Testosterone Replacement Therapy May Help Aging Males Prevent Diabetes

Doctor Gary Wittert recently put up advertisements to recruit overweight males of the baby boomer generation for a clinical research trial. Amazingly, he gathered over 800 applications in a single day. What was Doctor Wittert studying that garnered such fervent interest in potential participants? Every patient involved in the study would receive a battery of Testosterone injections at no cost.

Who is Dr. Wittert?

Dr. Wittert is a medical professor at the Australian University of Adelaide. The doctor and his collegiate fellows hypothesize that Testosterone may be able to Adult-Onset Diabetes.

Testosterone has been studied for generations, and it is clear that Testosterone Injections provide numerous medical benefitsâaeespecially for those who suffer from Low Testosterone, also known as Testosterone Deficiency.

Testosterone Injections boost muscle mass and strength. Testosterone has been used to enhance mood and sex drive in deficient men for years now, but there continue to be alternate uses for the hormone, which are uncovered on a near-annual basis.

Adult-Onset Diabetes is a worldwide phenomenon that most heavily affects first-world countries. There is evidence that more than 300 million men and women across the globe struggle with Type-Two Diabetes.

What Does Testosterone HRT Do?

Testosterone is the primary male hormone produced by the body, though Testosterone also plays a lesser role in feminine physiology. Testosterone, vilified in the past, is becoming more appreciated as a legitimate medical therapy.

Current research trends suggest that it is inevitable that the hormone will become far more mainstream as a Hormone Replacement Therapy Treatment Option as news about its impressive benefits continues to grow.

In the past, testosterone has primarily been used as a means to enhance libido and as a means to increase athletic performance. Lance Armstrong recently admitted to using Performance Enhancing Testosterone as a tool to help him win his multiple Tour de France championships, for example. But ideas about this vital hormone continue to expand its viability as a mainstream therapy for common illnesses and medical conditions.

Suppose the results of this diabetes study prove that Testosterone Injections can prevent diabetes in obese men. In that case, the hormone will quickly become one of the most prescribed medical treatments in the world.

Wittert Study May Fully Legitimize Testosterone HRT to the Public

Stuart Roberts is a Sydney healthcare specialist for Bell Potter Securities, and he believes that this hypothesis if proven true, may change the way the world thinks about Testosterone HRT. He says that the Wittert Trial may be the study that legitimizes Testosterone from a consumer perspective.

He believes there is primarily a bias against Testosterone because outsiders often feel that Testosterone usage is something to laugh and joke about.

He also feels that the drug will likely become more widespread because Testosterone is not prohibitively expensive to manufacture and distribute, so insurance companies and healthcare systems will likely be very open to covering its usage as a non-elective means of healthcare.

The Wittert Testosterone Trial was recently presented at the International Congress of Andrology, making it a subject of great debate within the Australian medical community.

What is Testosterone?

Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone, produced primarily in the Testes, but also in the adrenal glands of both men and women. Testosterone is ultimately responsible for all sexual characteristics which differentiate the male body from the female body.

Testosterone can be bio-synthetically manufactured, and many companies, including AbbVie Incorporated, Eli Lilly and Company, and Bayer AG, provide trademark forms of Testosterone to treat and alleviate Testosterone Hormone Deficiency.

Testosterone is incredibly potent and profitable hormone therapy. In the United States, prescription testosterone sales truly exploded in the last decade, growing by over ten times from just over $200 million in revenue in 2001 to well over $2 billion in 2012. One reason is that Testosterone gels and patches are becoming more trusted and widespread in their usage.

Previously, Injectable HGH was the primary means of administering Testosterone Hormone. These new and easy-to-use topical formulas are causing the market for Testosterone to expand exponentially. Market analyses conducted in April 2012 by California-based Global Industry Analyst Incorporated provide evidence that Net Sales of Testosterone are expected to net $5 billion annually by 2017.

Testosterone Perceived as Distilled Manhood

Testosterone is not only becoming more popular in the United States; its prescription use is expanding rapidly in Australia as well. There are arguments as to why Testosterone use is growing as quickly as it is in the country.

One Sydney University Medical Professor, David Handelsman, remains skeptical. The doctor is a specialist in male reproductive health. He believes that Testosterone Injections are commonly provided for patients as a nebulous means of Longevity Therapy.

Handelsman believes that those who view Testosterone as a type of Fountain of Youth are mischaracterizing the effects of the drug. He feels that the primary reason that Testosterone is becoming so popular is how it is marketed.

Testosterone is widely linked to sexual prowess and ability in advertisementâaea strategy that has long been shown to capture the male attention span. The doctor believes that men generally view Testosterone as a means to postpone the aging process to restore their lost youth indefinitely.

Although the doctor has the right to be skeptical, it is evident through research regarding Testosterone Replacement Therapy that, although Testosterone canâaot make you 20 years old again, it can help slow down the aging process and extend the good years of life significantly while also improving medical outcomes in numerous ways for patients who suffer from Low-T.

