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Muscle Media > Health & Wellness > Topics For Men > Best Fats for Testosterone
Health & Wellness

Best Fats for Testosterone

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Best Fats for Testosterone
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Not all Fats are Equal. Best Fats for Testosterone.

In the early 80’s and 90’s, low-fat diets were the mainstream way to lose weight. It was a diet of chicken breasts and egg whites because we had the misconception that fats were unhealthy. However, what we know today is that dietary fat provides the building blocks to support optimal testosterone production.

Table of Contents
Not all Fats are Equal. Best Fats for Testosterone.What Types of Fats Are Best for Testosterone?The Leydig cells make testosterone from cholesterol. High Fat Post-Exercise May Blunt Anabolic Signaling

Testosterone levels peak during a man’s twenties and subsequently decline over a man’s lifetime. Aging and lifestyle factors such as stress, improper diet, physical inactivity, smoking, drinking, lack of sleep and the use of prescription medications can significantly reduce testosterone levels. Most men don’t associate food with testosterone, but if you’re not getting enough fat in your diet, you may be hurting your bodies natural testosterone production. One of the fascinating studies suggesting that diet can raise testosterone was conducted in 2000 when researchers compared serum sex hormone levels in 42 men who ate lean meat (150 g) or tofu (290 g) daily and found a significantly higher ratio of testosterone to estradiol levels in meat eaters.

Two major studies examining vegan diets to those of meat eaters found that vegan diets elevated the sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) which binds to testosterone. Excessively high SHBG is problematic especially for males and athletes because it decreases the amount of free testosterone. Elevated levels of SHBG are associated with infertility, a decreased sex drive, and erectile dysfunction, especially when total testosterone levels are already low.

Another factor that increases SHBG is overtraining. In a 2011 Finnish study, researchers assessed the impacts of overtraining on levels of SHBG and total testosterone. Researchers examined military recruits undergoing intense military training. The physical regimen started at 2 hours/day in week 1 and increased to 7 hours/day by week 8.

The researchers took blood samples of the subjects after 12 hours of fasting before weeks 1, 4, and seven where the first blood sample served as the baseline blood levels of SHBG and total testosterone.

Researchers revealed that total testosterone remained the same as the baseline while serum SHBG concentrations increased gradually over the study. Because of the increase in SHBG and the same level of TT, the free serum testosterone levels decreased resulting in lower muscle recovery and ultimately poorer physical performance. In another study, two elite ice hockey teams were put on different diets for seven months. One group received a diet higher in fat and lower in carbs containing 40% fat and 45% carbs, whereas the other team ate less fat and more carbs with 30% fat and 55% carbs (protein intake was identical). Both during and after the study, the researchers saw that the higher fat intake group had higher free testosterone levels, along with lower sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels.

What Types of Fats Are Best for Testosterone?

Most men need a mix of mono and saturated fats to optimize testosterone levels. It seems that polyunsaturated fats and trans fats are associated with a decrease in testosterone. In one study the type of lipid appears to influence circulating testosterone concentrations. In this study, MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acids) and SFA (saturated fatty acids) were the strongest predictors of increased testosterone levels.

Cortisol concentrations in this study were not affected by dietary fat. However, this study did not specifically look at the effects of essential fatty acids.Olive oil is a fundamental food in the Mediterranean diet, which has reported beneficial effects on sexual function.

One study reported an increase in serum total testosterone and luteinizing hormone after three weeks of consumption of 25 mL of virgin argan oil or extra virgin olive oil compared with baseline in 60 men 23 to 40 years old, with no real difference between the two oils.

Another study in rats found that both olive oil and coconut oil could enhance testosterone production. For sixty days, the rats were given feed to which seventy grams of soya oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or grapeseed oil per kilogram had been added.

At the end of the study, the researchers were interested in how much testosterone levels changed at the end of the study. Olive oil was the best fat for raising testosterone, but olive oil had a few other potent beneficial effects. The researchers also found a relationship between the diet, the amount of free cholesterol in the Leydig cells and the testosterone level.

The Leydig cells make testosterone from cholesterol.

A diet that is rich in coconut oil or olive oil apparently helps the cells to absorb more cholesterol. Cholesterol is a vital pre-cursor for testosterone production. Thus, natural athletes can optimize their testosterone production by making olive oil their main source of fat. Olive oil and coconut oil also raise the concentration of the body’s antioxidants in the Leydig cells, which produce testosterone.

