Intermittent fasting increases testosterone in older males?
Hello everyone,
In response to our email about Bill Faloon's recent blood test results, we've had more than one male supporter tell us they've seen their testosterone levels increase while regularly practicing intermittent fasting.
To further substantiate that observation, Paul McGlothlin, President of The CR Way Longevity Center, sent Bill Faloon the following message about this phenomenon, which he has observed in his community. He allowed us to share this message on the forum here:
Paul McGlothlin:
Happy New Year, Bill.
Both Intermittent fasting and calorie restriction can raise testosterone levels to higher than normal for a person's age, provided that one maintains a healthy BMI above 19. If BMI drops too low, then testosterone (and IGF-1) drops so low that very little can raise it.The CR Way avoids that by emphasizing cell signaling rather than calorie restriction.
I have never seen sudden spikes in testosterone.
Hope that helps,
Paul
-
Interesting thanks Max. FWIW I have a BMI of 20 and have done intermittent fasting for over a decade, in addition to twice a year 1 week water only fasts. At 50 my testosterone started to drop below age adjusted 'normal' and persistently stayed there. Otherwise my health is superlative as I eat a whole foods vegan diet with a good balance of the macro nutrients, I lift weights, do Pilates, run and cycle. One small data point.
Good news is that with a topical application I've been able to bring the Testosterone up nicely :)
-
Dan I have found that calorie restriction significantly reduces my testosterone as does metformin. If you google this topic you will find several papers that suggest that that this is the case for both issues. Note that I use androderm and my total T is still low. It does not affect my DHEA-S or estradiol.
I have been meaning to contact LEF to raise this issue. Testosterone has significant benefits for seniors ( I am 79) in terms of preventing dementia, osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Although the literature is beginning to suggest that these benefits may be due in large part to estradiol associated aromatization in males.
This does not consider adverse impact of testosterone on the thymus gland.
Peter Howe
-
Peter H. Howe Yes thanks I know, I'm not calorie restricting. Fifteen or something years ago I studied CR and the society (bought Brians book but didn't get to know him until recently), but decided to take an approach of signaling rather than chronic CR. Hence the intermittent and 1 week water fasts. The rest of the year I eat as much as I wish. Fortunately it appears that this is considered the optimal approach these days AFAIK. I only tried chronic CR for a month or two during this period, otherwise have been well fed (other than the two weeks of water fasting).
The chronic CR was achieved through the 1 meal a day approach, with my height it's impossible to eat enough calories in one meal, which made that relatively easy, though my assessment was that intermittent was likely to yield better results. Our systems appear to prefer variable stress, not chronic.
On testosterone my first Dr prescribed 20mg generic topical, which I later found was the dose you'd give a woman at my age. It had the affect of lowering my T further. My hypothesis was it was enough to give me a temporary boost, but that in turn suppressed the natural production further. Now with a new physician I've been on 200mg x 3 daily which restored it to 1500ish, and we're lowering it now to dial it in to 800. I also take HCG to keep the natural production going. Restoring the hormones has been a literal life changer.
-
Dan has this changed free testosterone or just total?
-
Both, estradiol is a nice number as is DHEA. PSA increased a bit too from it's usual low sub 1, it'll probably come back down as we dial this in.
-
-
Never had a BMI of 19! Currently at 12.
