Flashback to the 80s: When men were men - at least more so

A month or so ago, I wrote to you about the alarming drop in fertility levels among men in the UK that some scientists are theorizing is due to cell phone usage. Surprisingly, the evidence supporting that hypothesis seemed pretty compelling to me. That's why I did a major double take when I read a recent Reuters article about American's men's testosterone levels…

According to the article, the findings of a new study recently released by the New England Research Institutes show that based on data from 1987 through 2002, levels of the essential male hormone among U.S. men has declined an average of 1% PER YEAR over the last 20 years or so.

What's really puzzling to the study's authors is the fact that this decline does not seem to be related to age - meaning that the trend isn't caused simply by the increase in the average age of American men due to the maturity of the "baby boomers."

In other words, this means that the average American man of ANY age - 30, 50, 60, or 65 - had around 15% less testosterone in the year 2002 (and presumably beyond, to 2006) than an identical man would have had 15 years ago, back in 1987.

What do the study's authors attribute this decline to? One thing that may not surprise you, and another that probably will…

The first of the two factors that this research's authors propose as possibly causing such a precipitous decline in American testosterone is, of course, the rise in obesity. This makes sense. In fact, I'm betting the two trends would form nearly a perfect X on a line graph of the last 20 years (1987 through 2006).

However, the second factor they propose as a possible explanation - the decline in cigarette smoking among men - surprises me. Not the medical evidence behind it (which I've known for years), but the fact that they actually reported it in this PC, smoke-hating age. Yes, it's a little-known, but true and verifiable fact, that smoking INCREASES testosterone levels.

According to the Reuters piece, these factors alone don't fully explain the testosterone fall-off of the last 20 years. Via some high-tech number crunching hocus-pocus, the study's authors have adjusted for these two factors and determined that there are other "environmental" causes that are contributing to the decline.

Personally, I wonder if the rise of cell phones has anything to do with the rapid decline in American testosterone this recent study has documented…

For years, I was skeptical about the possibility that cell-phones could cause any significant health problems - except maybe from accidents related to their careless use. I scoffed at the notion that the low-frequently radio sets could actually contribute to brain tumors, hearing issues, or neck trouble… But now that I've seen hard evidence of how they may be causing a radical and rapid reduction in British sperm counts (and quality) - is it so unreasonable to think that cellular communications might be doing the same thing to American male hormone levels?

Unsettling food for thought, isn't it?

What we need is a serious study on the matter, of course. I'll keep you posted on any new research that may come down the pike on this topic. But in the meantime, I'll give you men the same advice I'd give anyone about using their cell phones…

Do it as little as possible, just to be on the safe side - from both accidents and possible unproven negative health effects.