Gynecomastia and Testosterone

/ Wellness / By

Exploring Gynecomastia and Testosterone: What Every Man Should Know

 

 

Men’s breasts increase in size due to a sex hormone imbalance. This condition is called gynecomastia, and it occurs in 32 to 65% of boys. Let’s try to understand it now.

Why this happens  

How it happens  

How to maintain a good testosterone level

 

Gynecomastia is of two types

Pseudo gynecomastia (false gynecomastia)

In this case, the breast size is large, but it is due to fat accumulation. If someone is obese or overweight, fat can accumulate in the breast, causing the appearance of larger breasts.

True gynecomastia  

In this case, the breast size appears larger due to the enlargement of the glandular tissue. At this point, it doesn’t matter if people are tall or short. For obese people, it’s a bit more complicated. You’ll understand it later.

 

Let’s find out how and why gynecomastia occurs

You may know about sex hormones. The male sex hormone is testosterone, and the female sex hormone is progesterone. However, some female hormones in the body of boys have important functions, and there are some male hormones in the body of girls that also have significant functions. Let me explain the details.

Let’s see what’s in the breast. A boy or girl has glandular tissue in the breast that contains two types of receptors. These receptors work through hormones. Usually, we observe that the breasts of boys are small because testosterone has affected the receptor. Women’s breasts are larger because they have more of the progesterone. However, if a boy’s body has less testosterone and more progesterone than the normal level, then it is called hormonal imbalance. This hormone imbalance can cause gynecomastia.

  1. Gynecomastia can occur at any time in a man’s life, most commonly seen at birth. A baby receives many hormones from the mother’s body during birth, including the hormone estrogen. This can cause the baby’s breasts to appear enlarged, but this typically resolves automatically after a few days.
  1. When a man is 50 years old, the level of estrogen hormone decreases significantly, resulting in hormonal imbalance and gynecomastia.
  1. Adolescence is a period during which maximum gynecomastia occurs. As you know, there are many hormonal changes in a child’s body. As the beard and mustache grow, the voice becomes hoarse. Gynecomastia occurs in boys due to various hormonal changes during this time, but it is usually solved within 6 months to 2 years.
  1. Klinefelter syndrome is a condition in which a baby is born with an extra chromosome, resulting in 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. This condition can lead to various issues, including breast enlargement. One of the main problems with Klinefelter’s syndrome is infertility.
  1. Gynecomastia can also be caused by certain diseases such as liver cirrhosis, hyperthyroidism, decreased kidney function, and during prostate treatment when testosterone production decreases.

 

Gynaecomastia in obese

This is where pseudo-gynecomastia and true gynecomastia overlap. How? The glandular tissue is not large because of the fat, her breasts look bigger. Obese people have a lot of fat in their bodies, so excess fat helps in the production of the female hormone estrogen. and This estrogen binds to the breast tissue and increases its size. In this case, the tissue grows. The breast looks bigger due to the accumulation of fat.

 

Treatment of gynecomastia

Gynecomastia usually does not require any treatment. In this case, a doctor can solve this problem. He’ll cut off your glandular tissue. And if gynecomastia is the cause of any disease, then it is cured by recognizing and treating that disease.

 

When does testosterone level decrease?

After the age of 30 in men, testosterone decreases to 1% every year, which is normal. But if someone’s level is below 300 nanogram/decilitre and similar results are seen at different times, then it is called low

 

What are the symptoms of low testosterone? 

  1. Weakness or loss of strength in the body, earlier you could lift a lot of weight and now you can’t or it is complicated to lift.
  2. Reduce muscle mass
  3. Stomach fat will increase. When the testosterone level decreases, increased fat accumulates in the belly. 
  4. Depression increases when testosterone is low. One way to understand this is suddenly You are upset but don’t know why.
  5. Interest in working will decrease. You no longer feel like doing certain tasks that you used to enjoy doing and now the same task that used to take 2 hours to complete, but now takes 5 hours to complete that. Not feeling like doing the job anymore is also a symptom of low testosterone levels.
  6. Difficulty holding attention. You are reading something but another thought comes to your mind and after some time you forget it.
  7. There can be instability. Suppose one of your office staff has done a job. It’s not wrong, but you don’t like it. You’re angry about it, Or you’re angry for no reason. But You don’t know why you’re getting angry.
  8. Interest in intercourse will decrease, and reproductive organs will not be strong. There may be interfertility.

 

How to increase testosterone levels?

  1. Exercise: A study was conducted among 41 obese people to investigate whether exercising could increase testosterone levels and the effect of reducing calorie intake on testosterone levels. As a result, testosterone levels increased significantly with exercise, and reducing calorie intake also led to an increase in testosterone, although not to a significant extent.
  1. Weight Lifting: Most of the increase in testosterone is attributed to weight lifting. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is also highly effective for boosting testosterone levels. To perform HIIT, go to an open field and run at maximum intensity. It doesn’t matter if it’s for just 10 seconds; gradually increase the intensity, and this is referred to as HIIT.
  1. Anxiety: It’s crucial to reduce anxiety levels as they can have negative impacts on career, marital life, or student life. High anxiety levels can lead to increased cortisol hormone levels, resulting in a gradual decrease in testosterone levels.
  1. Sufficient sleep is essential. Both the duration and quality of sleep matter. A study conducted on 2295 people examined the effects of sleep on testosterone levels, measuring both duration and quality of sleep as well as testosterone levels in their blood. The results revealed that sleeping less than seven hours per night reduced testosterone levels by 5.85 ng/dl.
  1. Address Vitamin D deficiency. One study found a rapid increase in testosterone levels when there was a deficiency in vitamin D.

 

Let’s explore foods that can naturally increase testosterone levels

  1. Fatty fish are rich in zinc, vitamin D, and other nutrients that support healthy testosterone levels. Examples include anchovies, mackerel, black cod, salmon, sardines, herring, bluefish, and tuna.
  1. Foods rich in magnesium. Oxidative stress and inflammation can lower testosterone levels, while magnesium-rich foods can help reduce oxidative stress and increase testosterone levels. Incorporate foods such as pumpkin seeds, almonds, avocados, nuts, legumes, tofu, spinach, peanuts, dark chocolate, and eggs into your diet to support healthy testosterone levels.