spot wrote:
Ralph20 wrote:
"many of which are shown to have major side effects". I'm not arguing your position, but this is the type of gross over generalization that seems to accompany any talk of medications on this forum. Some medications have varying side effects and some don't. We can certainly do better by speaking in more scientific terms than this. Especially when a great deal of science and research exists on these topics. Reference your topic about taking medications to mitigate the effects of aging. Again, a perfectly reasonable statement. But what makes you think that we are aging normally? There is an abundance of research showing the impacts that environmental chemicals are having on our bodies. The chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors, have metabolic impacts including low testosterone, obesity, and diabetes. The evidence is overwhelming that endocrine and metabolic disorders are increasing in prevalence. And not just by a little. I think the conversation around this is a little more nuanced than what some of the comments here would convey.
I think you are overstating the case of endocrine disruptors.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...articles/PMC2078473/
"To date, conflicting results of epidemiological studies have failed to confirm the hypothesis that exposure to environmental chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties is associated with human reproductive health problems."
There are also other things that can affect sperm count, like being overweight or obese. And that has most definitely risen in the West, and can just as easily explain the decline in sperm counts as chemicals.
We can agree to disagree on the extent of the impact of environmental chemicals. Recent research has certainly been heading that way as a way to explain the increasing epidemic of endocrine issues. I think the larger point I was trying to make was that we are not talking about just "getting older" and decreasing T levels. This is a disease process that lowers T far below what is considered normal for a given age.