Do Vegans Have Lower Testosterone Levels
Tags - #Vegan_Blog
This is one of the concerns that many male vegans or would-be vegans have when it comes to healthy testosterone levels. Does a vegan diet lower your testosterone levels? Although many factors affect testosterone levels, these are the findings that can help you give a clear answer.
Soy Isoflavones
Soy is one of the most abundantly eaten food sources on the planet. Many think that due to phytoestrogen content, soy may decrease the level of testosterone. This has led to many discussions and debates about soy and soy products.
The question arises because isoflavones a plant-derived phytoestrogen that mimics female hormones such as estrogen and estradiol.
The answer is normal consumption of soy and soy products has been found to have no effect on testosterone levels at all. In fact, soy has many benefits to offer.
Like one cup of cooked soybeans will give you 22g of protein. It is also shown to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Ingesting plant proteins is always better than animal proteins and is associated with lower heart-related illnesses.
One might also argue that βover 90% of the soy is GMO and GMO soy is not good for our bodies!.β We indeed produce millions of metric tons of GMO soy each year but, almost all of it is produced as animal feed.
The Soy that we consume even though it might be GMO it is in one of the safest forms.
In conclusion, soy has no effects on your testosterone levels when you consume natural amounts of it.
Proteins and carbs
In recent years we have seen a rise in keto and other high-fat diets. These diets recommend around 40 or fewer grams of carbs per day. Some of the studies tested how the number of carbs and protein affects testosterone levels in the body.
Not eating enough carbohydrates does harm testosterone levels. A high protein, high fat low carb diet has been shown to reduce testosterone levels in adult men.
So keeping a healthy amount of carbohydrates in your diet is necessary for a healthy amount of testosterone in the body.
Zinc
Zinc is one of the essential dietary minerals that not a lot of people pay attention to. Zinc helps with cell division and enzymes to break down food and other nutrients. It also plays an important role in enzymes that build proteins.
Having low amounts of zinc in the diet can hinder cell division and enzyme break down leading to lower testosterone levels. Consuming the recommended daily amount of zinc which is 11 milligrams can help maintain normal levels of testosterone.
Some of these foods include nuts, oatmeal, beans bread, and cereals.
Vitamin D
Getting a good amount of sun is necessary for everyone to maintain good health. What is more interesting is how vitamin D affects testosterone levels in men. 95% of testosterone is made by the testicles between 3mg to 10 mg daily. The adrenal glands produce the rest of 5%.
In one study involving 54 men, 31 were given 3,333IU/day vitamin D while the other 23 were given a placebo. After 12 months, men with vitamin D had an average of 3nmol/liter to 13.3 nmol/liter more total testosterone in their blood.
Obesity
Low testosterone levels are associated with increased fat mass and reduced lean mass in men. There is a bidirectional relationship between testosterone and obesity. Fat mass hinders the production of testosterone and low testosterone levels make it harder for men to gain lean mass and reduce fats.
So if youβre someone who wants to increase your testosterone levels and you are struggling with weight, you should try to lose some weight with exercise, which will help you increase your testosterone levels.
Calorie Deficit
One thing that we have learned from the previous points is that being overweight and not eating enough carbohydrates harms total testosterone levels. One other thing that is related to these is calorie restriction. Especially when trying to lose weight.
Reducing the number of calories you eat will have a big impact on the amount of testosterone you can produce. Not getting enough to maintain a healthy weight or function can result in a big dip in testosterone levels.
So even while losing weight one should not restrict calories too much.
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
There are 4 key players in this department Vitamin A, D, E, and K2. We have already discussed how important vitamin D is for testosterone levels but the same can be considered true for all the fat-soluble vitamins.
If you consume nuts and seeds regularly that helps you get all the vitamin E that you need.
Vitamin A can also be consumed regularly with the help of carrots, kale, papaya, red bell peppers, spinach, and tomatoes.
Vitamin K2 is a bit more tricky to get from a vegan diet. We can obtain and utilize vitamin k2 from the symbiotic relationship with the friendly gut bacteria in our intestines. However, in the modern days with the use of antibiotics so prevalent, we kill some of these friendly bacteria that help us. Resulting in a negative impact on our body.
However, you can get vitamin K2 from fermented soybean products that can help you maintain a healthy level of K2.
Having enough of these fat-soluble vitamins in your diet can help boost your testosterone levels for the better.
Adding Vitamins and mineral supplements
After the points above if you still for some reason canβt eat a healthy diet regularly you must add vitamins and minerals supplements that can help you with providing everything that you need to keep a healthy testosterone level.
Links
https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/135/3/584/4663709
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19524224/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33383165/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3573976/
https://www.nature.com/articles/1602899
https://www.asep.org/asep/asep/BrillaV2.PDF
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21154195/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25982085/
https://www.rawsomehealthy.com/vitamin-k2-on-a-raw-vegan-diet/