Smoking raises testosterone and lowers estrogen

Smoking raises testosterone and lowers estrogen

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There’s nothing that’s given more of a black eye by doctors than smoking.

So many studies focus on a litany of negative health impacts.

Many diseases and cancers are proven to be the results of smoking.

But surprise, smoking has some very solid benefits.

I know, it sounds totally crazy and extremely difficult to believe — but it’s true.

And you will believe it after you read today’s newsletter.

Now, when I talk about smoking, I will tell you that I have never had a cigarette in my whole life.

I smoke a cigar now and then, or occasionally a pipe.

I’m not sure if the effects are just nicotine either.

I think there are some very positive things in tobacco, although it’s a mixed bag for sure.

I’m just going to present the evidence because smoking does have some benefits.

To start our list, smoking raises testosterone significantly.

And smoking lowers estrogen just as significantly.
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Plus, people who smoke have a much lower incidence of diseases such as Parkinson’s, tuberculosis, ulcerative colitis and a lot more.

Keep in mind, all the studies that I see are for the MODERATE use of tobacco.

It’s probably a few cigarettes a day perhaps — or a cigar now and then.

But not more than two cigars a day and not more than 15 cigarettes a day in any event.

If even that much.

So let’s get started showing some of the benefits because it may be something you may want to try.

Your doctor may not approve of what I’m telling you today.

But you still need to talk to your doctor before trying what I’m suggesting.

I’m not a doctor, and I’m not familiar with any other potential issues you may face.

And I would never want anything I tell you about to hurt you.

That said, I suspect that the benefits of smoking probably increase as you get older.

But the first study used middle-aged male volunteers.

Cigarette smokers had increased serum levels of DHEA (18% higher), cortisol (5% higher), testosterone (9% higher), DHT (14% higher), and SHBG (8% higher, P = 0.004).

You can see this is a mixed bag.

Testosterone is higher — which is good.

DHEA levels are higher which is also good.

But cortisol levels are higher — which is not good.

And sex hormone binding globulin, or S HPG, is higher, which is also not good.

On the whole, this is actually a net positive for smoking.

Now, for a male smoker who is heavier, the positive effects become lost.

And being really fat takes away nearly all benefits from smoking.

This next study shows how smoking affects estrogen levels by lowering them.

The results put the researchers in an awkward position, and they made their conclusions reluctantly.

They didn’t really want to conclude anything positive about smoking — but they have integrity.

This study demonstrates that smoking is likely to lead to decreased bio-availability at estrogen target tissues.

So there we have it.

One study among many showing smoking can raise testosterone and other positive male hormones.

The other showing how smoking is anti-estrogen.

I will leave you with one final study tying smoking with prostate cancer.

We have all repeatedly heard that we should quit smoking to cut the risk factors for cancer.

The relationships between smoking and cancers are seen over and over in studies.

There certainly is a correlation between heavy smoking and lung cancer.

And there is a correlation between heavy cigar smoking and throat cancer.

But is there a correlation between smoking and the risk of prostate cancer?

Apparently not.

This study evaluated 47,781 men who smoke cigarettes over several years and monitored their lifestyle and health outcomes.

Now here’s the shocker:

Early (before age 30), late (within recent 10 years), and lifetime cumulative smoking history were unrelated to risk of total prostate cancer.

There was no tie-in at all between smoking and prostate cancer.

The only exception is for men who recently took up heavy smoking and who hadn’t smoked before.

I think these men were more likely to die of cancer because they used smoking to soothe stress.

Most likely, they had very stressful circumstances in their life.

It’s possible that they took up smoking as a way to cope with these difficult times.

Since we know that stress increases cortisol and high cortisol levels lead to cancer, I can explain this result.

These suddenly heavy smokers probably developed cancer from their cortisol levels, not smoking.

The cancer likely had nothing to do with smoking at all.

There are many mechanisms behind the benefits of smoking, and as I said it’s not all having to do with nicotine.

There are many compounds in tobacco besides nicotine.

And these can exert both positive and negative effects.

It certainly something worth trying if you enjoy it, but I’d advise you to keep it moderate.

The benefits of smoking get lost after a point, and you can’t ignore the other negatives of heavy smoking.

 

 


Matt Cook is editor-in-chief of Daily Medical Discoveries. Matt has been a full time health researcher for 26 years. ABC News interviewed Matt on sexual health issues not long ago. Matt is widely quoted on over 1,000,000 websites. He has over 300,000 daily newsletter readers. Daily Medical Discoveries finds hidden, buried or ignored medical studies through the lens of 100 years of proven science. Matt heads up the editorial team of scientists and health researchers. Each discovery is based upon primary studies from peer reviewed science sources following the Daily Medical Discoveries 7 Step Process to ensure accuracy.
The relation of smoking, age, relative weight, and dietary intake to serum adrenal steroids, sex hormones, and sex hormone-binding globulin in middle-aged men 
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/79/5/1310/2649238/The-relation-of-smoking-age-relative-weight-and?redirectedFrom=fulltext 

Increased 2-Hydroxylation of Estradiol as a Possible Mechanism for the Anti-Estrogenic Effect of Cigarette Smoking 
http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM198611203152101 

Smoking and Risk of Total and Fatal Prostate Cancer in United States Health Professionals 
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/8/4/277.short 

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