The pop punker Iggy Pop in action. Some men obviously don’t need an extra dose of testosterone even in old age.
- In aging men, testosterone levels drop naturally. This is said to lead to fatigue and disturbances in love life.
- Doctors often treat this with hormone therapy, in which testosterone is administered artificially.
- Recent studies doubt the effectiveness of the therapy, it is even harmful.
Getting old is not for cowards. Especially not when you come across a questionnaire about physical fitness, mental well-being and sexual performance around the age of 50. After all, the years have already left depressing traces: the hair has become thinner, the pleasure in a double bed is a rare guest, and although you used to be very sporty, the muscles also lack their desired elasticity. And because the crosses end up somewhere in the middle of the questionnaire, it always comes out that men could suffer from an age-related lack of the sex hormone testosterone. ADAM calls it male doctors, for androgen deficit of the aging male, And promotes the obvious solution: to replace the dwindling hormone of masculinity with plasters, gels or syringes.
In fact, the amount of hormone naturally decreases in all aging men. But for very few – an estimated three to five percent – the loss is responsible for symptoms such as fatigue and loss of masculinity. And how little the replacement brings is now proven once again by a professionally carried out, placebo-controlled examination in the medical journal Jama: endocrinologists led by expert Shalender Bhasin from Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA have treated more than 300 men with an age-related low testosterone level for three years.
The men were 60 years or older and received either the hormone or a dummy drug. First and foremost, the researchers wanted to find out how adolescent testosterone levels affect older men’s vessels. Previous studies had vaguely indicated that high levels of testosterone in the blood could have a positive effect on developing atherosclerosis. At the same time, other studies suggested that the hormone supplied increased the risk of a heart attack.
Instead of fixing sexual problems, the hormone increased the toughness of the blood
Bhasin and his team were at least able to rule out the positive effect on the arteries through their study. At the same time, however, they again found that testosterone also did not reduce men’s pleasure and potency problems. The preparations had no overall effect on the general quality of life. In another study, part of the research team also showed that age-related problems with ejaculation could not be remedied by testosterone.
The only detectable effects were, therefore, the side effects of the substitution: In the testosterone group, the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood rose significantly, in some cases above the level used in the early detection of prostate cancer as a reason for a biopsy. In fact, testosterone can stimulate the growth of small, yet undiscovered tumors. The so-called hematocrit also climbed in this group. It describes the cell density in the blood, i.e. its toughness. The hematocrit also increases the risk of blood clots that can clog arteries and lead to strokes.
Contrary to scientific advice, the number of treatments is increasing
Especially healthy men should, therefore, avoid substitution despite the physical burden of old age. Serious andro- and urologists have been warning their clients for more than ten years not to talk themselves into illness and to have them treated with expensive testosterone preparations. Nevertheless, interest in unnecessary therapy does not wane. In the United States, the number of testosterone treatments rose from 1.3 to 2.3 million between 2009 and 2013. In Sweden, the number of men treated almost doubled within eight years.
And in Germany, too, the requests for a substitution of the supposedly missing hormone according to the German Society for Endocrinology are steadily increasing – although it is difficult to say to what extent. However, experts assume that the consumption of testosterone in Germany has doubled in the past 15 years. The manufacturers of the preparations can, therefore, rely on it: The fear of not only getting old but also feeling old remains. In fact, it would be too nice if a plaster would help.
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