When it comes to hormones and the need to supplement with them, all we tend to hear about is estrogen. For decades women have been told that after menopause, they basically can’t manage without supplementing hormones like estrogen and progesterone.
Overwhelming evidence shows that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can cause cancer, such as a Lancet study concluding that one in 20 cases of breast cancer is caused by the combo estrogen/progestagen variety.1 However, doctors are still prescribing it like mad, drug companies are doing their best to dance around the evidence and celebrities continue to trumpet its use (a number going on to develop breast cancer).
In the past few decades, it’s now men who are being encouraged to get hormone therapy—and small wonder. We’re in the midst of a global testosterone crisis. Current testosterone levels are less than half of what they were in the 1970s and, consequently, sperm counts are down more than 50 percent too.
As The Great Testosterone Crash makes clear, many factors account for these plunging figures: fast foods, toxic metals and plastics, smoking and vaping, long bouts of sitting, and many drugs, like antidepressants, statins and steroids.
When men hit midlife and testosterone lowers, many suffer a type of man-opause with symptoms ranging from insomnia to plummeting libido, sexual function, bone density, muscle mass and energy, or even depression. Low testosterone can also bring on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Eyeballing another potential income driver, drug companies have produced a range of testosterone replacement therapy (or TRT) options, including either “bio-identical” or synthetic versions of testosterone, to bolster ailing hormone levels.
In fact, both types are synthetic, produced in a lab test tube. So-called bio-identical testosterone is made from diosgenin (derived from soy or yams), which is then tweaked to exactly mimic the body’s own chemical formula of testosterone: C19H28O2.
Other drug companies produce a modified version, starting out with the base chemical formula from diosgenin or a synthetic steroidal compound like androstenolone and modifying them. This enables them to be taken orally without being broken down by the liver.
But testosterone replacement isn’t just for the boys. Although we think of testosterone as purely male and estrogen and progesterone as female, both sexes need some of each. In women, testosterone is produced in the ovaries and adrenal glands, and although it doesn’t plunge like traditional female hormones, levels can decline over time, contributing to conditions from obesity and type 2 diabetes to heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
Women given TRT typically get 5 percent of the dosage of bioavailable hormone given to men in a carrier gel to be rubbed on the skin.
Despite claims of safety, questions have been raised about potential risks of heart disease, strokes and even prostate disease with TRT. Two studies led to a black box warning on the drug by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2015. One showed that patients on TRT had more than four times the number of cardiovascular adverse events, another that nearly 25 percent more patients given testosterone had cardiovascular events or stroke after three years.
Although a large-scale, randomized, double-blind British study in 2023 swept away all concerns after showing no increase in major heart- or prostate-related effects, the trial was conducted for only 27 months.2 The other studies examined effects after three years or more, and adverse effects may take longer than two years to develop.
What the study also didn’t trumpet was that patients treated with testosterone may not have had higher rates of heart disease, but they had a higher incidence of pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in a lung, which could lead to sudden death or stroke) plus atrial fibrillation and acute kidney injury.
Largely because of the low dose, women don’t suffer the same serious side effects as men. They can, however, develop acne or oily skin and increased hair on the face and body.
But you don’t need to take the risks of TRT to restore your hormones to normal levels. In this, our special testosterone issue, we list lifestyle factors that lower testosterone levels, plus a range of foods, supplements and natural substances that can help restore healthy levels in both men and women.
Adequate levels of zinc and magnesium are essential for testosterone production and are lacking in most modern food. Supplementing both minerals has been shown to boost sperm count and fertility.
Besides those two vital minerals, you can also try three herbs, all from Ayurvedic medicine and proven to boost testosterone levels in scientific studies. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), the well-known adaptogen, can boost testosterone levels after just two months. Fenugreek has shown boosts in both total testosterone and free circulating levels. And shilajit, a sticky resin from the Himalayas, is gaining a big following for its ability to boost both total and free testosterone levels.
Men can learn from the tough experience of so many women who got ill from the Pill and HRT. The T pill may make you feel good now, but like so many women who suffered cancer and strokes, you’ll pay for it later.
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