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Testosterone: Difference between revisions
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→Secular decline in T-levels of Western men
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Serum testosterone levels are far less clinically relevant than levels of unbound (free) testosterone, so what is important to establish a real decline in T levels would be to prove that levels of free-testosterone are falling. | Serum testosterone levels are far less clinically relevant than levels of unbound (free) testosterone, so what is important to establish a real decline in T levels would be to prove that levels of free-testosterone are falling. | ||
Many men have high serum T levels because their level of SHBG is high, which means most of the T they produce is effectively useless. | Many men have high serum T levels because their level of SHBG is high, which means most of the T they produce is effectively useless. Cross-national and cross-temporal difference in diet and general lifestyle also likely play much of a role in determining the hormonal profile of men from said countries and periods. For example, intakes of dietary protein in wealthy Western countries generally higher than in developing countries,<ref>https://www.wri.org/data/people-are-eating-more-protein-they-need-especially-wealthy-regions</ref> which together with dietary fibre intake also being negatively correlated with country level economic development,<ref>https://www.robertbarrington.net/fibre-intake-various-countries/</ref> generally results in lower levels of SHBG in the bloodstream, which would again lead to the bodies of Western individuals being generally more sensitive to the effects of T compared to people in developing countries. <ref>https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/85/1/293/2854619?login=true</ref> | ||
These are all factors that need to be taken into account when trying to examine cohort level differences in hormonal profiles. | |||
Another flaw with many of these studies is that they do not control for the fact that smoking has massively decreased in Western countries,<ref>https://ncci.canceraustralia.gov.au/prevention/smoking-prevelance/smoking-prevalence-adults</ref> with cigarette consumption peaking in the 1950s and falling to low levels in the modern era.<ref>https://ourworldindata.org/smoking</ref> | Another flaw with many of these studies is that they do not control for the fact that smoking has massively decreased in Western countries,<ref>https://ncci.canceraustralia.gov.au/prevention/smoking-prevelance/smoking-prevalence-adults</ref> with cigarette consumption peaking in the 1950s and falling to low levels in the modern era.<ref>https://ourworldindata.org/smoking</ref> | ||