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men's health
A May 2021 study by the Florey Adelaide Male Ageing Study said,
"Less deep sleep and more light sleep is related to slower responses on cognitive function tests,".
"While obstructive sleep apnoea itself is not directly related to cognitive function in all men studied, we did note that in men aged 65 and older, more light sleep was related to worse attention and processing speed."
A May 2021 study by the University of Bari said,
"We aimed to evaluate the response of total testosterone and sex hormone levels to a very low-calorie ketogenic diet in a cohort of overweight or obese non-diabetic male subjects and what we found was that there is a noticeable relation between a specific, controlled diet and insulin action, energy balance, and testicular function,"
A March 2021 report from Boston Children’s Hospital suggests that,
"The treatment of PCOS is limited by our incomplete understanding of the disorder,”
"Identifying the different causes for PCOS provides insights into the mechanisms of disease and is the first step in identifying future targets for treatment of the disorder."
"By demonstrating that genetic risk factors for PCOS are associated with obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and male-pattern baldness in men, we show that these genetic risk factors do not require ovaries to result in the characteristics of PCOS,”
"Thus, at least in some cases, the reproductive dysfunction of PCOS may be caused by biological mechanisms common to both men and women. Future studies of the genetic risk factors for PCOS could help us to better understand the causes and potential treatment targets for PCOS."
BMI of 25 or less
10,000 steps or equivalent
2 litres of water or equivalent
80g (men) 60g (women)
38g (men) 30g (women)
A pill that contains all daily recommended vitamains and minerals
One glass daily of kefir or kombucha
Zero
Use the Calculator to identify your risk of heart disease and stroke.
A normal testosterone level range for men is
300 to 1,000 ng/dL or 8.7 - 29 nmol/L.
Testosterone levels usually decrease over time, especially over 40 years of age.
The following symptoms may be a sign of low testosterone levels.
decreased sex drive
inability to achieve an erection
inability to conceive a child
overall tiredness
Beef
Milk
Egg yolks
Tuna
Fortified cereals
Oysters
Shellfish
Beans
Turn off the TV
Reduce social media
giving you time to
Lift Weights
Reduce Stress
Take Vitamin D
Take Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
Sleep, Rest & Relax
An April 2021 study found that,
“… a pro-inflammatory diet can contribute to testosterone deficiency, among other potentially debilitating health issues,"
"Our results suggest men who eat a pro-inflammatory diet [a refined diet** that scores high on the dietary inflammatory index (DII)], particularly those who are obese, are more likely to have testosterone deficiency,"
**A refined diet includes foods that contain refined carbohydrates and sugar as well as polyunsaturated fats.
The study also said,
"Since men with obesity likely already experience chronic inflammation, physicians should be aware of contributing factors, like diet, that could likely worsen this inflammation and contribute to the risk of other health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.”
A more anti-inflammatory diet "could be a feasible method to reduce the accumulated inflammatory burden, [potentially] leading to an increased testosterone level.”
A March 2017 study by the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope found that,
"Androgens, a type of male sex hormone, promote the growth of prostate cancer cells by binding to and activating the androgen receptor, a protein that is expressed in prostate cells,"
"White button mushrooms appear to suppress the activity of the androgen receptor."
"We found that white button mushrooms contain chemicals that can block the activity of the androgen receptor in mouse models, indicating this fungus can reduce PSA levels,”
"While more research is needed, it's possible that white button mushrooms could one day contribute to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer."
A March 2021 study by the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation found that where there is vital exhaustion - “excessive fatigue, feelings of demoralisation and increased irritability," there is an increased risk of heart attack in men. The study said,
"It is thought to be a response to intractable problems in people's lives, particularly when they are unable to adapt to prolonged exposure to psychological stressors."
"Living alone indicates less social support, which we know from our prior studies is an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke."
"The relationship of exhaustion with threatening cardiovascular events should be taken into account when assessing risk,”
"Efforts to improve well-being and reduce stress at home and at work can help reduce vital exhaustion. Involvement in community groups is one way to increase social support and become less vulnerable to stress. Together with a healthy lifestyle, these measures should be beneficial for heart health."
I am a fan of the Starting Strength programme to get started with strength training.
An April 2018 study by University of Maryland School of Medicine said, “The key takeaway from our study on men younger than 50 is 'the more you smoke, the more you stroke,’ …The goal is to get these young men to stop smoking, however if they can smoke fewer cigarettes it could help reduce their stroke risk,"
My annual blood tests show HDL/LDL cholesterol rates are slightly high. It’s been at least three years since I had them tested and may not reflect the direction in which they are going, given my recent “Eat Clean & Train” programme.
