Frequently Asked Questions for Men
Q: Do men taking testosterone supplements increase their chances of developing prostate enlargement and cancer?
A: No. In fact, studies show that men with the lowest levels of testosterone and higher than normal levels of estrogen are at greatest risk for prostate enlargement and cancer. Thus, it is not testosterone, but actually estrogen that increases prostate size and causes cancer. That's why young men, who have the highest levels of testosterone, but lower levels of estrogen, don't get prostate enlargement and cancer. As men get older, however, their testosterone levels decrease, and their estrogen levels increase. Estrogen is a "growing" or "proliferative" hormone that causes many body tissues to grow and get bigger. This increased amount of estrogen is also not properly balanced by progesterone, the "anti-estrogen" hormone that normally prevents cells from growing too much in response to estrogen. Therefore, men exposed to increased estrogen without the protective effects of progesterone will experience prostates that get larger, or "hypertrophy." In women, estrogen not balanced by progesterone increases the risk of breast and uterine cancer, and in men this imbalance increases the risk of prostate enlargement and eventually cancer.
Q: Why do you want to keep testing my hormone levels? Didn't the first test already tell you that they were low?
A: There are specific levels of the different hormones that are known to be safe, and actually protective against cancer, heart disease, and stroke. However, each person responds differently to hormones. Since our goal is to get the hormones into the range known to improve health, we need to keep adjusting the dose until we achieve the correct level. This is in contrast to the one-size-fits-all hormone replacement dose tried by the drug companies, which proved to increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Q: Will hormones cause me to gain a lot of muscle?
A: Using hormone or "steroid" shots to raise testosterone levels way above the normal, healthy range will cause you to gain muscle quickly. However, that is unhealthy. Our goal is to keep hormones in the normal, youthful range to keep you healthy and feeling good.