Testosterone Deficiency Global Pandemic

It is clear that Testosterone Deficiency is a common medical condition affecting the lives of many men worldwide. According to the U.S. National Institute of Health Research, around five million males in America suffer from diagnosable Testosterone Deficiency in America today. This number may not seem that high at first glance.

Still, it should be noted that Testosterone Deficiency primarily affects males over the age of thirty and is far more common among this subset of the American population than in females or younger males.

A slightly older European clinical study discovered that an average of 20% of men over fifty experience modest-to-major symptoms of Testosterone Deficiency. This does not include patients for whom the symptoms of Testosterone Deficiency are more insipid, such as those who suffer from Adult-Onset Diabetes.

Although Testosterone Deficiency is treated more widely in America, outside of the United States, only about two percent of underlying Low-T cases get treated, according to a London Centre for Men's Health representative.

In America and worldwide, knowledge about the symptoms of Low Testosterone is quickly becoming general knowledge as information about Hormone Deficiency disseminates across the internet. However, there are still millions around the world who do not understand this disorder or donâaot know how to obtain treatment.

Testosterone Enhances Muscle

Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy has been used in some form or fashion for the last 80 years to treat male patients with particular medical afflictions like Klinefelter's syndrome. One of the primary symptoms of Klinefelter's syndrome is Low Testosterone, which leads to issues such as reduced muscular strength, low libido, poor cognitive function, fatigue, and increased incidence of osteoporosis.

Healthy individuals eventually took notice of the beneficial effects of Testosterone, and in the 1950s, sports athletes began to utilize Testosterone Injections to bolster their performance. Lance Armstrong is just the most recent list of successful and not-so-prominent athletes who have taken advantage of performance enhancers such as Testosterone, blood doping, and EPO.

At first, Testosterone was only available via Injection, but as procedural methods have become more advanced, Testosterone is now available via a number of methods, including patches, gels, and injections. The latest method of administration is via tablets of gum called troches.

Professor Handelsman says that Testosterone Replacement is becoming more and more popular daily. He says that in his experience, no individuals have used Testosterone Replacement Therapy and have been uncomfortable with the effects of the treatment.

In addition to improving physical performance, it also elevates mood and improves mental well-being.

Testosterone Known for Side-Effects when Used Improperly

Although Testosterone can be administered carefully and safely, some risk is involved. This risk is primarily manifested in the side effects of abuse, however. When males take too much testosterone for too long, they can develop a number of issues, such as hair loss, gynecomastia (increase in breast size), testicular shrinkage and reduced sperm count, liver disease, impotence, acne, and increased aggression.

Handelsman says that individuals who abuse Testosterone for personal enhancement can sometimes become erratic, violent, and aggressive even without requisite negative stimuli.

Testosterone can also lead to other medical issues when administered at too high a dosage. One Testosterone Study performed by Shalender Bhasin with a grant provided by the United States National Institute on Aging was ended prematurely because it was discovered that the patients using the therapy had an increased risk of hypertension and heart attacks.

Australian government medical advisor Carolyn Allan says that Normal Testosterone Levels can be somewhat tricky to track. They can change depending upon the particular Testosterone Test, the time that the test is administered, the age of the participants sampled, and their current state of health.

What is a Healthy Testosterone Level?

For youthful adult males who are perfectly healthy, an average Testosterone Level ranges between eight and twenty-seven nanomolar/liter. Although there is a wide range of what is considered healthy, it is physiologically typical for Serum Testosterone Levels to drop by one to two percent each year after the age of thirty.

There is some debate as to why Testosterone levels begin to decline at such a steady rate. Although many say that dropping Testosterone levels are innately tied to the aging process, others believe that Testosterone levels may decline not because of aging but because of medical abnormalities resulting from aging.

UCLA Medical Professor Ronald Swerdloff says that the medical community understands that certain medical conditions correlate with particular testosterone deficiency levels. He says that individuals with Testosterone Levels below eight nanomolar are most likely to suffer from the symptoms of erectile dysfunction and will often need Testosterone treatments to restore physical and sexual ability.

Serum testosterone measurements below 10 nanomolar are linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis and bone degeneration. Patients with testosterone levels below 15 Nanomolars are at an increased risk of fatigue and libido issues related to Low-T. In addition, they are more likely to struggle with obesity and increased levels of unhealthy adipose fat tissue.

German Testosterone Study

A recent study released at a German Medical conference proves the hypothesis that Low Testosterone Levels are associated with increased obesity risk. The study proved that Testosterone HRT could help obese males meet and beat their weight loss goals. It was also shown that the Administration of Testosterone helps men keep the weight off. The study was broad in scope, with 214 male participants.

These patients were followed and monitored for a minimum of two years of Testosterone Treatments. 115 of the original patients continued to use Testosterone HRT and were monitored for five full years. The researchers discovered that for most participants, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels all normalized in addition to improving the patient's ability to lose weight and retain their new, healthier weight.

As a result of this study and others like it, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council is granting more than $4.5 million to finance research that will be able to hopefully prove that Testosterone is an effective and safe means to encourage weight loss in obese patients.

