Healthy Gut, High Testosterone
Your body may not be producing enough testosterone, and it has nothing to do with the usual factors like age. Check this out.
If you take 100 men and test their testosterone levels and microbiome (gut bacteria) health, you'll find an interesting correlation. The men with a diverse population of good gut bacteria will most likely have the highest natural testosterone levels. The men with low T will most likely have dysbiosis: imbalanced, unhealthy gut bacteria.
So, does an unhealthy population of gut bugs cause low T, or does low T negatively affect microbiome health? The answer to both is... yes! It's called a bidirectional link β a two-way interaction. Testosterone levels shape the gut microbiome's composition, and a healthy gut microbiome supports testosterone production.
Let's take a quick peek at the science, then look at ways to keep our gut bugs happy so our hormone levels are optimized.
Microbiome Influence on Testosterone
Gut bacteria produce enzymes like Ξ²-glucuronidase that "deconjugate" testosterone, making it bioavailable. An imbalanced microbiome disrupts this process, lowering free testosterone levels.
Healthy gut bacteria also ferment dietary fiber into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which reduce inflammation and support the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, indirectly aiding testosterone production. Finally, a healthy microbiome enhances absorption of nutrients like zinc and vitamin D, critical for testosterone synthesis.
In animal studies, fecal microbiota was collected from high-T animals and transplanted into low-T animals. Sure enough, the healthy gut bacteria quickly populated, and the testosterone levels of the low-T mice shot up.
Testosterone's Impact on the Microbiome
In the other direction on this two-way street, testosterone influences gut microbial composition. Studies show low testosterone levels correlate with reduced microbial diversity, while higher levels promote beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus. In animal studies, castration or low testosterone shifts the microbiome toward pro-inflammatory species, exacerbating metabolic issues like low T.
Human studies are limited here, but when mice were given testosterone in one study, their microbiota composition shifted positively with increased diversity and more beneficial bacteria.
How Does All That Work?
Well, an unhealthy microbiome increases systemic inflammation, suppressing the HPG axis and reducing testosterone production. Gut dysbiosis also affects the gut-brain axis, elevating cortisol (which inhibits testosterone synthesis) and promoting testosterone-degrading bacteria.
Surprisingly, gut bacteria also regulate estrogen via the "estrobolome," and imbalances lead to estrogen dominance, suppressing testosterone.
What Disrupts the Gut Microbiome?
High-sugar diets (which feed bad bacteria), low-fiber diets (where good bacteria have nothing to eat), chronic stress, and antibiotics can all wreck your gut health and lead to decreased T.
What Supports a Healthy Gut Microbiome?
First, avoid all that stuff listed above. Then, focus on eating more prebiotic foods like oats. A prebiotic is any non-digestible fiber that serves as food for beneficial gut bacteria.
Consume more fermented foods with live bacteria strains, too, including yogurt and kefir. Sauerkraut and kimchi also provide probiotics and fiber, promoting microbial diversity and regulating estrogen metabolism, preventing estrogen dominance that suppresses testosterone.
Finally, consider adding a prebiotic supplement like beta glucan (Buy at Amazon), which enhances SCFA production and microbial diversity, supporting testosterone bioavailability.
A healthier microbiome, fostered by beta glucan, enhances the activity of enzymes like Ξ²-glucuronidase, which deconjugates testosterone in the gut, increasing its bioavailability. This ensures more free testosterone circulates in the body.
By fostering a healthy gut lining, beta glucan also enhances the absorption of testosterone-supporting nutrients like zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D, which are essential for Leydig cell function in the testes.
Beta glucan also supports a balanced estrobolome, the gut bacteria that metabolize estrogen. By promoting microbial diversity, beta glucan helps regulate estrogen levels, preventing estrogen from getting out of hand.
Not every form of beta glucan is equal, however. Most oral beta glucan studies use a form derived from oats, barley, or yeast. However, those sources aren't very bioavailable (and yeast is a common allergen). Algal beta glucan is the best source.
Algal beta glucan's cell wall is much thinner than oat or yeast, making it easy to digest. Plus, the concentration of beta glucan in the cell walls of algae is over 95%, much higher than other sources. Each serving of Biotest Beta Glucan (Buy at Amazon) contains 600 mg derived from Euglena gracilis algae.
As a bonus, beta glucan also...
