Why You Should Seriously Consider NOT Taking Testosterone… And This Goes For Pete Hegseth, Too!
Pete Hegseth wants a higher-testosterone military. Under his new plan, every US service member over 30 will get an annual test for low testosterone, and some will be offered replacement therapy. Doctors have one big problem with it. For healthy men, the science just isn’t there.
“Testosterone in the normal range is not a performance drug,” CBS News medical correspondent Dr Céline Gounder said. Endocrinologist Dr Marcus Goncalves of NYU Langone Health made the same point.
A normal reading runs anywhere from about 270 to over 900, and where you land says nothing about your strength, your stamina or your manliness. There is no solid evidence that topping up a slightly low number makes a healthy man perform any better.
Who Testosterone Is Actually For
Replacement therapy has a real job. It helps men with hypogonadism, a diagnosed condition where the body cannot make enough testosterone, and who have the symptoms to match.
That is a world away from handing it out to healthy blokes who want to feel more alpha. Mayo Clinic puts it plainly: “treating normal aging with testosterone therapy is not advisable.” So if you have a genuine diagnosis, none of this is aimed at you. If you are chasing a vibe, it might be.
The side effects are the part Hegseth skipped over. Testosterone can thicken the blood and raise the risk of a clot travelling to the lungs. It can worsen sleep apnoea. It can shrink the testicles and cut sperm production, which matters a lot if you want kids one day. It can also stimulate prostate growth.
The large 2023 TRAVERSE trial, run in men who genuinely had low testosterone, found no rise in major heart attacks or strokes, but it did record more cases of atrial fibrillation and clots in the lungs. Long-term safety past a few years is still an open question.
So Why Do It?
Then there’s the bill. Dr Gounder reckons the blood draws alone would cost “tens of millions of dollars a year,” and added that “there’s no published analysis showing this is a good use of money.” That leaves a fair question about what this program is really selling, and it doesn’t look like health.
