--- title: Testosterone and Heart Disease: What's the Deal? description: A new study published Tuesday suggests testosterone supplementation for men with low levels is not associated with a heart-disease related risk factor. canonical: https://time.com/3992444/testosterone-heart-disease/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-11T19:20:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:31:38.670Z article:section: Health og:title: Low-T Drugs and Heart Risk: Here's the Latest og:description: Business is booming. But are the drugs safe? og:url: https://time.com/3992444/testosterone-heart-disease/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c132b76e2a5ae11/6987789935ba6f1bc6c0659f/health-pills-prescription-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Health Prescription Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Low-T Drugs and Heart Risk: Here's the Latest twitter:description: Business is booming. But are the drugs safe? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c132b76e2a5ae11/6987789935ba6f1bc6c0659f/health-pills-prescription-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Low-T Drugs and Heart Risk: Here's the Latest > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=bc05021b-e5db-4df7-9e52-ca48973f4ea1&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Are You Man Enough? The Truth About Low Testosterone [Watch (HLS stream): Are You Man Enough? The Truth About Low Testosterone](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pG2ZyJXa.m3u8) (4:35)  _Published 2014-07-31. Low-T drugs marketed to help men get their mojo back are having a moment, but are they safe?_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 11, 2015 7:20 PM UTC Low-T drugs marketed to help men get their mojo back are having a moment, but are they safe? by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 11, 2015 7:20 PM UTC A [new study](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2425744) published Tuesday suggests testosterone drugs for men with low levels of the hormone are not at an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis. However, [other studies](http://time.com/3062889/manopause-aging-insecurity-and-the-2-billion-testosterone-industry/) in the past have suggested an increased cardiovascular risk from using low-T drugs, and in 2015 the FDA [finalized a decision](http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm436259.htm) that required companies to label their products with the possible risk for heart attack and stroke. So what’s the deal? “One of the hottest controversies in testosterone therapy is whether it’s associated with cardiovascular risks, and whether there is a higher likelihood for strokes on testosterone,” says Dr. Landon Trost, head of Male Infertility and Andrology at Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in the new study. “Testosterone therapy has a myth and promise of being the fountain of youth, and it’s exploded since 2001\. Everyone is trying to address \[heart risks\] right now.” **MORE:**[ Manopause?! Aging, Insecurity and the $2 Billion Testosterone Industry](http://time.com/3062889/manopause-aging-insecurity-and-the-2-billion-testosterone-industry/) The new study, published in the journal _JAMA_, found that among men with low levels of testosterone, there was no difference in the rate of build up in their artery walls, known as atherosclerosis, between those who used testosterone gel for three years and those who took a placebo. (Ironically, the study authors also found no improvement in overall sexual function, partner intimacy, and health-related quality of life in the men who took low-T drugs, either.) Still, the case is far from closed. The new research didn’t look at whether testosterone therapy is linked to more heart-related events like strokes, for instance. There is also the reality that many men taking low-T drugs do not, in fact, have clinically low levels of the hormone. What the drugs do in men with normal or high levels of the hormone is unknown. The new paper also comes with plenty of caveats. It was funded by pharmaceutical companies that sell low-T treatments; one author works for a pharmaceutical company; another consults for Eli Lilly, which makes a low-T drug; and a third scientist has received research and personal fees from pharmaceutical companies, as well as having low-T-drug-related patents pending. (This was all in the mandatory “conflict of interest disclosures” section of study.) [As TIME reported](http://time.com/3062889/manopause-aging-insecurity-and-the-2-billion-testosterone-industry/) in July 2014, some medical professionals have expressed concern over whether testosterone products are safe or if they even revitalize men like they promise to. Trost, for his part, says he gives patients the evidence and lets them make their own decisions, though he believes the research leans toward safety. More research is needed. ## Transcript How do assess low T? A man comes into the office. Is there a symptom score, a checklist, a way of determining that if you start out today with low T and I give you something, in three months, do you not have low T? Those metrics, those measures, don't exist, and that's the problem with the field currently. Yeah we can raise your testosterone, but does it mean anything. [ CROSSTALK ] Low testosterone. [ CROSSTALK ] Be the best you can be. [ MUSIC ] LowT and whatever that is, that's, that's a pharmaceutical. That's not even a medical term. That's somebody in the marketing, in the back office of a marketing department said okay let's come up with low T it sounds interesting. To me it was just very tired all the time, lethargic. I just never had the energy to put in a days work. And then be able to workout like I used to and a simple shot. Could just bring me back to normal the way, you know. I used to have the energy and stamina and everything that I had before. [ MUSIC ] This is a growing industry now. There's much more awareness of low- T now. And I also think. it's, they're realizing it's so common, so many men of all different ages need the replacement therapy. The transformation is amazing and, and I, and I say that to them that I promise and they're like wow, promise is a big word. I'm like. You ask any of my guys here I have 200 very happy guys here. Hey guys. Do you know your testosterone levels? You should. Yeah what is the optimal level. That's a great way of asking it and unfortunately I don't even have a good way of answering that question. Well there are no levels per say per age. I get that question a lot. Like what should my level be? We think that the higher it is, the better it is, but we don't know. How high is good enough? I don't know. Are you a man who feels like you're losing your edge? Are you getting all you can from your workouts? Are you satisfied with your romantic life? We're often going a see a guy's gonna come in. Big belly, smoking, doesn't exercise, and he says, you know doc, I want some testosterone cuz I don't really feel that drive. And I can give him testosterone from today til tomorrow. It ain't gonna work so good unless the guy changes his diet and begins to do physical activity. So it's not like, here's a prescription, and it's gonna be magic tomorrow. And I think there's this. Unfortunate notion that you take this testosterone and don't change other things of your life and all of the sudden, boom, magic, like, you're gonna be twenty years old. You don't change what the libido is or the fatigue is. We don't really have good measures of okay, did this work? They gave you the testosterone, did you feel better? That's not what the FDA looks at. They look at whether the testosterone levels went up. And we know how you can boost your strength training, sex drive, and performance to the levels you've been wanting. We run a men's center and out of every hundred men that come in and say I want testosterone. I have low T, I have this problem. Only about 18 % of them actually get testosterone. Because a lot of them have other issues. I would say less than one percent of the guys who come in, or maybe one percent who come in for evaluation don't qualify, because they're too high for whatever reason. But it's rare. Very rare, that a man doesn't qualify. There are patients who have testicular failure for a variety of reasons. There are patients who have pituitary failure, for a variety of reasons. Some medical reasons that can actually occur that can change hormones in the body. That's not the person who's coming in and said I saw that ad on TV. Part of it unfortunate is driven by FARMA Now I can go 30 45 minutes on, on a treadmill, or on a elliptical. And it's just like, it's nothing. So I don't think it that's necessarily a miracle, I'm just sort of getting back to doing normal things that that I wouldn't necessarily have the energy for. How long do they stay on treatment? Ideally they should stay on their whole lives. There's a lot of, what I would say, hocus pocus out there. And people unfortunately buy a lot of this stuff. And they're not gonna really feel better. You know, initially maybe they will, because everything's going to make them feel better, because they expect to feel better. There is no magic [ INAUDIBLE ] out there. If there was, everybody would take it and everybody would benefit from it. 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