male

Hypogonadism in older males due to low OXPHOS

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I suspect many readers will simply say “duh!”, but believe or not the origin of age-related hypogonadism in males is still considered unknown. Most endocrinologists have discovered experimentally that treating their patients with SERM or AI drugs restores androgens to youthful levels, but the actual cause of this decline in androgens in the first place … Read more

Vitamin A is required for male fertility

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I am posting about this study not because I am thrilled at the possibility of society now having oral (non-steroid) contraceptive methods for males, but rather because this study highlights that vitamin A is actually required for male fertility. Even minor interference with so-called retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-a) causes fertility problems and fully blocking … Read more

Dietary PUFA in childhood causes diabetes and irreversible (male) infertility

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A great study, which corroborates the discussion in another recent post of mine on PUFA’s role in infertility and insulin-resistance / diabetes. However, the study below found that the infertility caused by dietary PUFA exposure were NOT reversible upon discontinuation of the high-fat (both PUFA and MUFA) diet, while previous studies found that the infertility … Read more

Male sexual function does NOT require estrogen

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It is a “sacred” mantra in the medical and sports worlds – i.e. “estrogen is crucial for males, without it they won’t have any sex life”. This mantra is also part of the justification given for the currently ongoing COVID-19 clinical trials with males receiving estrogen in the hope it will reduce the lethality of … Read more

Eating 1 lb of sugar daily has strikingly positive effects on (male) fertility

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When I saw this news article pop up in my daily feed I immediately thought to myself “This study will never get covered by large mainstream news outlets”. And of course, the websites of CNN, Fox, ABC, CNBC, USA Today, etc have no trace of an article covering the study or even just the basic … Read more

Male fertility depends on intensity of (sperm) metabolism

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Yet another aspect of health that turns out to be directly controlled by quality/speed of metabolism. I made a few posts in the past demonstrating that progesterone and pregnenolone activate a calcium channel (CatSper) specific to progesterone, which greatly increases sperm motility. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09767 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160317150803.htmhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160317150803.htm However, I suspected that this is not the whole story behind … Read more

Testosterone does NOT impair empathy in men

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I am sure most readers are quite familiar with the cliche that testosterone (T) is what drives stereotypical “boy behavior” – aggressiveness, carelessness, impulsive behavior, risk taking, cheating, and of course the militaristic attitude characterized by lack of (or reduced) empathy. As I mentioned in several previous posts, most of these behaviors seem to be … Read more

Fertility depends on metabollism (ATP), not age

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As many of you know, there are two fundamental dogmas in reproductive medicine. One is that every woman is born with a fixed number of eggs and those cannot be replenished. The second one is that there is a biological fertility clock in every woman that inexorably ticks, and if the female does not have … Read more