Androgen 3-Some: BPA Exposure & Free Testosterone in Men. TRT Good For the Prostate. DHT, Alopecia (Hair Loss) & Monascus Fermentation. Plus: Mycotoxins in GCB Supps
green coffee bean supplements (remember the chlorogenic acid news in Thursday's installment of the Science Round-Up) that were contaminated with Ochratoxin A, ochratoxin B, fumonisin B1 and mycophenolic acid, respectively.
So far for the bad news, now the good one: According to the researchers calculations even with most contaminated of the 50 products they the average consumer who adheres to the suggested dosing protocol will still be well within the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 120 ng/kg body weight per week and tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2000 ng/kg body weight per day for ochratoxin A and fumonisin B1, respectively (these values were estimated by the EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) - corresponding values of the "well-meaning" FDA or any other US government agencies are - as usual - not available).
That's it for today: I know ladies, with today's focus on the male hormones, I owe you (big time?). But don't worry, there are also a couple of Facebook News, you may be interested in
"Mycotoxins occurred in the following concentration ranges: ochratoxin A: 2.7–136.9 µg/kg, ochratoxin B: 3.5–20.2 µg/kg, fumonisin B1: 110.0–415.0 µg/kg, mycophenolic acid: 43.1–395.0 µg/kg." (Vaclavi. 2013)These poisonous substances are produced by fungi that form during (inproper) storage and are suspected to inhibit protein synthesis, damage macrophage systems, inhibit particle clearance of the lung, and increase sensitivity to bacterial endotoxins... ah, I almost forgot ochratoxins also wreak havoc on your hormones (Frizzell. 2013).
So far for the bad news, now the good one: According to the researchers calculations even with most contaminated of the 50 products they the average consumer who adheres to the suggested dosing protocol will still be well within the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 120 ng/kg body weight per week and tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2000 ng/kg body weight per day for ochratoxin A and fumonisin B1, respectively (these values were estimated by the EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) - corresponding values of the "well-meaning" FDA or any other US government agencies are - as usual - not available).
Let's get to our androgen threesome
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SuppVersity readers know: Tea is not only good for your prostate (learn more), it can also help you lose weight (read more)
Needless to say that "[d]uring the median follow up of 15.1 months, no patients experienced urinary retention, BPH-related surgery, or admission for urinary tract infection".
- BPA and low testosterone, you better know what to look at (Zhou. 2013) -- Talking about testosterone, there is finally some relatively reliable human data on the effects of BPA exposure on the hormone levels in men.
- The fermented solution to all problems androgen? (Chiu. 2013) Monascus bacteria that is used to ferment red mold rice, a traditional spice that is consumed throughout Asia could prevent androgenetic alopecia, benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer.
- decreased tumor volume and
- decreased prostate cancer incidence,
- decreased dihydrotestosterone (DHT),
- but left testosterone unchanged
Irrespective of these latest study results, previous research indicates that Monascus-fermented products have many functional secondary metabolites, including monacolin K, citrinin, ankaflavin, and monascin and these have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, cholesterol-lowering effect, and antitumor activities. Probably all of you will be familiar with at least one of them: Red Yeast Rice, the natural statin. And if you are not into spices or extracts, there are also other foods and even wines that are fermented with Monascus.
That's it for today: I know ladies, with today's focus on the male hormones, I owe you (big time?). But don't worry, there are also a couple of Facebook News, you may be interested in
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Suggested read: "Carbohydrate Shortage in Paleo Land" (read more) - Omnipresence of "healthy" Subway sandwiches correlates w/ obesity rates - "Countries with the highest density of Subway restaurants such as the USA (7.52 per 100,000) and Canada (7.43 per 100,000) also tend to have a higher prevalence of obesity in both men (31.3% and 23.2%, respectively) and women (33.2% and 22.9%, respectively)." (read more)
- Understanding the neurological side effects of statin drugs - US scientists observed unusual swellings within neurons, which the team has termed the "beads-on-a-string" effect (read more)
- DHEA supplementation at 25gm/day to restore female fertility - A recent study from Turkey would suggest that this could actually work (read more)
- Chiu HW, Chen MH, Fang WH, Hung CM, Chen YL, Wu MD, Yuan GF, Wu MJ, Wang YJ. Preventive effects of monascus on androgen-related diseases: androgenetic alopecia, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and prostate cancer. J Agric Food Chem. 2013 May 8;61(18):4379-86.
- Duarte SC, Pena A, Lino CM. Ochratoxin a in Portugal: a review to assess human exposure. Toxins (Basel). 2010 Jun;2(6):1225-49. doi: 10.3390/toxins2061225. Epub 2010 Jun 1. Review.
- Frizzell C, Verhaegen S, Ropstad E, Elliott CT, Connolly L. Endocrine disrupting effects of ochratoxin A at the level of nuclear receptor activation and steroidogenesis. Toxicol Lett. 2013 Mar 13;217(3):243-50.
- Ko YH, Moon du G, Moon KH. Testosterone replacement alone for testosterone deficiency syndrome improves moderate lower urinary tract symptoms: one year follow-up. World J Mens Health. 2013 Apr;31(1):47-52.
- Vaclavik L, Vaclavikova M, Begley TH, Krynitsky AJ, Rader JI. Determination of Multiple Mycotoxins in Dietary Supplements Containing Green Coffee Bean Extracts Using Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. May 2013 [ahead of print].
- Zhou Q, Miao M, Ran M, Ding L, Bai L, Wu T, Yuan W, Gao E, Wang J, Li G, Li DK. Serum bisphenol-A concentration and sex hormone levels in men. Fertil Steril. 2013 May 4.