Study: Testosterone pills could damage kidneys


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Testosterone supplements may make aging men feel and look better, but the results of a study conducted in rats suggest that it could lead to kidney damage and worsen high blood pressure (hypertension).
Testosterone levels gradually decrease with age in healthy men, a condition some doctors refer to as "andropause," which is analogous to menopause in women.
A growing number of healthy older American men take testosterone replacement therapy to improve their feelings of well being, sex drive, and muscle mass.
"Because chronic cardiovascular disease, like hypertension or kidney disease, is related to a sharp decrease in testosterone, a lot of doctors also prescribe testosterone to men who suffer from heart disease," Dr. Radu Iliescu, of University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, noted in a telephone interview with Reuters.
However, "no well-controlled clinical studies have addressed the effects of testosterone on the cardiovascular system," Iliescu warned, "and our research actually showed that testosterone contributes to hypertension and end-stage renal disease in various rodent experimental models."
Iliescu and colleagues found that testosterone supplements caused about a two-fold increase in testosterone levels in the blood of male rats. They also found that blood pressure was significantly higher in testosterone-supplemented rats compared with normal "control" rats. Castration did not alter blood pressure levels.
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Compared with normal rats, testosterone-supplemented rats also had higher concentrations of protein in the urine, a sign of possible kidney trouble, whereas castration reduced protein in the urine.
These results were reported by Iliescu and co-researchers at a recent meeting of the American Physiological Society in Austin, Texas.
Supplementing testosterone or preventing the testosterone loss that occurs with age or chronic disease may actually worsen preexisting heart or kidney disease, the researchers conclude.