Another theory is that Leydig cells begin to produce less testosterone due to cell damage from free radicals, the antioxidants in olive oil, and coconut oil may prevent cell damage.  Olive oil and coconut oil also increased the two enzymes necessary for testosterone production which are 3-beta-HSD and 17-beta-HSD. This was done in cell cultures so it’s not conclusive evidence that it works in real life. There has never been a study in humans to show that olive oil or coconut oil raises testosterone levels in man, but the study is interesting nevertheless.

High Fat Post-Exercise May Blunt Anabolic Signaling

Fat levels are important for testosterone production, but it seems that post exercise, you may want to keep fat intake low. Post-exercise fat intake is less studied, and there is not much research on the effects of a high-fat diet on post-exercise anabolic signaling pathways. One would suspect that post-exercise fat intake would be anabolic, but new research published in Medicine in Sports and Science in Exercise may blunt the anabolic responses to exercise.

Researchers examined how high-fat diets affected the anabolic signaling protein p70S6K which, in muscle, acts like a supervisor controlling the process of muscle building.

For example, the combination of resistance exercise and consuming whey protein produces a two-fold increase in the activity of the protein, p-70S6K1. In simple terms, p-70S6K1 is an important muscle growth factor. When leucine is administered after intense resistance exercise, it results in increased p70S6K.

Researchers also examined the effects of reduced carbohydrate and high post-exercise fat availability on cell signaling and expression of genes regulating muscle protein synthesis.

Subjects exercised under different but similar caloric dietary regimens in the post-exercise conditions consisting of:

-High Carbohydrate Diet/Low Fat (10 grams of Carbohydrate, 2.5 grams of Protein and 0.8 Fat grams per kg per day) or

-Low Carb/ High Fat Diet- in the post-exercise recovery periods (2.5 grams of Carbohydrate, 2.5 grams of Protein and 3.5 Fat grams per kg of bodyweight).

At the end of the study, muscle glycogen was lower at 3 and 15 hours in the post-high-fat condition compared to high carbohydrate condition. This is to be expected following high intensity exercise with a low carb diet.

The fat burning genes increased after the high-fat meal compared to the high carbohydrate meal. The fat burning genes PDK4, CD36, and CPT1 mRNA were greater in the high-fat diet in the recovery period from steady state exercise compared with the high carbohydrate diet.

Again, this has been shown before as one of the adaptations to a high-fat diet where the metabolic machinery for fat burning has increased. The BIG surprise in this study was that the anabolic signaling pathway, p70S6K activity was higher at 3 hours post-steady state exercise in the high carbohydrate versus high-fat diet.

The post-exercise high fat feeding does increase fat genes for increased fat oxidation. However, post-exercise p70S6K1 activity is reduced under conditions of high fat feeding, thus, potentially impairing the skeletal muscle remodeling processes.

Key Points: Based on the current research, diets high in saturated and monounsaturated fats such olive oil are some of the best fats to increase natural testosterone production. Diets lower in dietary fats may reduce optimal levels of testosterone.

Hurtado de Catalfo GE, de Alaniz MJ, Marra CA. Influence of commercial dietary oils on lipid composition and testosterone production in interstitial cells isolated from rat testis. Lipids. 2009 Apr;44(4):345-57.

HabitoRC,MontaltoJ,LeslieE,etal.Effectsofreplacingmeat with soyabean in the diet on sex hormone concentrations in healthy adult males. Br J Nutr 2000;84:557-563.

Allen NE, Key TJ, Dossus L, et al. Endogenous sex hormones and endometrial cancer risk in women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Endocr Relat Cancer. 2008 Jun;15(2):485-97.

Tanskanen, Minna M., et al. “Serum Sex Hormone–Binding Globulin and Cortisol Concentrations are Associated With Overreaching During Strenuous Military Training.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 25.3 (2011): 787-797.

KeyTJ,RoeL,ThorogoodM,etal.Testosterone, sexhormone- binding globulin, calculated free testosterone, and oestradiol in male vegans and omnivores. Br J Nutr 1990;64:111-119.

Allen NE, Appleby PN, Davey GK, et al. Hormones and diet: low insulin-like growth factor-I but normal bioavailable androgens in vegan men. Br J Cancer 2000;83:95-97.

Hamilton-Reeves JM, Vazquez G, Duval SJ, et al. Clinical studies show no effects of soy protein or isoflavones on reproductive hormones in men: results of a meta-analysis. Fertil Steril 2010;94:997-1007.

Derouiche A, Jafri A, Driouch I, et al. Effect of argan and olive oil consumption on the hormonal profile of androgens among healthy adult Moroccan men. Nat Prod Commun 2013;8:51-53.

Volek JS, Kraemer WJ, Bush JA, Incledon T, Boetes M. Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol. 1997 Jan;82(1):49-54.

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