Testosterone(Book Chapter)
Testosterone is a hormone produced majorly by the testicles in adult human _ men. The hormone affects a man’s appearance and sexual development, stimulates sperm production and regulates a man’s sex drive. It also helps build muscles and bone mass. Testosterone production decreases with age. Its production is at its highest in a man’s early adulthood and drops slowly each year afterwards. The normal range of testoster-one in the body is typically 300 to 1000 ng/dL for men and 15 to 70 ng/dL for women. A range of symptoms can occur if its production drastically drops below normal. Men with low T can experience a range of symptoms if its decrease becomes significant. Low testosterone, or low T, is diagnosed when levels fall below 300 ng/dL. A blood test, called ‘a serum testosterone test’, is used to determine the level of circulating testosterone. When the body does not produce the right amount of testosterone, the condition is called hypogonadism. This is sometimes called “low T”. Men diagnosed with hypogonadism can benefit from testosterone therapy. However, therapy is not usually recommended, unless testosterone level falls quite below the normal range for age. This is because there are some natural remedies which can help.
Authoured by: kizito, Omona , Kizito Omona
Academic units: Faculty of Health Sciences