Archive for November 27th, 2012

Obesity and Hormone Imbalance

A consistent finding in the scientific literature is that obese men have low testosterone and very high estrogen levels. Central or visceral obesity (pot belly) is recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. New findings have shed light on subtle hormone imbalances in obese men that are of borderline character and often fall within the normal laboratory reference range. Boosting testosterone levels seems to decrease the abdominal fat mass, reverse glucose intolerance, as well as lipoprotein abnormalities in the serum. Further analysis has also disclosed a regulatory role for testosterone in counteracting visceral fat accumulation. Longitudinal epidemiological data demonstrate that relatively low testosterone levels are a risk factor for development of visceral obesity. (7,237)
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