Study to probe testosterone, weight link | health

Sydney | 2nd December 2008

TESTOSTERONE, the hormone responsible for manliness, could also be key to helping overweight men shed the fat.

Researchers in Sydney are embarking on a study to see whether testosterone replacement therapy can help obese men to lose more weight when on a diet.

Dr Peter Liu says the study would also probe the emerging link between male obesity, reduced testosterone levels and sleep apnoea - a disorder in which breathing halts during sleep.

"We know that if you have any one of those conditions you are more likely to have any of the other two," says Dr Liu, physician at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research.

"And we believe these things might be interlinked in a vicious cycle... as you get more obese it might cause more sleep apnoea, which might drop your testosterone, and it goes around in a vicious cycle.

"By giving testosterone you might be able to reduce weight and improve sleep apnoea."

The research program requires about 70 male volunteers who are overweight, over age of 18 and have the symptoms of sleep apnea.

Dr Liu said the study was also aimed at producing improved weight loss programs as, he said, existing techniques were targeted at overweight women.

"There is a need to have particular methods that are more geared towards men, and this is one of them," he said.

Testosterone is important for maintaining masculinity, muscle strength, bone strength and sperm production in men along with decreasing fat mass.

It is approved by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration for the treatment of testosterone deficiency and, outside of the study, it is not approved for use as a weight loss treatment.

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