Written by justis berg
15 June 2011

 

Androgens Are A Guy’s Best Friend

 

The body of evidence just keeps growing and growing. From helping you with erections, to improving health and expediting muscle recovery, the class of hormones known as androgens are pretty darn good for you. Here’s how.

 

Testosterone Good for Sex

What’s better than good food? Why, good sex of course! Heck, even bad sex is better than good food— not that I’d know. A study compared the effects of two treatment modalities of testosterone on sexual functioning and mood. Forty men were randomly selected to receive shots of either testosterone enanthate (TE) or long-acting parenteral testosterone undecanoate (TU) over a period of 30 weeks. Wow, that’s quite a long cycle; I wonder if Congress is aware of this. Thereafter, 20 men who had received TU and 16 men who had received TE continued with TU and completed another 65 weeks to study longer-term effects of TU. Did you read that? Sixty-five more weeks!

According to the intelligentsia known as the mainstream press, this should result in roid rage, acne, followed soon thereafter by death after a mass murder spree. OK, enough of the funny stuff. The following variables of sexual functioning were studied: sexual thoughts and fantasy, sexual interest and desire, satisfaction with sex life, number of erections and ejaculations per week, and number of spontaneous morning erections per week. Also variables related to mood were analyzed.

What did they discover? Improvements in these variables were significant and were of a similar magnitude in the group treated with TU and TE for 30 weeks. Improvements were maintained at the same levels over the period of another 65 weeks when all men received TU. Thus, both TE and TU were effective in improving sexual function in hypogonadal men. An advantage of TU over TE is its lower frequency of administration and its better tolerability and safety profile.1 Heck, what red-blooded American male doesn’t want more spontaneous morning erections?

 

Long Jump and the Testes

In the annals of funny studies, this is somewhere up there. This study looked at the relationship between anthropometric characteristics, pubertal development, salivary androgen hormones and explosive leg power in young soccer players. Fifty-one (age range 10-14 years) soccer players were studied. The relations between age, pubertal developmental stages, testicular volume, weight, height, body fat, fat-free mass, salivary DHEAS concentrations, salivary testosterone concentrations and lower limb explosive power were evaluated.

They found that the standing long jump length positively correlated with age, pubertal developmental stages, testicular volume, height, weight, fat-free mass and negatively correlated with body fat. There was no significant correlation between salivary testosterone concentrations and standing long jump. OK, so in other words, bigger testes equals better long-jumping ability.2

T and GH: An Effective Stack

I know many of my egghead friends don’t believe GH works. At least that’s what the science purist would say, based on the existing data. To me, there must be a dose-dependent effect, not to mention a synergistic effect with other anabolic hormones. Scientists thus tested the hypothesis that supplementation with testosterone and growth hormone together improves body composition and muscle performance in older men. One hundred and twenty-two men (71 years of age) were randomized to receive transdermal testosterone (5 grams or 10 grams per day) plus growth hormone (0, 3, or 5 ug/kg per day) for 16 weeks. They found that total lean body mass increased, total fat mass decreased, as did trunk fat and maximum voluntary strength of upper and lower body muscles, as did aerobic endurance.             Thus, according to these science geeks, supplemental testosterone produced significant gains in total lean mass, muscle strength, and aerobic endurance, with significant reductions in whole body and trunk fat. Outcomes appeared to be further enhanced with growth hormone supplementation.3 This study shows indeed that stacking the two can help even older men get bigger and stronger. Heck, this is great for all the old retirees in Boynton Beach, Florida! Watch out granny, ’cause Grandpa Joe will have biceps bigger than your average college math nerd.

 

The DARK Side of Low T

Not many physicians are aware of the dark side of having low testosterone levels; heck, most men are just plain clueless. Yet, there is a huge body of evidence that shows a strong link among reduced testosterone plasma levels, type 2 diabetes, and insulin resistance (IR). Hypogonadal men are at higher risk for diabetes. Treatment of prostate cancer patients with surgical or medical castration exacerbates insulin resistance and glycemic control, strengthening the link between testosterone deficiency and onset of diabetes and insulin resistance. Androgen therapy of hypogonadal men improves insulin sensitivity, fasting glucose, and HbA1c levels.4

Wow— so you mean giving STEROIDS to these men can actually make them healthier? Read on, the evidence mounts like a rat on mating day. Androgen (i.e., testosterone) deficiency is also associated with increased levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), increased production of pro-inflammatory factors, and increased thickness of the arterial wall. That, my friend, ain’t good. But testosterone supplementation restores arterial vasoreactivity, reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and improves endothelial function, but may also reduce high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. In totality, testosterone is an anabolic hormone with a wide range of beneficial effects on men's health.5

 

Nandrolone Helps Recovery

There is this wacky rat model of inducing hypertrophy. Basically what they do is remove a muscle (e.g., the soleus) and this causes a ‘compensatory hypertrophy’ of a synergist muscle like the gastrocnemius. This is often referred to as surgical ablation. Adult male rats were divided randomly into the control and steroid groups, and contralateral surgery was performed. Nandrolone decanoate was administered to one group, while the other group received a placebo. Given these furry little rodents this particular anabolic steroid significantly diminished muscle fiber damage.6 This is one reason why so many athletes (both endurance and strength) use androgens. It helps you recover! If rats can take it, why can’t us bipeds?

 

Jose Antonio, Ph.D., is vice president of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He has a Ph.D. in muscle physiology and is chief executive of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

References:

1.                     1. Jockenhovel F, Schubert M, Freude S, et al. Comparison of long-acting testosterone undecanoate formulation versus testosterone enanthate on sexual function and mood in hypogonadal men. Eur J Endocrinol, 2009.

2.                     2. Baldari C, Di Luigi L, Emerenziani GP, Gallotta MC, Sgro P, Guidetti L. Is explosive performance influenced by androgen concentrations in young male soccer players? Br J Sports Med, 2009;43:191-4.

3.                     3. Sattler FR, Castaneda-Sceppa C, Binder EF, et al. Testosterone and Growth Hormone Improve Body Composition and Muscle Performance in Older Men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2009.

4.                     4. Traish AM, Saad F, Guay A. The dark side of testosterone deficiency: II. Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. J Androl, 2009;30:23-32.

5.                     5. Traish AM, Saad F, Feeley RJ, Guay AT. The Dark Side of Testosterone Deficiency: III. Cardiovascular Disease. J Androl, 2009.

6.                     6. Tamaki T, Uchiyama Y, Okada Y, et al. Anabolic-androgenic steroid does not enhance compensatory muscle hypertrophy but significantly diminish muscle damages in the rat surgical ablation model. Histochem Cell Biol, 2009.