{"id":56750,"date":"2026-07-16T09:58:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/high-t-department-hegseth-approves-testosterone-screening-in-military\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:58:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:58:30","slug":"high-t-department-hegseth-approves-testosterone-screening-in-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/high-t-department-hegseth-approves-testosterone-screening-in-military\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;High-T Department&#8221;: Hegseth approves testosterone screening in military"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Levels of testosterone increase during puberty. The hormone helps boys to develop muscle strength and body hair as well as make sperm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At some point during the window between ages 30 and 40, men&#8217;s testosterone levels naturally start to decline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Estimates vary, but <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC5422691\/\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">low testosterone is thought to affect 10-40% of older men globally<span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">, <!-- -->external<\/span><\/a> &#8211; which is thought to translate to about 13 million men in the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Those men may experience a low mood, reduced sex drive and loss of muscle mass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A blood test can check the testosterone level and treatment can be given.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Dr Mohit Khera, who led a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expert panel last year on screening and testosterone utilisation in the military, told the BBC that all men over 30 should get screened because it is the top marker of a person&#8217;s overall current and future health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The key here is that many young men have low testosterone levels, which puts them at a disadvantage in terms of muscle mass, energy, and that could be an issue if you are in combat,&#8221; Khera, a professor of urology at Baylor College of Medicine, said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But he added: &#8220;You have to be careful not to just give someone testosterone unless they do have some kind of symptoms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The benefits of the hormone replacement therapy, he explained, are increased muscle mass, decreased fat deposition, and decreased risk for depression. Over time, Khera added, it can also help with bone mineral density.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He cautioned, though, that it is not meant for everyone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;If young men do take testosterone, it can make them infertile,&#8221; Khera said. &#8220;You got to be careful. If someone&#8217;s in the reproductive years, you need to make sure they understand it&#8217;s going to make you infertile.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It can also result in a theoretical increased cardiovascular risk, he noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Hegseth&#8217;s announcement comes after US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and other administration officials have sought to remove barriers for medical professionals to prescribe men testosterone. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The FDA last month requested the removal of safety and effectiveness language on testosterone replacement therapy product labelling, and proposed loosening prescribing limits for testosterone products.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\">Additional reporting by Michelle Roberts<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cn0nlx18rz0o?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Levels of testosterone increase during puberty. The hormone helps boys to develop muscle strength and body hair as well as make sperm. At some point during the window between ages 30 and 40, men&#8217;s testosterone levels naturally start to decline. Estimates vary, but low testosterone is thought to affect 10-40% of older men globally, external [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56752,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56750\/revisions\/56752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}