Post by parisuk on Jun 25, 2010 12:57:12 GMT -5
Here's an article by Chris Lockwood and Rick Collins that i found quite enjoyable, didn't know where to post it, so i thought in here would be a good place. I don't know if i'm allowed to do this so i'll probably get sued or something.
Estrogen Nation:
By chris lockwood and rick collins
A WOMAN WHO WANTS BIGGER BREASTS or fuller lips can find a bevy of licensed doctors ready to fulfill her desires. Society will welcome her and her career may be advanced. The aging female troubled by her fading youth can stop by a local GNC and purchase legal progesterone or any number of powerful phytoestrogens proven to raise circulating estrogen. Even unwanted pregnancy can be prevented with supraphysiological doses of estrogen and progesterone that have about a 99%-effective guarantee. Today's woman appears to have it made. [paragraph] Today's man? Not so much. Paradoxically, not since Ronald Reagan was president, and Arnold and Stallone were Hollywood's preeminent action stars has Western society embraced the combination of a serious physical presence with a Steve McQueenlike toughness. Today's man, like bathroom tissue, is to be prized for his softness and pliability. Rugged masculinity has been replaced by perfumed body sprays and the ability to debate whatever useless topic appears on TMZ that hour. [paragraph] But forget testosterone hormone replacement for the average Joe. Even herbs or prohormones that might slightly increase testosterone have less public support, let alone access, than marijuana (which significantly reduces T). Confounding the hypocrisy, the most decorated Olympian in U.S. history gets caught reenacting Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke and gets a pass and a smile, and a pro baseball player taking a legal and innocuous testosterone precursor gets called in front of Congress and is publicly ostracized as a cheater and poor role model while his chance of entering the Hall of Fame is stripped.
Here's the masculine truth: Possibly the most rigorously tested form of male contraceptive under investigation since the early 1980s involved high doses of testosterone. It's clear from current research review papers and the number of tax dollar co-funded studies recently completed (clinicaltrials. gov) that safety is a nonfactor when it comes to stimulating T production. Rather, researchers are still trying to pinpoint the dosing strategy to achieve nonpregnancy rates comparable to those seen with female oral contraceptives (roughly 98% effective; testosterone-based methods are. currently 80%-90% effective). Once that goal is achieved, it'll be interesting to see how many politicians offer to return the wasted tax dollars spent on the testosterone-in-sports witch hunt that monopolized the U.S. government's attention for almost a year while the nation spiraled into recession.
Evils of Estrogen
Since when did we become an Estrogen Nation in which all things feminine are exalted and all things that raise testosterone are regarded with a smirk, a suspension or, God forbid, a subpoena? "Too much testosterone"--shorthand for excessive manliness or Neanderthal behavior--seems to have taken the rap for much of the world's wrongs. Back in the 1970s, Ms. magazine published an article accusing men of such a high "overdose" of test that their "abnormal" behavior suggested nearly all guys suffered from testosterone poisoning.
If such an epidemic existed then, it's hard to find it today. In fact, at the 2007 Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility it was reported that studies show a 1% worldwide decline in testosterone concentrations in men per year over the past 40-50 years. Scientists have also reported that testicular cancer now affects approximately 1% of European males, who also have a one in six chance of having sperm counts so low as to cause infertility. (4) Interestingly, the decline appears most prevalent in urban as opposed to rural areas.(5) No doubt, there are more admittedly metrosexual guys who frequent Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive than frequently compete in rodeos. (For the rise of the former, see John Travolta in Urban Cowboy.)
If you turned on your television a few years back, you might've heard a prophetic quote from HBO's Six Feet Under series: "Men are the new women." A couple of years later, the line "Men, we're the new women" heralded the series Big Shots. Clearly, the trend-spotting alarms in Hollywood were flashing pink. Maybe Arnold was spot-on when he spoofed the U.S. as a country of "girly men."
