Increased T/E ratio in men
When testosterone levels are normal, and a man is experiencing signs of andropause, the hormonal culprit is usually estrogen (and chemicals that mimic the actions of estrogen), the female hormone. Both men and women have specific amounts of estrogen in their bodies. Young men may have a ratio of testosterone to estrogen of 50:1. The ratio drops to 20:1 or even as low as 8:1 with normal aging.
When estrogen levels in a man increase, the actions of testosterone are reduced. Even worse. While estrogens in women protect them from heart disease and osteoporosis, the effects are the opposite for men. Too much estrogen will actually increase the risk of heart attacks in men.
Unfortunately, this is exactly the set of problems that we are currently facing. A combination of our lifestyle and dietary choices, stress, use of anabolic androgenic steroids, medications and/or alcohol coupled with the pervasive amounts of estrogenic pollutants found in plastics and our water supply are the reasons why estradiol levels are climbing in men. In fact, we now see men with estrogen levels higher than that of many women. As estrogen rises in men, testosterone drop and mammary gland tissue begins to grow (creating male breasts). This problem is so common that male breast reduction is now the fastest growing surgery in America!
