Obese men risk losing libido

Dec 27, 2006

A GRAIN OF SCIENCE<br><br>Obese men often experience a sharp decline in testosterone levels, while obese girls show much higher levels of the sex hormone than girls of normal weight.

A GRAIN OF SCIENCE

Obese men often experience a sharp decline in testosterone levels, while obese girls show much higher levels of the sex hormone than girls of normal weight.

According to a recent scientific research, testosterone is the hormone that determines libido. Therefore, the libido of fat men reduces, while fat women exhibit a bit more sexual appetite than their leaner female peers.

Two separate studies published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism could indicate increased health risks for both grown men and teen-age girls who are obese.

Testosterone also helps maintain muscle mass and bone density and keeps sex drive and physical energy at healthy levels.

Testosterone levels naturally decline as men age. But those who put on weight as little as 13.6kg for a six-foot (1.83m) man, lost as much testosterone as if they were 10 years, scientists at the New England Research Institutes found.
The scientists based their findings on a study that tracked 1,667 men. Obese girls going through puberty had the opposite problem, a separate study found.

Researchers at the University of Virginia and several other universities found that obese girls had two to nine times the levels of testosterone as girls of normal weight. That could impair reproductive health, lead to undesirable side effects like excess hair growth and put them at greater risk for diabetes, they said. That paper was based on a study of 104 girls.

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