What's behind this loss of manliness? The answer may be lack of exercise and poor diet. Obesity and low testosterone go hand in hand because of the predominance of an enzyme called aromatase that's highly present in subcutaneous bodyfat. Aromatase converts testosterone into estrogen rather than letting it metabolize into T's more active metabolite DHT. (6) Similarly, any number of what are called endocrine disrupters may negatively affect the amount of test the body produces or the ratio of testosterone to estrogen. Even Mother Nature is biased: There are many more natural products and active compounds known to stimulate estrogen production (known as phytoestrogens) than raise testosterone.
Environmental pollutants and synthetics also seem to side with the ladies. For example, when nonhuman male species are exposed to a host of naturally derived and manmade compounds such as flame retardants used in clothing and household items, nitrates and other ingredients common in fertilizers, pesticides and phthalates used to make plastics, our evolutionary brethren appear to begin to undergo transgender reassignment treatment (increased feminization and estrogen production, reduced fertility and increased ratio of female offspring). (7), (8) Hell, even the most common active ingredients found in sunscreens have been shown to significantly increase the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen. (9)
The Fat Factor
Contrary to its erroneously demonized status, testosterone has profound positive effects on both body and brain, impacting your performance virtually everywhere--in the gym, on the job, at school, on your health and mortality, and in the bedroom. Sure, T plays a role in building muscles and enhancing strength, but it also influences psychological factors including mood, memory, libido, assertiveness and confidence, not to mention improving other physiological factors such as cholesterol levels, sperm production, bone health and blood sugar. (10) In fact, developing type 2 diabetes or atherosclerosis, as well as developing and dying from cardiovascular disease, have been directly linked to low testosterone." Increased muscle mass and strength, however, were recently shown to be strong independent factors that can protect against developing or dying from such metabolic syndromes. (12)
What's more, research conducted at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium and published in a 2008 issue of Clinical Endocrinology found that bodyfat percentage and circulating levels of T are partly controlled by the same set of genes. (13) It's a vicious cycle: Less testosterone means more bodyfat, while more bodyfat decreases testosterone. As test levels decline, energy, muscle mass, strength, sex drive and good cholesterol levels drop, and bodyfat levels, bad cholesterol levels, and susceptibility to depression and disease all rise.
Unfortunately, the problem isn't uncommon. Most men's testosterone levels drop as they age. Research published in 2006 in The International Journal of Clinical Practice suggests that, more than one-third of men over 45 may have clinically low test levels, and that the odds of having low T are 2.4 times higher for obese men. (14) To make matters worse, not only does testosterone decrease as you age but the aromatization to feminizing estrogen increases. Therefore, being fat and getting older both adversely affect the hormone responsible for your manliness--bad news for a lot of American guys, given that one out of every three over age 20 and approximately 40% of those ages 40-59 are obese.
Be a Manlier Man
Perhaps most convincing of the systematic neutering of America's masculinity are the changes in men's test levels from a generational perspective. A recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism provided startling evidence after looking at testosterone levels in groups of men ages 45-79 in three waves: 1987-1989, 1995-1997 and 2002-2004. Researchers examined age-matched subjects from all three periods and found that those in the '80s had higher average T levels than men in the '90s, and those in the third wave had the least testosterone of all. (15) In other words, the typical American man is, biologically, less male than his father and even less so than his grandfather. What's scary is that this modern-day evolution isn't happening over millions of years but can be observed in a matter of just a few decades.
Yes, we're in quite a mess. But you have a choice. You can go get your tips frosted, rent Sex and the City and blend into the androgynous masses, or you can unplug from the Matrix and make the most of the testosterone pumping through your veins. Sure, T is part of the discussion when we speak of behaviors such as assertiveness and dominance, but research shows it also correlates with leadership and heroism. Stop apologizing for being a man. Instead, spend your time in the pursuit of making yourself a better man.
What kind of man is the ideal for our times? It's a guy who's got it all together, in both body and mind. He's ruggedly powerful and supremely confident, capable of taking on whatever comes out of those gates, to borrow a line from Gladiator. He doesn't just look manly and heroic, he feels and acts manly and heroic. He's a protector, a provider, a take-charge kind of guy with a heart. He's what we call a true alpha male.
