Increasing testosterone may increase optimal health.

A recent email newsletter in my inbox caught my eye. Clicking through, I came across some information regarding a revealing Swedish study that took place back in 2011 where some 2,416 men — between the ages of 69 and 81 years — were subjected to a variety of tests that looked at (among other things) testosterone levels. Those researchers made a few interesting conclusions.

The article noted that:

1. “Men with increasing levels of testosterone had a decreased prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and body fat mass”.

2. “Compared to men with the highest testosterone levels, those with low testosterone were twice as likely to have a history of cardiovascular disease”.

And finally;

3. “Men in the highest quartile of total testosterone (above 19 nmol/L) had a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular events.”

The paper went on to state testosterone levels from a very low 6.09 nmol/L to a still low 11.5 nmol/L are unlikely to deliver robust health benefits. Research showed that restoring testosterone levels to at least 17 nmol/L was associated with pronounced health benefits, whereas benefits may be less evident at lower levels. A man’s normal range is 8 nmol/L- 28 nmol/L, so I aim to get my male patients up over 20 nmol/L for optimal health.

Do you have questions about testosterone? Are you curious what your testosterone levels might be? Appointments can be made by visiting this page.

Inspiring you to Live Longer Better,
Dr. Grant Pagdin, MD

The study mentioned in that article can be found here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21982312
Flickr Photo Credit: Alpes de Haute Provence – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)