The Critical Importance of Free Testosterone

Testosterone is much more than a sex hormone. There are testosterone receptor sites in cells throughout the body, most notably in the brain and heart. Youthful protein synthesis for maintaining muscle mass and bone formation requires testosterone. Testosterone improves oxygen uptake throughout the body, helps control blood sugar, regulates cholesterol, and maintains immune surveillance. The body requires testosterone to maintain youthful cardiac output and neurological function. Testosterone is also a critical hormone in the maintenance of healthy bone density, muscle mass, and red blood cell production.

Of critical concern to psychiatrists are studies showing that men with depression have lower levels of testosterone than do control subjects. For some men, elevating free testosterone levels could prove to be an effective antidepressant therapy. There is a basis for free testosterone levels being measured in men with depression and for replacement therapy being initiated if free testosterone levels are low normal or below normal.

Testosterone is one of the most misunderstood hormones. Body builders tarnished the reputation of testosterone by putting large amounts of synthetic testosterone drugs into their young bodies. Synthetic testosterone abuse can produce detrimental effects, but this has nothing to do with the benefits a man over age 40 can enjoy by properly restoring his natural testosterone to a youthful level.

Conventional doctors have not recommended testosterone replacement therapy because of an erroneous concern that testosterone causes prostate cancer. As we will later show, fear of prostate cancer is not a scientifically valid reason to avoid testosterone modulation therapy.

Another concern that skeptical physicians have about prescribing testosterone replacement therapy is that some poorly conducted studies showed it to be ineffective in the long-term treatment of aging. These studies indicate anti-aging benefits when testosterone is given, but the effects often wear off. What physicians fail to appreciate is that exogenously administered testosterone can convert to estrogen in the body. The higher estrogen levels may negate the benefits of the exogenously administered testosterone. The solution to the estrogen-overload problem is to block the conversion of testosterone to estrogen in the body.

Numerous studies show that maintaining youthful levels of free testosterone can enable the aging man to restore strength, stamina, cognition, heart function, sexuality, and outlook on life, that is, to alleviate depression. A study in Drugs and Aging (1999) suggested that androgen therapy can result in polycythemia (increased numbers of red blood cells) causing an increase in blood viscosity and risk of clotting. For many aging men, however, borderline anemia is a greater concern than red blood cell overproduction. When men are deprived of testosterone during prostate cancer therapy, anemia frequently manifests. Atlantic Rejuvenation has not seen cases in which polycythemia developed in men taking enough testosterone to restore physiological youthful ranges. In other words, too much testosterone could cause problems, but replacing testosterone to that of a healthy 21-year-old should not produce the side effects that some doctors are unduly concerned about. As you can read Testosterone and the Heart, it appears that testosterone replacement therapy provides significant beneficial effects against cardiovascular disease.