Healthy testosterone levels

Men, is this “unseen syndrome” robbing you of healthy testosterone levels?

By Jonathan V. Wright, M.D.

One in three men has the genetic tendency to CID (carbohydrate-induced dysglycemia, see page 3), then metabolic syndrome, and then type 2 diabetes. Especially in the last two, the insulin signal is continuously high. In addition to directly causing hypertension and high cholesterol, a continuously high insulin signal also lowers a man’s testosterone level by speeding up the enzyme (aromatase) that naturally transforms testosterone into estrogen, but usually in the small amounts normal for men.

The same diet, exercise, and supplement plan that can reverse type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome (and prevent these problems from happening)… see page one… will also slow a man’s transformation of testosterone into estrogen to a normal male amount.

Men with this problem should never rely on long-term use of a patent medicine, or even a specific botanical remedy, to re-regulate this problem without also following all the other recommendations for reversing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome reviewed elsewhere in this issue of Nutrition & Healing. For further details about excess transformation of testosterone into estrogen in men—and information on what to do about it—see the August 2013 issue of Nutrition & Healing.

Women have a normal amount of testosterone, too. It’s the main hormonal support for a woman’s muscles, and for many women it’s an important factor in libido. Women with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome should always be checked for low testosterone. As in men, low testosterone caused by that high insulin signal can be corrected with diet, exercise, and appropriate supplementation. JVW

The “hidden” toll of metabolic syndrome

By Jonathan V. Wright, M.D.

“Metabolic syndrome” is the name most commonly used to describe the next-to-the last stage in the progression to type 2 diabetes. Because of the upward spiral of high insulin/insulin resistance, serum cholesterol rises, triglycerides often climb, blood pressure goes up, and obesity (especially abdominal) gets worse. These components of metabolic syndrome are well known to many of us.

What’s becoming better recognized as a routine part of metabolic syndrome for men is declining testosterone levels, also due to the high insulin signal which speeds up the activity of aromatase, the enzyme which Nature uses to turn testosterone into estrogen in both men and women. Although this effect is noticed more in men, women can be affected too, since women need to maintain muscle strength. If high insulin speeds up aromatase enough in a woman’s body, she won’t have enough testosterone to maintain her usual muscle strength. Her libido can be adversely affected, too.

Another often overlooked feature of metabolic syndrome is osteoarthritis. The joint disorder was first linked to the syndrome in 2007 when Russian researchers reported that 82.3% of those suffering from osteoarthritis were found to also have metabolic syndrome.¹ A second report in 2008 by one of the same authors reported that “hyperinsulinemia” (a high insulin signal) occurred in 82.12% of individuals with osteoarthritis.²

Later, in 2009, American researchers examining data from the 3rd National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reported metabolic syndrome was more prevalent in those with osteoarthritis regardless of their age or race.³ These researchers also reported something I’ve noticed while doing physical exams for 40+ years, and that is that the younger the individual is when he or she starts to develop osteoarthritis, the more likely this individual is to have a high insulin signal during a glucose tolerance and insulin resistance test, which I’ve re-named the “Kraft Test” in honor of it’s developer, Dr. Joseph Kraft. More about the Kraft Test sometime later this year.

In 2010, other researchers wrote: “Osteoarthritis has been linked not only to obesity but also to other cardiovascular risk factors, namely diabetes, dyslipidemia [high cholesterol and/or triglycerides], hypertension, and insulin resistance.”⁴JVW