Estrogen Nation:
By chris lockwood and rick collins
A WOMAN WHO WANTS BIGGER BREASTS or fuller lips can find a bevy of licensed doctors ready to fulfill her desires. Society will welcome her and her career may be advanced. The aging female troubled by her fading youth can stop by a local GNC and purchase legal progesterone or any number of powerful phytoestrogens proven to raise circulating estrogen. Even unwanted pregnancy can be prevented with supraphysiological doses of estrogen and progesterone that have about a 99%-effective guarantee. Today's woman appears to have it made. [paragraph] Today's man? Not so much. Paradoxically, not since Ronald Reagan was president, and Arnold and Stallone were Hollywood's preeminent action stars has Western society embraced the combination of a serious physical presence with a Steve McQueenlike toughness. Today's man, like bathroom tissue, is to be prized for his softness and pliability. Rugged masculinity has been replaced by perfumed body sprays and the ability to debate whatever useless topic appears on TMZ that hour. [paragraph] But forget testosterone hormone replacement for the average Joe. Even herbs or prohormones that might slightly increase testosterone have less public support, let alone access, than marijuana (which significantly reduces T). Confounding the hypocrisy, the most decorated Olympian in U.S. history gets caught reenacting Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke and gets a pass and a smile, and a pro baseball player taking a legal and innocuous testosterone precursor gets called in front of Congress and is publicly ostracized as a cheater and poor role model while his chance of entering the Hall of Fame is stripped.
Here's the masculine truth: Possibly the most rigorously tested form of male contraceptive under investigation since the early 1980s involved high doses of testosterone. It's clear from current research review papers and the number of tax dollar co-funded studies recently completed (clinicaltrials. gov) that safety is a nonfactor when it comes to stimulating T production. Rather, researchers are still trying to pinpoint the dosing strategy to achieve nonpregnancy rates comparable to those seen with female oral contraceptives (roughly 98% effective; testosterone-based methods are. currently 80%-90% effective). Once that goal is achieved, it'll be interesting to see how many politicians offer to return the wasted tax dollars spent on the testosterone-in-sports witch hunt that monopolized the U.S. government's attention for almost a year while the nation spiraled into recession.
Evils of Estrogen
Since when did we become an Estrogen Nation in which all things feminine are exalted and all things that raise testosterone are regarded with a smirk, a suspension or, God forbid, a subpoena? "Too much testosterone"--shorthand for excessive manliness or Neanderthal behavior--seems to have taken the rap for much of the world's wrongs. Back in the 1970s, Ms. magazine published an article accusing men of such a high "overdose" of test that their "abnormal" behavior suggested nearly all guys suffered from testosterone poisoning.
If such an epidemic existed then, it's hard to find it today. In fact, at the 2007 Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility it was reported that studies show a 1% worldwide decline in testosterone concentrations in men per year over the past 40-50 years. Scientists have also reported that testicular cancer now affects approximately 1% of European males, who also have a one in six chance of having sperm counts so low as to cause infertility. (4) Interestingly, the decline appears most prevalent in urban as opposed to rural areas.(5) No doubt, there are more admittedly metrosexual guys who frequent Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive than frequently compete in rodeos. (For the rise of the former, see John Travolta in Urban Cowboy.)
If you turned on your television a few years back, you might've heard a prophetic quote from HBO's Six Feet Under series: "Men are the new women." A couple of years later, the line "Men, we're the new women" heralded the series Big Shots. Clearly, the trend-spotting alarms in Hollywood were flashing pink. Maybe Arnold was spot-on when he spoofed the U.S. as a country of "girly men."
