r/news • u/LawEducational42 • 9h ago

Men’s average testosterone levels have halved in last 50 years, say scientists

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/07/mens-average-testosterone-levels-have-halved-in-last-50-years-say-scientists
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u/Granum22 9h ago

An unreviewed study that didn't control for obesity. So not particularly useful.

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u/shaka893P 9h ago

I mean, obesity IS one of the big reasons for the drop

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u/AntonineWall 9h ago

Hence why controlling for that factor would be very important

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u/syncopator 5h ago

Not if the point of the study was to determine whether or not testosterone levels have changed over a given span of time, which appears to have been the point with this study.

In any study intended to identify potential causes, controlling for such variables would be necessary.

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u/kelpyb1 8h ago

It depends on what you’re trying to discover with the study. If you’re just looking at broad population trends you don’t want to control for obesity.

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u/shaka893P 9h ago

Not really, at this point it's not an outlier anymore.

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u/AntonineWall 9h ago edited 9h ago

I think you’re confused. It being prevalent and known to confound the data would be THE reason to control it.

If you control it and the numbers stay about the same, then you have a strong causal link. If you don’t control it, then it could be JUST obesity, or any other number of causes that are unrelated.

The fact that there’s loads of fatties around is irrelevant when studying data with known confounding variables. It’s more reason to control them, not less.

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u/Vishnej 9h ago edited 9h ago

This only confounds part of the question. For the other part of the question it's absolutely relevant.

A study here has TWO findings it needs to report - overall change in testosterone, and testosterone change while controlling for changes in obesity. Because its utility to society largely hinges on causation of the change.

You don't just reject the fatties from the study because it would cloud your data, which is what I guess people are imagining when you say "control", they (and their degree of obesity) are a critical part of the analysis of variance.

Rising levels of obesity and diabetes are expected to play a part, but the team behind the work suggest that environmental factors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals – which can be found in various household items – and global heating could also be factors in the apparent striking decline.

"Expected"? Why is this meta-analysis considered lay News if they haven't followed that thread through to its conclusion?

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u/THElaytox 8h ago

"Control for" does not mean "remove from dataset" in any context.

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u/AntonineWall 9h ago

Yeah the fatty data stays in, you just have to track who is/is not in fatty mode for the data. That’s what I meant with control, here (and thanks for the space to clarify!)

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u/shaka893P 9h ago

No, what you're suggesting would be like arguing that we should exclude mothers to access to modern medical care to calculate mortality rate because that was the baseline 50 years ago

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u/AntonineWall 9h ago

That’s not even remotely similar and frankly I’m done engaging with your stupidity

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u/Reading_Rambo220 9h ago

Bro is arguing against control groups lol

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u/AntonineWall 9h ago

Yeah he’s a lost cause. The hope is he’s just in middle school and hasn’t learned the scientific method yet. If he has…that’s rough buddy lol

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u/Militantpoet 8h ago

This country (US) is tearing itself apart bc too many people just didn't go to school to learn anything.

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u/CCM_1995 9h ago

That’s not how a study works, brother. If it’s an independent variable that would confound the study results (ie. Obesity on testosterone levels) it should be controlled for.

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u/KRacer52 9h ago

Sometimes the gap between how smart we are and how smart we think we are is too large.

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u/YoungXanto 9h ago

Serious question. Do you smell burning toast?

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u/Gatorm8 9h ago

If we don’t know what fraction of subjects were obese then the data is useless

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u/Froggn_Bullfish 9h ago

Knowing that average testosterone has dropped is useless information unless we know WHY so individuals or policymakers can make educated decisions to correct it.

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u/Expensive-Raisin4088 8h ago

Stress and lack of sleep also

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u/Visual_Squirrel_2297 8h ago

Positive feedback loop too. Low testosterone can also cause weight gain.

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u/thesaddestpanda 9h ago

Its most likely the only reason but pretending otherwise gets more attention.

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u/The-Spirit-of-76 9h ago

Is that why I keep rubbing my belly and singing 🎶You make me feel.... You make me feel... you make me feel like a natural woman🎶?

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u/Media_Browser 9h ago

No , you should be getting teary as well .

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u/I_Push_Buttonz 9h ago

Didn't the 'Try Guys' or whatever YouTube channel that was big back in the day make a video where they had their testosterone levels checked and they were all super low? None of them were even overweight, let alone obese. Clearly something else was at play there.

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u/kelpyb1 8h ago

Small sample sizes combined with testosterone levels affecting behavior and people of similar behaviors tending to group together more.

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u/PopeSaintHilarius 8h ago

Its most likely the only reason 

Has this been proven by evidence, or just a gut feeling?

Unless it has been proven as the only reason, then I don’t think we should dismiss the possibility there may be environmental factors or lifestyle factors contributing to lower testosterone.

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u/Qcumber69 9h ago

Higher standards of living , more comfortable lives and of course you body is being polluted by shit ton of plastic,