Is there anything that Ozempic and drugs like it can’t do? A study out today finds that GLP-1 medications often raise men’s testosterone.
Scientists in St. Louis, Missouri, led the research, which studied men taking one of several GLP-1 drugs for their type 2 diabetes or obesity. On average, men’s testosterone rose significantly after they started taking a GLP-1, with many reaching normal levels. The findings suggest these weight loss drugs can also have reproductive health benefits for men, the researchers say.
Testosterone is important to both men’s and women’s health, but it’s especially vital to the former. In men, it helps maintain muscle mass, bone density, and fertility, to name a few functions. People who develop type 2 diabetes or obesity often experience declining T levels. Conversely, people who lose weight or get their blood sugar under control tend to regain this lost testosterone.
According to the study authors, however, there isn’t much research looking into what happens to men and their testosterone once they start taking GLP-1s like semaglutide (the active ingredient in the diabetes drug Ozempic and the obesity drug Wegovy). And they wanted to better understand the broader health benefits of these medications beyond weight loss alone.
The team analyzed over 200 men with type 2 diabetes or obesity who were prescribed a GLP-1 (semaglutide, tirzepatide, or the older GLP-1 dulaglutide) and who were not taking added testosterone or other hormones.
The men’s blood sugar control and weight improved, as expected, with an average weight loss of 10%—and so did their testosterone. Men’s average total and free testosterone levels rose noticeably from their baseline. Only 53% of men had normal T levels before GLP-1 treatments; afterward, the same was true for 77% of men. The team’s findings were presented Monday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.
The T-boosting effects of GLP-1 therapy didn’t seem quite as large as those seen with other weight loss treatments, particularly surgery. These drugs offer their own advantages, though, according to lead study researcher Shellsea Portillo Canales.
“It’s less dramatic than the rise seen after bariatric surgery, which typically causes rapid and substantial hormonal shifts,” Portillo Canales, an endocrinology fellow at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital, told Gizmodo. “However, the benefit of GLP-1s is that they are non-invasive, more accessible, and can help improve testosterone naturally, especially when combined with sustained weight loss.”
The improvement in men’s testosterone levels correlated well with how many pounds they shed, suggesting that weight loss is the primary driver of this effect. But Portillo Canales doesn’t rule out that other factors, like improved insulin resistance and lower inflammation, could matter, too.
The researchers would like to further confirm this link through prospective studies that proactively track men and their testosterone levels once on GLP-1 therapy. But given that these patients are already taking these drugs for their diabetes or obesity, the potential boost in testosterone could be seen as a nifty bonus at the very least. Just be careful, though. Portillo Canales notes that if men stop taking a GLP-1 and start to gain back weight, their testosterone levels might sink back down along with it.
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