Testosterone levels dependent on the childhood environment?

What influences the testosterone level in childhood?

Testosterone is a key hormone that affects muscle mass, male fertility, and the onset of male puberty. Researchers have now found that testosterone levels are apparently not determined by factors such as genetics or race. On the other hand, there is greater influence where those affected lived as a child.

Researchers at Durham University in England found in their recent research that testosterone levels are significantly influenced by where people lived in their childhood. The physicians published the results of their study in the English language journal "Nature Ecology & Evolution".

Childhood environment most important factor for testosterone levels

Different groups of men were examined for the study. It was particularly analyzed where the participants had spent their childhood, either in Bangladesh or in London. It was also examined whether the subjects had ancestors from Bangladesh or Europe. They found that the childhood environment was the most important factor in determining the current testosterone level, height and age at puberty, experts explain.

Five groups of participants were examined

The researchers compared a total of five groups of men for their study: men born in Bangladesh who still live there, men born in Bangladesh who have already moved to London as children, men born in Bangladesh who have moved to London as adults, British-born men whose parents immigrated to the UK and British-born men who also had European ancestors.

Testosterone levels can cause health problems

Most men in the study had a normal healthy testosterone level. However, there have been some men with very high or low testosterone levels, both of which can cause health problems. In addition, the study showed some important differences between the populations studied. Men born either in the United Kingdom or Bangladesh but raised in the United Kingdom, on average, seemed to have similar testosterone levels, body size and physical maturity before adolescence, regardless of their origin explain the doctors. Men born and raised in Bangladesh averaged puberty on average, were smaller, and had low testosterone levels.

Timing of infections can affect testosterone production

There is one childhood factor that is related to the environment and can have lifelong effects on men's testosterone production, the authors suggest. The results fit the previous findings on how teething can affect testosterone production. For example, the timing of the infection can affect fertility, as in mumps, where the long-term production of sperm is compromised. An infectious disease in childhood can also have a lasting effect on testosterone levels. Of course, it is important to realize that all the differences reported in this study are based on broad averages, the experts add. (As)