I resolve to keep
Increasing the amount of fibre, fruit and vegetables in my diet
The gym programme (strength training – bench press, deadlifts and squats, every other day)
Focused on reaching my annually-set personal weight and BMI targets
And to get my blood tests done annually now.
Radix Ginseng (the root) is Ren Shen in Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM).
Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble in “Materia Medica” in an extensive listing, say it is,
“sweet, slightly bitter, slightly warm” and is one of the “herbs that tonify the Qi”. It is contraindicated “in cases of yin deficiency with heat signs, heat excess, or in the absence of significant qi deficiency … also contraindicated for hypertensive patients with ascendant liver yang and in cases of very high blood pressure.”
Siberian ginseng is classified as an “Adaptogen and Tonic”(Menzies-Trull in "The Herbalist's Prescriber").
“Anti-depressive, increases resistance and improves both physical and mental performance… it will raise lowered blood pressure to a normal level… it can be used in general for exhaustion states and weakness.” (David Hoffman in “The New Holistic Herbal”).
Unani Tibb: For, amongst other things, “digestion, stimulate malfunctioning endocrine glands and is a powerful antispasmodic in diseases such as asthma” (Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” (1980).
A January 2020 study by the University of California, San Diego, found that,
"…despite prevailing scientific and public opinion, eating more vegetables will not alter the course of prostate cancer. It will not, to the best of our knowledge, suppress or cure it,"
"However, while eating a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables and getting more exercise may not cure cancer, it may keep the body stronger and healthier, which may help patients tolerate cancer treatments."
"Patients assigned to the intervention increased their intake of fruits and vegetables to a statistically significant degree, and significantly more than control patients did. These findings were supported by significant changes in the blood carotenoid levels of patients. Nonetheless, these data fail to support prevailing assertions in clinical guidelines and the popular media that diets high in micronutrient-rich vegetables improve cancer-specific outcomes among prostate cancer survivors,"
"The most common question … is, 'Can I decrease the chances that I will need treatment for prostate cancer by changing my diet?' We now have good evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and light on red meat is not likely to impact need for treatment,"
"But this study does not provide justification for eating anything you want, either. The overall health benefits of a diet that's relatively low in fat and rich in fruits, vegetables and healthy grains are well-established."
"We designed a simple and inexpensive program that proved we could change people's diets for the better. We hoped that through nutrition we could alter disease outcomes and then use those data to build a network of diet counselors to help men with prostate cancer eat more vegetables,"
"It's still an endeavor worth considering, possibly in patients with advanced prostate cancer."
A January 2020 study by Department of Surgery, University of Chicago Medicine and colleagues from the Department of Urology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the Department of Surgery, NorthShore University Health System found that, "…men who adhered to a fat restrictive diet had lower serum testosterone than men on a nonrestrictive diet," but that, “… the clinical significance of small differences in serum T across diets is unclear."
In passing … some good foods for testosterone are oysters, egg yolk, shellfish, tuna, low-fat milk, fortified cereals, beans and beef.
A December 2019 study by the University of South Australia said that, “There's an assumption that 'good' fats and 'bad' fats perform as they're described - but what's surprising, is that it wasn't the type of fat that mattered at all, as an equal amount of the good and bad fats significantly supressed testosterone production,"
"In this study we also found that consuming albumen - the protein in egg whites - increased testosterone levels, and did so by four-fold relative to fasting, while albumin, combined with the bad saturated fat somewhat ameliorated the effect of the bad fats on testosterone levels, providing another diet-based influencer of testosterone levels."
polyunsaturated fat
monounsaturated fat
refined carbohydrate
whey
egg white
mixed meals of polyunsaturated fat and refined carbohydrate
polyunsaturated fat and egg white
refined carbohydrate and egg white
The researchers said, "… for infertile men, and men with lower than normal testosterone levels, lowering the overall fat content and possibly increasing whey or adding egg whites may lead to improvements in testosterone levels over the shorter term."
A November 2019 study by the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital holds out the prospect of a new home testing kit for prostate cancer. They said,
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. It usually develops slowly and the majority of cancers will not require treatment in a man's lifetime. However, doctors struggle to predict which tumours will become aggressive, making it hard to decide on treatment for many men.”
"The most commonly used tests for prostate cancer include blood tests, a physical examination known as a digital rectal examination…, an MRI scan or a biopsy.”
"We developed the [Prostate Urine Risk], which looks at gene expression in urine samples and provides vital information about whether a cancer is aggressive or 'low risk'.”
"Because the prostate is constantly secreting, the collection of urine from men's first urination of the day means that the biomarker levels from the prostate are much higher and more consistent, so this is a great improvement.”
"Being able to simply provide a urine sample at home and post a sample off for analysis could really revolutionise diagnosis.”
"It means that men would not have to undergo a digital rectal examination, so it would be much less stressful and should result in a lot more patients being tested."
