= Hormone Facts =

1. Baldness is NOT caused by High Testosterone


So are bald men sexier? Not necessarily. Use testosterone and go bald? Baldness related to sex hormones is one of the oldest and hardest myths to dispel. With or without testosterone, the incidence of baldness in men ranges from about 23 percent to 87 percent, and baldness may develop any time after puberty. Castration after the onset of puberty halts the progression of human balding, indicating that hormones must play a significant role.
Therapeutic injections of testosterone do not result in the loss of hair in adult males treated because of a deficiency in testosterone, and there is no noticeable change in the scalp hair of normal men who receive testosterone. Perhaps low testosterone is a greater risk factor for increased balding than high or increased testosterone. Male pattern baldness, with balding limited to the top of the head, also seems to be related more to hormone deficiencies than to excess testosterone.






2. Penis Length is related to the size of your index finger


How can this occur? Across all species with a spine, including humans, the Homeobox (Hox) genes regulate limb development, including fingers and toes, as well as the urogenital system (bladder, kidneys and the penis.) Theoretically the shape and size of the fingers can be related to morphologic patterns of the genitals.


When large groups of military recruits were tested to see what part of the body most closely correlated to the size of the penis, it was found to be the index finger. The length of this finger to the fourth digit (4D or ring finger), is established at the end of the first trimester as a sexually dimorphic trait. This means that finger lengths are different between men and women. Across all the races, men tend to have shorter index fingers relative to ring fingers (ie, lower 2D:4D) than do women. There is evidence that testosterone concentrations before birth affects both finger length and penis growth.






3. Low Testosterone, hypogonadism, is more common than you think.


Men with hypogonadal disorders have symptoms that are often denied by the patient and ignored by the physician. In addition, diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic options are poorly understood. With a longer life span and with advances in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, some aging men suffer from associated decreases in testosterone levels that may increase the risk of osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, fatigue, and mood disturbances in a fashion similar to that in their female counterparts.


Just as breast cancer has been a concern in women, prostate cancer in men remains a common problem that demands further research efforts and also is an issue in the consideration of testosterone replacement therapy. [From :AACE Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Evaluation and Treatment of Hypogonadism in Adult Male Patients Developed by The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and The American College of Endocrinology. © 1998, AACE






4. Sexual Preference is fixed from birth.


In our society the idea that sexual preference might be fixed from birth is not a popular theory. However, the concept that sexual preference is consciously chosen at puberty or at any other age after birth is a biological impossibility. Differences in gender, the state of being male or female, are far more complex than most people realize. Recent studies on bisexual men, homosexual men and homosexual women have found that people with these sexual orientations not only have different hormonal levels from heterosexuals but possess different physical characteristics as well. It has been observed that brain hormone events occurring before birth are a factor in the development of human sexual orientation. It could be that the factors creating homosexual orientation are the same for gay men and gay women. The role hormones play in these mechanisms is influential, but not fully understood.






5. Women and gay men hear better than straight men.


According to Dennis McFadden at the Institute for Neuroscience in Texas, evidence has accumulated that the bodies and brains of homosexual males and females differ subtly in structure and function from those of their heterosexual counterpart. He noted that homosexuals have larger suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus and thicker connections between the two halves of the brain than heterosexual males. See Chapter 11, for an explanation of how the SCN regulates the biologic clock and the release of melatonin and oxytocin.






6. Boys and Girls have the same level of testosterone till puberty.


Beginning at puberty boys start to prefer geometry and mathematics, and demonstrate improved mechanical skills over girls. Girls are already superior at verbal and organizational skills but do not generally follow boys with a heightened interest in logical or mechanical understanding. This effect is not due to boys being smarter than girls or the other way around, but to fluctuations in circulating hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone that are regulated by hormones working on the developing brain.






7. Men prefer pornography because of how their brains are wired.


Visual and spatial ability predominate more in the right brain of males as more of their brain becomes devoted to vision-related stimulation. This explains why men prefer pornography much more than women do for sexual stimulation. In females, estrogen creates increased neural connections mainly affecting the left brain so that hearing and speech capabilities develop better than they do in males. Women's brains have more interconnections between the two halves, creating a thicker connecting bridge and enabling them to process data rapidly between both sides of the brain. Men might see how things are going better than women can, but women listen and hear better.






8. Low Testosterone not high testosterone can cause prostate cancer.


Controversial research suggesting that low, rather than high testosterone may cause prostate cancer was reported over a decade ago by two highly respected urologists, Wayne Meikle at the University of Utah and Robert Prehn, at the Cancer Institute. Regardless of these findings and others, the safety of testosterone is not yet fully accepted. According to Dr. Prehn, testosterone may protect the prostate by blocking some of the age-related changes, which promote its increased growth. Dr. Meikle, a well-known researcher in transdermal testosterone, has found that low testosterone is a risk factor for prostate cancer in men with a positive family history for the disease.






9. The sexual drive is controlled by the same hormone in men and women.


Male hormones or androgens such as testosterone or its metabolite dihydrotestosterone (DHT) control sex drives in both men and women. Andropause is the male equivalent of menopause. Andropause is associated with declining hormone levels in men 55 to 70 years of age but it is not recognized by the American Medical Association as a condition. (Andros means "masculine" in Greek.)






10. Low Testosterone can be caused by what you eat.


After the revelation, in January, 2001, that dioxin, a chemical used in the manufacture of vinyl products, and DDT, a dioxin containing pesticide, had been identified as carcinogenic which was present in all animal fats including the breast milk of American mothers, I looked at environmental factors as the possible cause of this phenomenon. Contamination from dioxin leads to a higher risk of asthma, allergies, diabetes, endometriosis, infertility, and miscarriages. Animal products such as meat, cheese, eggs, and milk from certain countries, including the US contain high levels of dioxin.


In healthy men, exposure to government approved levels of dioxin could reduce testosterone production to abnormally low levels. Low levels of testosterone were responsible for a much wider range of symptoms than previously realized, and encompassed not only sex-related problems such as low sex drive, but also depression, memory problems, osteoporosis, loss of muscle mass, fatigue and loss of the enjoyment of life.






11. Cooking your food in plastic containers in the microwave can lower your testosterone and increase toxic products like dioxin in your blood.


The manufacturing of vinyl is the leading source of dioxin in the US environment, and dioxin wins all the awards as the most deadly substance on the planet. First making its debut in the American consciousness as the herbicide Agent Orange used in the Vietnam war, dioxin is toxic at a dilution of less than five parts per trillion. It has been proven to cause cancer and is not merely statistically linked to a higher risk of cancer. Dioxin, is a powerful hormone-disrupting chemical associated with small penis size, low sperm count, miscarriages, and reproductive disorders. Babies exposed to dioxins before birth are more likely to have a lower IQ, learning disabilities, a shorter attention span, and damaged immune and nervous systems.




Vinyl is the primary source of dioxin in our environment. Vinyl is a soft or hard plastic used in house siding, windows, PVC pipes, medical packaging and credit cards. Vinyl makes it possible to own beautiful dishes and glasses that are inexpensive. Most appliances, windows, furniture and food containers are coated with vinyl. Unfortunately, when vinyl breaks down, as it inevitably does over time or when burned, it directly releases tetrachloro-dibenzo- dioxin or TCDD/dioxin into the environment. When you cover food with a plastic wrap and turn on the microwave, dioxin can literally drip onto your food from the sheets of protective plastic.




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