Dietary Fat and Testosterone by Jerry Brainum 4/20

 

 Natural bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts, meaning those who want to attain a greater degree of muscular size and strength, but don't want to use any type of anabolic drugs to accomplish those goals, are always seeking ways to boost testosterone levels naturally. Testosterone is a major anabolic hormone that is closely associated with the acquisition of muscular mass and strength. Although countless articles exist on many websites touting the benefits of certain types of training styles that are reputed to boost testosterone, the truth is that the temporary rise in testosterone that occurs when you train has little or no anabolic effect. To obtain a true anabolic effect would require a sustained rise of testosterone in the body. That, in fact, is precisely why anabolic drugs, such as anabolic steroids, without question, help to increase muscle mass--they cause a sustained or long-lasting increase in testosterone levels.

But how does diet and nutrition affect testosterone levels? Since most people eat several times a day, unless you are on some type of fast, what you eat could ostensibly have a major impact on testosterone levels. Of course, various supplements are also offered that are touted to boost testosterone levels. In recent years, most of these "testosterone boosters" were either natural precursors to testosterone synthesis in the body, such as androstenedione, or were actual discarded anabolic steroid drugs that never made it to the commercial market. The drugs were developed in the Golden Era of steroid development in the early 1960s,but while most were effective in boosting anabolic effects in animals, major problems emerged with toxicity, especially to liver function. For that reason, the drugs were placed on the shelf and not released. But the structural formulas for the drugs were published in books, which allowed chemists to synthesize them and release them on the commercial market as "testosterone boosters. "It didn't take long for serious side effects to turn up in those who used the disguised steroids, again mostly serious liver problems, just as had occurred in the animals tested on the drugs decades earlier. This led to a government ban of all such drugs. But some still turn up on the Internet.

I didn't realize at the time that you needed to consume fat in order to maintain testosterone synthesis in the body, and this was particularly vital for those who avoided using anabolic drugs.

I mentioned earlier how body composition can affect testosterone levels. Those who have large amounts of body fat often produce normal amounts of testosterone. However, because of the excessive amount of body fat, the production of estrogen is higher in those with high levels of body fat. The enzyme that converts androgens, such as testosterone into estrogen is aromatase, and this enzyme tends to . . .