- Researchers are reporting that higher levels of testosterone may help lower the type 2 diabetes risk for men under the age of 65 who are overweight or have obesity.
- The researchers added that there were no detectable benefits of testosterone on type 2 diabetes risk for men over the age of 65.
- Experts note there are still ways for men to manage diabetes risk after age 65.
A new study says higher levels of testosterone can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes for men 65 years or younger who are overweight or have obesity.
However, this doesn’t seem to apply to men over the age of 65.
The study, which hasn’t been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal, was presented today at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston.
Mahesh Umapathysivam, a lead researcher from the University of Adelaide in Australia, said in a statement that the research team wanted to better understand the relationship between testosterone and type 2 diabetes risk across a range of testosterone levels.
He said they also wanted to examine interactions between testosterone and different diabetes risk factors in midlife and in older men.
“A low blood testosterone concentration is an independent risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, and high levels of testosterone appear protective against the development of type 2 diabetes,” Umapathysivam said.
The team examined data from the MAILES Cohort, a group of men ages 35 to 85 years living in urban Adelaide.
This particular study looked at 1,315 men, none of whom had testosterone treatment, diabetes, or cancer at the beginning of the study.
After five years, 110 of the subjects had developed type 2 diabetes.
The scientists said they corrected for factors known to affect the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Those factors included smoking, alcohol use, age, waist circumference, family history of diabetes, measures of blood sugar, medication use, and self-reported physical activity.
The researchers reported that blood testosterone…
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