Testosterone Supplements Won’t Help Most Men

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MONDAY, Jan. 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Testosterone therapy is no fountain of youth for older men, though it might help some who are impotent.

That’s according to new guidelines from the American College of Physicians — the first from the group to address the issue of treating age-related “low T.”

It’s known that men’s testosterone levels decline with age. And for years industry has promoted the idea that men suffer a range of symptoms caused by what’s sometimes described as “male menopause.” The list includes fatigue, weakness, muscle loss, dulled memory and thinking, depression, and dampened libido and erectile dysfunction.

Yet for nearly all of those problems, there is no good evidence testosterone therapy helps, the college found in a research review.

The only area where there is some benefit, the group says, is in treating sexual dysfunction. On average, studies have found “small improvements” in sexual and erectile function.

The lackluster performance in clinical trials is “a bit surprising,” said ACP president Dr. Robert McLean. But, he pointed out, the fact that testosterone wanes with age does not automatically mean that’s behind men’s health issues. And that means replacing testosterone will not necessarily help.

That never stopped manufacturers of supplemental testosterone, however. For years, they launched aggressive marketing campaigns warning men of the health effects of age-related declines of the male hormone.

Between 2009 and 2013, the number of U.S. men on testosterone shot up from 1.3 million to 2.3 million, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And most, the agency said, were not using it for an established indication — namely, certain medical conditions that cause testosterone deficiency.

Instead, they were using it to counter the aging process.

The tide has turned in more recent years. One study found that Americans’ testosterone use dropped substantially between 2013 and 2016 after questions were raised about the risks of heart disease or prostate cancer.

“The enthusiasm for it is less than it used to be,” said Dr. Victor Adlin, an endocrinologist from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.



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