4 ms·
If due to environmental toxins (say, hormonally active “forever chemicals,” plastics, etc), my guess is you’d see the deleterious effects first in women. Women
by stonecraftwolf 6y ago
If due to environmental toxins (say, hormonally active “forever chemicals,” plastics, etc), my guess is you’d see the deleterious effects first in women. Women also make (and need) testosterone, just at much lower levels than men, so they have much less to lose. There’s research going back 30 years on the efficacy of low dose TRT in women to treat all kinds of things that tend to hit women in their late thirties on (when natural testosterone has been declining for 15-20 years); I’m on mobile now, but what I recall most from a review paper was the efficacy in treating fibromyalgia pain. The lack of continued research on this seems to be almost entirely due to social pressure. (People lose their minds when you talk about women and testosterone, or men and estrogen.)
It’s hard not to wonder if environmental toxins affecting the testosterone levels of men are also contributing to the rise of health issues in women, especially autoimmune conditions, fibromyalgia/CFS, obesity, depression, etc.
In other words, women might be the canaries in the coal mine for systemic problems arising from environmental endocrine disruptors.
- Damorian 6y agoRelated, girls (women?) are starting their periods about 5 years sooner compared to 100 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menarche#Changes_in_time_of_average_age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menarche#Changes_in_time_of_av...
- perardi 6y agoPer Wikipedia, and other sources I’ve read, it seems heavily correlated with BMI. Which…makes a naïve sort of evolutionary sense. You need some percentage of body fat for your body to kick into reproduction mode.
- joncrane 6y agoThis has to do more with better nutrition and comfort than anything else. While it's true that estrogen-like compounds may also have an effect, it takes calories to ovulate and to menstruate.