Boosting Testosterone Naturally

[beforewisdom]

http://fitness.suite101.com/article.cfm/boost_your_testosterone_levels

[DV]

Interesting article. The profile of the author gives very little info about his background other than that he's been involved in fitness and does some teaching. But more importantly, the article fails to reference the sources for his information. I mean, eat no more and no less than 30% of your calories from fat? Where did THAT come from? It's a shame, because some of the information looks very intriguing - but I can't take it at face value without more information.

[beforewisdom]

Yep, all of the low fat zealots like McDougal, Barnard, Ornish etc think 30% is insanely high, but the point it to boost testosterone, not necessarily boost hear health.

[DV]

I get the point about not eating low fat for testosterone but I just want to know where he gets that magic number.

[beforewisdom]

30% is the accepted ceiling for "low fat" diets. The American Heart Association and The American Cancer Association ( both criticized by McDougal and the other very low fat proponents ) recommend that percentage. I don't make an effort to eat low fat ( I oscillate between 15 - 20% ), but I think I would make myself ill to get up to 30%.

[cubby2112]

I get roughly 15-20% of my calories from fat. I have found a few studies that link high fiber consumption to increased testosterone more strongly than high fat. I have nothing wrong with going 30% fat, but that is something more for hard gainers, because I would be hungry as hell all the time if I got that many of my calories from fat and ate the amount I have to to stay lean.

 

I have heard from many sources that vegans have higher testosterone on average than most other people, but have never looked into the evidence for it.

[joelk]

Vegans generally have less exposure to dioxins in foods than vegetarians and those on an omnivorous diet.

[Zack]

So along with less exposure to dioxins, what are some of the main reasons vegans may have higher test levels?

[xjohanx]

So along with less exposure to dioxins, what are some of the main reasons vegans may have higher test levels?

 

we are more awesome than everyone else. awesomeness raises t-levels. that's a fact

[tuc]

we are more awesome than everyone else. awesomeness raises t-levels. that's a fact

 

xjohanx is studying nutrition so he knows what he's talking about. Anyone stating otherwise will be shot, as vegans are totally awesome to the max and that causes huge testosterone levels in vegan men (not women).

 

I bet most vegan men have constantly hard on even at the age of 80+. And I believe it without anyone sending pics to prove that.

[xjohanx]

haha dude acctually i start studying nutrition in september.

and yes, all vegan men always have hard ons.

just look at donald watson (RIP), founder of the vegan society

http://www.foodsforlife.org.uk/people/Donald-Watson-Vegan/Donald-Watson-vegan-founder.jpg

 

why is his hands always in his pockets????

[cubby2112]

The only reason I can figure for vegans having higher levels from what I have researched is the higher level of fiber in our diets. I will try to look more into it.

[beforewisdom]

I had a neighbor whose wife was a vegan RD. She told me, that at least in the US, the information in her classes & her professors were decades behind. She also told me that unless a nutrition student has an interest in plant based nutrition and does their own independent reading, that they will never hear about the things that well read vegans already know. She said that the main educational value of going to school was that she learned how to evaluate studies and claims. In other words, trusting what a run of the mill nutritionist has to say will likely get you similar results from trusting a doctor or a run of the mill gym trainer. They are likely to be "meat heads" unless they went to an exceptional program or had their own curiosity beyond their program

[cubby2112]

Good points, BW. Those points can help in a response to an omni nutritionist questioning your eating habits.

 

I looked into some studies on vegan tesosterone levels. The ones I found that actually studied vegans found them to have higher levels, the ones that didn't claimed that they may have lower levels. The one study I could find a decent amount on is quite old, from right around 1960, though.

 

Anyway, it "seems" vegans have higher testosterone levels, possibly due to higher fiber, but that fiber also has the effect of binding to some of the testosterone, causing it to be excreted upon defecation. Vegans still apparently have a higher level of blood testosterone, though, showing that the increase in T levels from fiber, if that is indeed what is increasing them, outweighs the amount lost from fiber consumption by a decent margin.

 

One interesting thing I found is that most fibers bind to testosterone at equal effectiveness, except for lignans, which are far more efficient at it, binding up to 70-80% more or so testosterone than other fibers. Lignans are abundant in oats and flax.

[joelk]

It could be the increased binding of testosterone is causing an increase in production to compensate. The studies I could find showed vegans had higher levels of serum testosterone but also higher levels of SHBG, which can be elevated by lignans and phytoestrogens.

[beforewisdom]

Interesting, I never heard of such claims. I find it ridiculous that people are scared of phytoestrogens/soy/flax. If the theories as to why phytoestrogens help reduce breast cancer are true, that would men phyotestrogens would have an anti-estrogenic effect for men by blocking oendogenous estrogens and estrogen like pollutants like insecticides at estrogen receptors.

 

Oh well, fitness enthusiasts are rarely known for being thinkers unless they are exercise physiologists.

[xjohanx]

Oh well, fitness enthusiasts are rarely known for being thinkers unless they are exercise physiologists.

 

word

[cubby2112]

Interesting, I never heard of such claims. I find it ridiculous that people are scared of phytoestrogens/soy/flax. If the theories as to why phytoestrogens help reduce breast cancer are true, that would men phyotestrogens would have an anti-estrogenic effect for men by blocking oendogenous estrogens and estrogen like pollutants like insecticides at estrogen receptors.

 

Oh well, fitness enthusiasts are rarely known for being thinkers unless they are exercise physiologists.

 

I always hear guys saying this about phytoestrogens and it bothers the crap out of me. They just look at how they are similar to estrogen and ignore the fact that they compete for receptors with the stronger estrogens produced by the body.

[joelk]

Agreed. I am personally more worried about xenoestrogens in plastics and other environmental pollutants rather than in soy or lignans in flax and so on.