Testosterone-Associated Dietary Pattern Predicts Low Testosterone Levels and Hypogonadism

Abstract

Obesity and low serum testosterone (T) levels are interrelated and strongly influenced by dietary factors, and their alteration entails a great risk of hypogonadism. Substantial evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship between nutrient metabolism (e.g., glucose, lipids, and iron) and T levels in men; however, T-related dietary patterns remain unclear. This study investigated the dietary patterns associated with serum total T levels and its predictive effect on hypogonadism and the body composition. Anthropometry, blood biochemistry, and food frequency questionnaires were collected for 125 adult men. Dietary patterns were derived using a reduced rank regression from 32 food groups. Overall prevalence rates of central obesity and hypogonadism were 48.0% and 15.7%, respectively. An adjusted linear regression showed that age, insulin, red blood cell (RBC) aggregation, and transferrin saturation independently predicted serum total T levels (all p < 0.01). The total T-related dietary pattern (a high consumption of bread and pastries, dairy products, and desserts, eating out, and a low intake of homemade foods, noodles, and dark green vegetables) independently predicted hypogonadism (odds ratio: 5.72; 95% confidence interval: 1.11‒29.51, p < 0.05) for those with the highest dietary pattern scores (Q4) compared to those with the lowest (Q1). Scores were also negatively correlated with the skeletal muscle mass (p for trend = 0.002) but positively correlated with the total body fat mass (p for trend = 0.002), visceral fat mass (p for trend = 0.001), and to a lesser extent, subcutaneous fat mass (p for trend = 0.035) after adjusting for age. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm that improvement in dietary pattern can improve T levels and reduce hypogonadism.

Iron and Advanced Glycation End Products: Emerging Role of Iron in Androgen Deficiency in Obesity

“…The current study found that >1 g of ferric iron suppressed serum and testicular total T levels; however, 2 g of iron had less severe effect due to high intra-individual group variations. The concentration of total T in the blood circulation can be influenced by age, diet, obesity, and the time at which blood is withdrawn [44][45][46]. Brambilla et al [47] suggested that intra-individual variations, and not assay variations, accounted for biological variations in the male sex hormone.…”

Dietary patterns in relation to testosterone levels and severity of impaired kidney function among middle-aged and elderly men in Taiwan: a cross-sectional study

“…Limited published articles have investigated specific dietary patterns with male testosterone levels. A recent cross-sectional study in 125 Taiwanese men reported that higher adherence to a typical high-calorie Western diet was associated with decreased testosterone level by 0.87 ng/mL [38]. However, another study found that men consuming vegetarian diets had no association with serum testosterone levels [14, 15].…”

Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Sex Hormones among Male and Female American Adolescents

“…Our outcomes were also continuous measures without any known threshold that can be applied. Besides, most of the existing literature on the determinants of sex hormones have applied linear regression models to model the variation in the outcome [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. The decision to use linear regression was also based on the fact that [ 61 , 62 , 63 ] mediational models are easier to operationalize when the mediators and the outcomes are continuous measures.…”