A Natural Side Effect of Aging
Here’s the thing: Age plays a major role in the amount of testosterone in the body. There is a natural decline after age 30 that continues to the end of life, roughly decreasing by 1 percent each year. That is the natural rate, but the rate of decline can be exacerbated by injury, chemotherapy, metabolic disorders, tumors, medications, unspecified illnesses, alcohol abuse, cirrhosis of the liver, HIV/AIDS, kidney failure, sarcoidosis, Kallman syndrome (a problem with a gland in the brain that controls hormones), type 2 diabetes, obesity, aging, extreme weight loss, excess estrogen, primary hypothyroidism, radiation exposure or brain surgery, and head trauma.
There is also a disease called hypogonadism in which the body can’t produce normal levels of testosterone. This is tied to abnormal function in the pituitary gland that controls the testicles, or a problem within the testicles themselves.
That’s by no means a complete list and points out that the world seems to be working against optimal testosterone levels in older men.
It is estimated that 40 percent of men aged 45 and older have low testosterone. One difficulty in diagnosing it is that levels vary during the day and are affected by medications, illness, alcohol consumption and nutrition.
Study Raises Questions
The relentless drumbeat of low testosterone warnings is tempered a bit by a report issued by the American Medical Association. That report declared that men who had previous heart problems and low testosterone levels risked serious heart problems, stroke and even death by trying to boost their T-levels.