Testosterone and Dieting

Today's medical protocol for encouraging patients to delay or prevent Type-2 diabetes is two-fold. The first part of the strategy is to encourage patients to reduce levels of adipose fat, which has an innate tendency to raise insulin levels. The second part of the plan is to increase activity levels to encourage weight loss and promote proper hormone function and metabolism.

This strategy is incredibly successful, but it is not all-encompassing. Even when used successfully, diabetes still occurs in almost one-third of at-risk patients inside a 5-year window. The International Diabetes Foundation, the world's foremost authority on diabetes, suggests that global efforts to fight obesity are approaching half a trillion dollars.

Wittert, spearheading the Testosterone Research Study gathering potential participants, and his associates discovered that on top of the 800 males who registered as potential subjects on day one, more than 3000 more clicked the internet link which advertised the Testosterone Trial.

The scientists' ultimate goal is to build a patient pool of 1,500 men between the ages of 50 and 74 who are clinically diagnosed as pre-diabetic. In addition, each participant must also be diagnosed with Low Testosterone and have a waist size of 37 or greater.

Each participant will be placed on a free Weight Watchers weight control program. The group participants will be divided into two groups. The first group will receive Testosterone Injections, and the second group will receive a placebo to control the experiment.

Nebido Testosterone by Bayer

The control group which will receive Testosterone will receive it via 1,000 mg doses of Nebido, a long-acting form of Testosterone medication sold by the pharmaceutical giant Bayer under the label Reandron in Australia.

Administration begins on the first day of the trial. Each patient will be delivered another dose of Nebido after six weeks; then, they will receive additional injections four times per year over two years. Males who suffer from cardiovascular issues or prostate cancer are not eligible for the study. The study has received funding from Sanofi, Eli Lilly, and Becton Dickinson and Company.

Although pharmaceutical companies primarily fund this trial, the study is entirely led by the investigating scientists. Bayer's only influence on the study is their donation of Testosterone Treatments.

Although Testosterone abuse has been shown to increase the risk of prostate cancer in some patients, there is no evidence that this treatment will lead to any cancer, nor will it lead to prostate enlargement, medically known as prostatic hyperplasia. Prostatic hyperplasia has been known to increase the difficulty of fluid excretion.

Testosterone and Prostate Cancer

Although in the past, there have been worries that Testosterone Replacement Therapy could agitate existing prostate cancers, no evidence suggests that this is the case. Even so, physicians and scientists remain cautious because there is no definitive proof that Testosterone HRT does not exacerbate existing prostate cancers.

Although there have been studies that tested for this potential, none of these studies had a large participant pool to provide proper assurance that patients with Prostate cancer can be safely treated with Testosterone Creams, Injections, and Patches.

Even though obesity and diabetes are correlated with Low Testosterone, researchers are unsure as to exactly how Testosterone levels affect the risk of Type-2 Diabetes in males who are pre-diabetic as a result of increasing insulin sensitivity.

Participants in this Testosterone for Diabetes Trial will be closely monitored for body composition, muscular strength, and blood-sugar levels. In addition, researchers will also take note of patients' motivation levels regarding their weight control program.

To ensure that the clinical trial remains safe, an independent group will conduct tests and monitor the program to make sure that the Testosterone Replacement Program for Diabetes is not causing the subjects any risk of harm.

Testosterone Trial is a Large Undertaking

Dr. Handelsman says that this Diabetes and Testosterone Clinical Trial is a massive effort but is clinically essential to our understanding of both Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy and potential treatment options regarding diabetes.

Handelsman is a senior fellow at the ANZAC Research Institute, one of the 6 primary sites where this Testosterone for Diabetic Prevention study will take place. As far as Handelsman knows, there have been no clinical trials of this size and scope about the effect of Testosterone on Diabetes anywhere around the globe.

Putting the Testosterone Debate to Rest

Although research suggests potential benefits for Testosterone Injection Treatments, the use of Testosterone HRT is still largely up for debate, says Andrology Australia. This debate cannot ultimately be put to rest until extensive studies such as this have proven that Testosterone Treatments are safe and effective.

Most scientific data shows that legitimate use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy is safe, but patients and doctors should still be judicious with the therapy.

Any individual who seeks to gain Anti-Aging Benefits from Testosterone should carefully weigh the risks and rewards, Handelsman tells reporters. For more than 30 years, Testosterone HRT was routinely utilized to relieve the symptoms of menopause.

Still, analysis of long-term clinical outcomes showed that Testosterone raised the risk of stroke and heart attack for menopausal and post-menopausal women.

Today, Testosterone HRT is still used as a treatment for Menopause alleviation, but treatment strategies have changed to adapt to this new knowledge. Testosterone is now administered with estrogen and progesterone to reduce the risk of adverse effects. In addition to this, Testosterone dosages have been adjusted to minimize the negative impact as well.

The story of Testosterone for Menopause is why clinical research is so important. Large-scale clinical trials can uncover potential issues before they reach the market, decreasing the risk of Testosterone Replacement Therapy by ensuring that physicians have all the data they need to provide the treatment responsibly.