength and decreased fat mass in hypogonadal men with less skin irritation and discontinuation compared with the recommended dose of the permeating-enhanced testosterone patch.” This was a long 15 page study with a full 45 references.
This chapter on general benefits could easily take up the entire book. We have only chosen a few of the countless studies to show there is no doubt about the need for supplementary testosterone in men and women who are low, regardless of their age. In the last five years there have finally been studies on testosterone therapy for women and this will continue to increase.
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