Cholesterol is a type of blood fat. Blood fats are a form of lipids. Lipids are molecules that act as building blocks for the formation and functions of cells in our body.
Cholesterol along with other lipids do not get absorbed and cannot circulate in your bloodstream independently, so these are attached to proteins. These form tiny spheres-like structures and are carried throughout the circulatory system as lipoproteins.
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The Relation Between Cholesterol and Testosterone
Testosterone is a hormone produced inside the human body. It mainly affects a man’s appearance and sexual development. It is produced by the testicles in men and by the ovaries in women but comparatively in a much smaller amount. It is this hormone that stimulates sperm production as well as sex drive in men, and also helps build muscle and bone mass.
The Co-relation between Cholesterol and Testosterone
Cholesterol is not naturally bad for your health, but fluctuating levels in your body may affect in accumulation of fat or blockage of arteries making you prone to various heart diseases. It also helps your body to make testosterone. Cells in the testicles called Leydig cells to absorb the cholesterols in your blood and convert them into testosterone.
High cholesterol limits blood flow to the testicles and may damage the ability to produce testosterone. Lipid-lowering medications to lower cholesterol levels may cause erectile dysfunction. However, these medications may affect a man’s sexual performance but a lot of men report a negative effect on their erectile function.
How does cholesterol make testosterone?
Leydig cells present in the testicles get most of what they need to produce testosterone by simply absorbing the cholesterol floating around in your blood. If there’s not enough cholesterol in our blood, the testicles can produce a bit of their own for the Leydig cells to convert the same into testosterone.
Cholesterol is a type of lipid, waxy and fat-like substance that is produced by the liver naturally. It is important for the formation of cell membranes, certain hormones and vitamins in your body. While your body produces cholesterol in the liver along with lipids that carry the cholesterol to different parts of your body through your bloodstream. However, additional cholesterol can be introduced into your body through dairy and poultry products. The fats in protein and dairy products breakdown and convert to cholesterol in your body, however, excess cholesterol can block arteries and affect cardiac health.
Cholesterol types
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL) or bad cholesterol
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels or good cholesterol.
High levels of HDL indicate a high density of fat in the body which is unhealthy. If LDL is comparatively high than HDL it indicates a lower level of fat in the body. But if the LDL is alarmingly high then also it may have adverse health effects.
It is observed that Testosterone therapy may affect your cholesterol levels too. Although, there no such clear results if testosterone and cholesterol have any direct effect on each other. Some researchers have found that testosterone does lower both high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels.
How do cholesterol levels affect testosterone?
According to Biochemistry, Cholesterol is the substrate for testosterone biosynthesis, and hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors, such as statins could affect serum testosterone levels. It has been observed in animal studies that statins can reduce testosterone production when given in high doses.
One factor of metabolic syndrome (which is one of the five risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing heart disease, diabetes, and stroke) is high cholesterol levels. Metabolic syndrome is a collection of conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and excess belly fat. This syndrome can not only increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes, but it is also associated with low testosterone levels.
Effects of Testosterone
- The Testosterone hormone is what stimulates the sex drive in men. It can also affect their mental health, bone and muscle mass, fat storage, and red blood cell production.
- Abnormally low or high levels of testosterone can also affect a man’s mental and physical health.
- You can check your testosterone levels with a simple blood test and after consulting a doctor, you can go for Testosterone therapy to treat men with low levels of testosterone.
- If you have low Testosterone you can seek a doctor if this type of therapy might benefits
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