Nutraceuticals and nootropics for anti-aging

HRT for men on the rise

A recent newspaper article by Karen Uhlenhuth of the Kansas City Star discusses the rise in use of Hormone Replacement Therapy by men, the hormone in this case being testosterone. According to the article, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that 350,000 men are currently using testosterone supplements, and that 5 million more are in need of them.

Link to the article:

Hormone replacement therapy turns its attention to males

Uhlenhuth’s article doesn’t go into the costs and politics involved in male HRT, which is a shame — her readers would have learned a lot more if she had. She could have pointed out the seeming oddity of the FDA on the one hand pushing for vastly increased use of the most expensive kinds of testosterone supplements while simultaneously trying to squelch the use of much cheaper alternatives.

The testosterone gels which are taking over the testosterone market in the U.S. are ridiculously expensive. For example, a month’s supply of AndroGel costs about $160 to $170 and delivers no more than 5 mg/day of testosterone — barely enough to bring testosterone levels back up to what is considered “normal” and not nearly enough to provide optimum feelings of well-being. Knowledgeable patients get their physicians to prescribe made-to-order testosterone gels or creams from compounding pharmacies at less than one tenth the cost per month. And users of prohormonal supplements (such as androstenedione) can achieve similar results with similar savings.

Is it odd, then, that the FDA makes moves against the compounding pharmacies — moves that seem clearly aimed at shutting them down? And is it odd that the FDA is engaged in a “war” against the supplement industry in which the first targets are athletic performance enhancers, such as testosterone precursors? Not really. It all makes sense once you realize that the FDA, despite its pretentions, is basically a servant of the medical industry and seeks to eliminate threats to the incomes of physicians and of pharmaceutical giants. And government agencies have no respect for individual freedom.