Quote: (05-30-2014 05:39 PM)Neo Wrote:
Quote: (05-29-2014 09:37 PM)Yuan Wrote:
Hormone therapy has been gaining a lot more popularity, but research on the long term side effects is only starting now. So personally, I wouldn't recommend it as a 'safe' product for the long term. Maybe in a decade or two when we know more, until then it's 'have fun with it, but you might end up dealing with some harsh side effects even under clinical administration.'
Show me the studies that show how supplementing with testosterone to get your levels to optimal raises your risk of heart disease or cancer.
If you're referring to that study that showed a possible increase in heart attack risk. The increased risk was found in men under 65 with a history of heart disease. Granted it did state that there was an increased risk in men over 65 even if they didn't have preexisting heart problems, but let's face it after 65 most men are not in optimal health.
The side effects of TRT are well-documented. Your body will shutdown it's production of testosterone, but you can take hCG which mimics LH, and your balls will keep functioning. You may take a slight hit to your HDL/LDL ratio. Your estrogen may increase, and there are aromatase inhibitors for that. Your red blood count may increase.
The positive effects - everything else.
There are plenty of guys out there who have been steroid abusers, taking large amounts for long period times and are in their 50s and 60s and fine.
Claiming that there are 'harsh side effects' from a replacement dose of testosterone is just plain wrong.
To my knowledge test therapy does not have anything to do with increased cancer risk. I brought up gh therapy as well and growth hormone accelerates certain types of cancer growth. So the concern with gh therapy is that undiscovered cancer will become a much bigger problem.
When it comes to test therapy, there is one good study so far. It has a good sample size, lasted longer than previous studies and it came out after a comprehensive meta-analysis called out pharmaceutical companies for creating bias in their funded studies.
This one started out with a sample of 8709 male veterans, mean age 60 years, 1223 men got test therapy. It showed an increased risk of MI's, stroke and death by 5.8% regardless of whether or not they had pre-existing heart conditions after 3 years. You can check out the details here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24193080
Here is an article about the study for easy reading:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinolog...logy/42735
Previous studies were quite small, even shorter in duration and there are signs of foul play, so I'm not exactly convinced of its findings. In this meta-analysis of previous studies on test therapy, they found that "in trials not funded by the pharmaceutical industry the risk of a cardiovascular-related event on testosterone therapy was greater than in pharmaceutical industry funded trials".
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/108
If the average life expectancy of an American male is 77.4 years old (significantly longer if you make better life choices), it's perfectly valid to assume that a man could use test therapy for three decades or longer to enhance their life. A study lasting just one decade would clear things up.
The potential 'harsh side effects' I'm talking about are increased MI's and strokes and it's based on the veterans study. Sure, the problem with my assertion is that the median age was 60 years old and younger men were not examined, but it's the best thing we have to go off of. If anything, saying it's perfectly safe for the long term based on anecdotal evidence is plain wrong. We just don't have any good data on the long term effects to be able to say it's completely safe.