Having enough of this specific hormone can cut your risk of Alzheimer’s by 80%, according to a new study published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
This is by far the single biggest Alzheimer’s factor ever discovered.
So you absolutely must load up on this hormone naturally. Fortunately, that isn’t so hard to do.
Testosterone is the male sex hormone that is responsible for sex drive, sperm production, big muscles, and aggression.
Women’s bodies produce testosterone too, but at much lower levels than men’s bodies. This has recently given rise to a body of research investigating a possible link between low testosterone and increased dementia risk.
The latest contribution to this research comes from a team led by scientists from the University of Western Australia in Perth, who used data collected by the UK Biobank, a database that holds genetic and health data on more than 500,000 people.
They obtained information for upper middle-aged and elderly men and compiled a sample of 159,411 men with an average age of 61, who were followed over a period of seven years.
The information included testosterone levels in their blood, as well as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses.
During the seven years, 826 developed dementia, including 288 with Alzheimer’s disease.
The most important findings were that men with the lowest testosterone levels were 43% more likely to develop dementia and 80% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those with the highest testosterone levels.
They controlled for age, cardiovascular disease, and other factors that may have influenced their results.
Previous research findings have been inconsistent on this relationship, although this is by far the largest study on this question.
If these findings are correct, it won’t help you to start testosterone supplementation, because a 2017 study in JAMA with 788 subjects found that testosterone supplementation did not work to prevent dementia in elderly men with low testosterone and memory problems.
The better approach is to help your body produce more of its own testosterone naturally, especially since testosterone does drop as you age.
How can you do this?
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1. Exercise daily. The scientific literature is replete with studies showing that physically active men have higher testosterone levels than sedentary men have. A 2007 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology showed that this was especially true for weight training.
2. Keep your weight under control. Many studies, including one in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2014, have shown that overweight people have lower testosterone.
3. Eat a balanced diet. Since numerous studies show that testosterone is higher in people who eat enough protein, healthy fats, and carbs, dropping any food group from your diet is not a good idea.
4. Cut your stress and relax. When you stress, your body secretes cortisol, and cortisol reduces testosterone. Researchers have known this for decades, as demonstrated by a 1983 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
With these habits in place, you will put yourself in a good position to prevent low testosterone-linked dementia.