This week's episode will include information on hormones and body parts, so if you typically listen to this show with little ears around you may want to be careful, depending on your comfort level

Sarah noted that this week's episode is about men's health, which is a really fun topic for the hosts

The discussion will focus on men's hormonal and reproductive health

If you aren't yet ready to discuss these topics with your little one, be sure to listen to this show without your little people around

Stacy is looking forward to sharing this discussion with her three teenage boys

This episode is sponsored by EverlyWell

This is an awesome sponsor for this episode since Stacy and Sarah will be talking about testosterone

EverlyWellis an at-home lab testing company that offers a variety of tests, ranging from food sensitivity to metabolism, to a thyroid test, vitamin D, testosterone and general men’s health

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To check out EverlyWellvisit: https://everlywell.com/thepaleoview

You can get 15% off with the code 'ThePaleoView'

For Stacy, while this week's topic doesn't particularly pertain to her, she is looking forward to applying this week's information to the men in her life

(6:52) Q & A

This week's episode is inspired by a question from John

John writes:

"Hi ladies! I know if I say nice things, there's a better chance my question will be answered. Fortunately, that's easy to do. As a researcher myself I love that the Paleo View emphasizes facts over dogma. I know when you answer a question, I will learn something, and that is about the highest compliment I can give a podcast. I love that the two of you are interesting to listen to, and I have been a regular listener since (about) episode 20 (the early shows were good too!!). As one of your '6 male listeners', my question involves men's health. While there have been a number of shows dedicated to women's health, I have often wondered if there would be any link between a Paleo diet (or other dietary factors) and testosterone and/or erectile dysfunction. There's also a pretty substantial supplement business that claims to raise testosterone; any truth in these claims? I know there's the basic 'eat a healthy diet and exercise' but I thought maybe you could bring a more scientific approach to the question. I also feel that many women who have husbands/boyfriends dealing with these issues would be interested in understanding whether/how Paleo might help. Thanks!!"

Stacy noted that testosterone is not just a male hormone

She isn't sure what all this hormone effects and is looking forward to Sarah diving in on this

Sarah wants to take John's question and focus in on:

The role that testosterone has on men's health

The things that cause testosterone deficiency

What this looks like

What diet and lifestyle factors might be involved

What supplements will help raise testosterone levels

Testosterone as the predominantly male sex hormone has a major role in development and puberty

It also has a fundamental role in health

The crossover with women's health happens as testosterone regulates muscle size/strength, the general turnover of muscle tissue, bone growth and strength, sex drive, sperm production, it impacts mood, cognition, attention, memory, spatial awareness, behavior, negotiation abilities

It regulates libido in women as well

Sarah shared details from a study that was done on the correlation between testosterone levels and men's negotiation tactics and skills

Overall testosterone has a pretty big impact on psychology and physiology

Low testosterone can be seen in lack of motivation, lack of healthy competitive nature

Stacy thinks about the way healthy competition can be a really good thing

Sarah noted that in the male body you really only see testosterone excess in the context of a bodybuilder or a professional athlete doping with testosterone

It is not a common physiological occurrence that the male body will make extra testosterone

In women, we see testosterone excess in PCOS

This condition is hallmarked by elevated testosterone levels

Women have so little in our bodies compared to men that we have this room for excess

With men, this is not the case

The health challenge with testosterone for men is low levels

Testosterone generally decreases with age, starting in middle age

We see this at a rate of 1 to 2% a year

This is considered part of normal aging

It is not as dramatic as menopause since it is a gradual decline

There are some symptoms that echo menopause though when a man's testosterone is low

Symptoms of testosterone deficiency:

Hot flashes

Reduced body and facial hair

Loss of muscle mass

Low libido

Erectile dysfunction

Impotence

Small testicles

Reduced sperm count

Infertility

It can lead men to form breast tissue

Irritability

Depression

Low concentration

Osteoporosis

As is the case with all hormones there is a spectrum

A small deficiency in this hormone is going to cause an amount of these symptoms that might be easily dismissed

We typically see this in something so minor that we brush it off

It is not until it is a really big problem that we ask the question - what is going on

With a lot of these symptoms, you might not even tie them with testosterone levels unless you have a really good functional medicine specialist or you go and do the men's health panel from EverlyWell

The problems with elevated testosterone levels we classically associated with bodybuilders

We see:

Really bad acne

Liver damage

An increase in heart attack risk

Weight gain

Aggressive behavior

Irritability

Impaired judgment

Delusions

The dominant studies of this are on athletes who dope

Stacy noted that she feels there is a stigma around low testosterone levels and the idea of doping or supplementing to raise these levels

She reminded listeners that Stacy and Sarah are not judging men for what they might need to do for their health