What's behind this loss of manliness? The answer may be lack of exercise and poor diet. Obesity and low testosterone go hand in hand because of the predominance of an enzyme called aromatase that's highly present in subcutaneous bodyfat. Aromatase converts testosterone into estrogen rather than letting it metabolize into T's more active metabolite DHT. (6) Similarly, any number of what are called endocrine disrupters may negatively affect the amount of test the body produces or the ratio of testosterone to estrogen. Even Mother Nature is biased: There are many more natural products and active compounds known to stimulate estrogen production (known as phytoestrogens) than raise testosterone.
Environmental pollutants and synthetics also seem to side with the ladies. For example, when nonhuman male species are exposed to a host of naturally derived and manmade compounds such as flame retardants used in clothing and household items, nitrates and other ingredients common in fertilizers, pesticides and phthalates used to make plastics, our evolutionary brethren appear to begin to undergo transgender reassignment treatment (increased feminization and estrogen production, reduced fertility and increased ratio of female offspring). (7), (8) Hell, even the most common active ingredients found in sunscreens have been shown to significantly increase the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen. (9)
The Fat Factor
Contrary to its erroneously demonized status, testosterone has profound positive effects on both body and brain, impacting your performance virtually everywhere--in the gym, on the job, at school, on your health and mortality, and in the bedroom. Sure, T plays a role in building muscles and enhancing strength, but it also influences psychological factors including mood, memory, libido, assertiveness and confidence, not to mention improving other physiological factors such as cholesterol levels, sperm production, bone health and blood sugar. (10) In fact, developing type 2 diabetes or atherosclerosis, as well as developing and dying from cardiovascular disease, have been directly linked to low testosterone." Increased muscle mass and strength, however, were recently shown to be strong independent factors that can protect against developing or dying from such metabolic syndromes. (12)
What's more, research conducted at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium and published in a 2008 issue of Clinical Endocrinology found that bodyfat percentage and circulating levels of T are partly controlled by the same set of genes. (13) It's a vicious cycle: Less testosterone means more bodyfat, while more bodyfat decreases testosterone. As test levels decline, energy, muscle mass, strength, sex drive and good cholesterol levels drop, and bodyfat levels, bad cholesterol levels, and susceptibility to depression and disease all rise.
Unfortunately, the problem isn't uncommon. Most men's testosterone levels drop as they age. Research published in 2006 in The International Journal of Clinical Practice suggests that, more than one-third of men over 45 may have clinically low test levels, and that the odds of having low T are 2.4 times higher for obese men. (14) To make matters worse, not only does testosterone decrease as you age but the aromatization to feminizing estrogen increases. Therefore, being fat and getting older both adversely affect the hormone responsible for your manliness--bad news for a lot of American guys, given that one out of every three over age 20 and approximately 40% of those ages 40-59 are obese.
Be a Manlier Man
Perhaps most convincing of the systematic neutering of America's masculinity are the changes in men's test levels from a generational perspective. A recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism provided startling evidence after looking at testosterone levels in groups of men ages 45-79 in three waves: 1987-1989, 1995-1997 and 2002-2004. Researchers examined age-matched subjects from all three periods and found that those in the '80s had higher average T levels than men in the '90s, and those in the third wave had the least testosterone of all. (15) In other words, the typical American man is, biologically, less male than his father and even less so than his grandfather. What's scary is that this modern-day evolution isn't happening over millions of years but can be observed in a matter of just a few decades.
Yes, we're in quite a mess. But you have a choice. You can go get your tips frosted, rent Sex and the City and blend into the androgynous masses, or you can unplug from the Matrix and make the most of the testosterone pumping through your veins. Sure, T is part of the discussion when we speak of behaviors such as assertiveness and dominance, but research shows it also correlates with leadership and heroism. Stop apologizing for being a man. Instead, spend your time in the pursuit of making yourself a better man.
What kind of man is the ideal for our times? It's a guy who's got it all together, in both body and mind. He's ruggedly powerful and supremely confident, capable of taking on whatever comes out of those gates, to borrow a line from Gladiator. He doesn't just look manly and heroic, he feels and acts manly and heroic. He's a protector, a provider, a take-charge kind of guy with a heart. He's what we call a true alpha male.
