Testosterone is predominantly created by the testes in males. Small quantities are made by the ovaries in ladies. The adrenal glands also produce very small quantities in both sexes. Testosterone plays a key part in sexual functioning. Besides helping in the generation of sperms, this steroid hormone also enhances libido, increases energy, helps geenrate white blood cells and helps to protect against osteoporosis. Testosterone is an androgen and an anabolic steroid.
The blood levels of testosterone differ within a wide assortment. Testosterone levels gradually start declining throughout the third or first fourth decade of life at a constant rate. As an outcome, older men have significantly lower levels in comparison to their younger counterparts. Testosterone levels may likewise be low due to quite a few diseases. The cutoff number is 250 ng/dL, levels below these’re considered low.
What is the connection between testosterone as well as heart problems?
Lower testosterone levels have been connected with increased risk of development and death from cardiovascular disease. In a recent study by Laughlin and Associates, men with levels which are low and in the lowest quartile were 40 % more prone to die early, specifically from cardiovascular diseases. These findings were unaffected by age range, other risk factors and lipid levels. The study needed 794 men aged 50-91 years, who were monitored for twenty years. The study was published in 2008 in the Journal of Clinical Metabolism and Endocrinology.
In 2007, results of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk Study have been published in Circulation.
In this study, Khaw and associates monitored 11,000 individuals aged 40-79 for their testosterone levels as well as death. They discovered that the latter had been inversely correlated – lower testosterone levels correlated with a higher rate of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer and any other causes.
In another study, shores and Colleagues, found out that low testosterone levels happened to be associated with a heightened risk for mortality in veterans that are male. The male population was over forty years of age and didn’t have prostate cancer. The study was completed in Seattle and written and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2006.
So how does low testosterone cause cardiovascular disease?
The actual mechanism by which decreased testosterone causes cardiovascular disease is not clear, but you’ll Find website (www.federalwaymirror.com) a number of postulated mechanisms. Patients with low testosterone levels usually have more visceral obesity. Visceral obesity is responsible for the apple shaped body (as as opposed to the pear shaped body, in which the fat is predominantly deposited in the hips and buttocks). A lot more commonly, this is called the’ pot belly’ or’ beer belly’. The visceral fat is loaded in between the internal organs in the peritoneal cavity (abdominal cavity). In comparison the subcutaneous fat is found under skin and the intramuscular extra fat in the skeletal muscle. Visceral fat is much more metabolically active and synthesizes more center unhealthy fatty acids, triglycerides, and adipokines compared to nonvisceral fat.
Low testosterone is also associated with the enhancement of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. In a study published in 2007, males in the lowest levels of testosterone were four times more likely to develop diabetes in comparison with men with the highest levels. This data from the Third National Nutrition and Health Examination Survey, was published by Group and Selvin in Diabetes Care. Patients with lower testosterone levels have greater levels of insulin as well as triglycerides, each harmful to the cardiovascular system.