Sarah noted the difference between doping and hormone replacement

Doping specifically refers to taking excess

You are not trying to achieve normal levels

You are trying to achieve high levels for the sake of performance

If your levels are low, hormone replacement may be the best treatment

This is a conversation to have with your doctor

The best treatment may be to take exogenous testosterone

This is the exact same thing that an athlete would take

The difference is the philosophy behind it

If you are taking it as a hormone replacement your goal is to reach normal levels and to regulate your levels

As opposed to an athlete who is taking it to increase performance, and their cost-benefit analysis is very different in the context of testosterone excess

(23:08) Testosterone Deficiency

Beyond the symptoms associated with testosterone deficiency, the health risks include some other bigger risk factors

Deficiency increases your risk of:

Metabolic syndrome

Cardiovascular disease and mortality

Inflammation

It is worthwhile doing some investigating and really trying to dig a little deeper in terms of measuring testosterone levels and potentially either addressing diet and lifestyle factors and/or testosterone hormone replacement in order to bring levels up to normal in order to reduce those other risk factors

Stacy asked how one would know about normal levels

Sarah noted that the "normal" range for testosterone levels is huge

There is not really a good indicator if one should be at the higher or lower end of the range in order to have optimal whatever it is

It is typically diagnosed based on the combination of the actual number and the symptom checklist

This is why working with a functional integrative medical practitioner can be very helpful

Again, EverlyWellhas a straight testosterone test that is quite inexpensive and also a Men's Health Panel that includes testosterone, DHA, estradiol, and cortisol

There are no studies that look at named diets and men's sexual health

There is still a lot of information about the role that micronutrients, lifestyle factors and broader dietary factors that can help influence how we implement a Paleo diet to best support testosterone regulation

Exercise is one of the best things that both men and women can do to support testosterone levels

Specifically resistance training

Endurance training does tend to lower testosterone when combined with calorie restriction

Sleep is one of the biggest lifestyle influences on testosterone

Sarah shared the findings from studies done in an institution

When participants were only getting 5 hours of sleep a night, they saw a 15% decrease in testosterone

This is basically the same levels as what is seen in a 65-year-old man

Testosterone levels seem to be closely tied to the amount of REM sleep we get each night

Stress levels are also an important factor to consider when looking for ways to impact testosterone levels

Chronic stress is linked to low testosterone

As far as diet, there is not much data out there in terms of big dietary trends

The relation with diet and testosterone is much more micronutrient focused

Deficiency in a few nutrients can cause low testosterone

Vitamin A

Vitamin D

Zinc

Magnesium

Vitamin K

Supplementation in all of these nutrients can restore your levels

Through liver, you can get vitamin A

Testing your vitamin D levels will be best to see how to reach sufficiency

Check out this podcast episodefor more information

Omega 3 fats help to support testosterone metabolism

If you supplement men with these nutrients it doesn't cause testosterone excess

It is only related to deficiency in these nutrients driving low testosterone

Once you have enough, the system can help regulate itself

Chronic alcohol consumption can also cause low testosterone and antioxidants in general

If you are not getting enough nutrients from your diet, magnifies the reduction in testosterone

There is not a good link between testosterone and BMI

But there are some interesting studies that show that losing weight can boost testosterone levels

Sarah recommends looking at your intake of the micronutrients mentioned above, evaluating sleep and other lifestyle habits, and see if there is an obvious place where you can make some changes that are likely to help regulate testosterone

If testosterone is really low, you are going to want to go right to a functional medicine specialist and look at testosterone replacement therapy

Supplements Sarah looked into and recommends based on how safe the supplements are:

Get a professional opinion before taking supplements to address a deficiency

DHEA

Creatine

D-aspartic acid

Fenugreek

Ginger

Ashwagandha

Stacy wants to reiterate that before you make a smoothie with all the things, that testing your hormone levels and knowing where you are is so impactful

While you could do this a variety of ways, Sarah and Stacy both use and recommend EverlyWell

You or a loved one can test your hormone levels for under $50 using the code 'thepaleoview'

Once you know where your levels are, then you can work with a functional medicine professional to look at your hormone levels and develop an action plan on how to handle

Sarah emphasized how important it is to make decisions based on data when we are talking about hormone levels

(59:04) Closing Thoughts

Thank you so much for tuning in listeners!

We hope you found this show helpful

There are a number of other topics related to both female and male hormones and health that Stacy and Sarah are hoping to cover in upcoming episodes

If you liked this episode, be sure to leave a review on iTunes and share it with people you love

Thank you again so much for being here!

Stacy looks forward to joining the show from Virginia

Sarah thanks EverlyWellfor sponsoring this episode

As a reminder, get 15% off with the code 'thepaleoview' at this link

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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