Do testosterone levels diminish with age?
There is scant evidence that “male menopause,” a condition supposedly caused by diminishing testosterone levels in aging men, exists. As men age, their testes often produce somewhat less testosterone than they did during adolescence and early adulthood, when production of this hormone peaks. But it is important to keep in mind that the range of normal testosterone production is large. Many older men have testosterone levels within the normal range of healthy younger men. Others have levels well below this range. However, the likelihood that a man will ever experience a major shut down of hormone production, similar to a woman’s menopause, is remote. In fact, many of the changes that take place in older men often are incorrectly blamed on decreasing testosterone levels. Some men who have erectile difficulty (impotence), for instance, may be tempted to blame this problem on lowered testosterone. However, in many cases, erectile difficulties are due to circulatory problems, not low testos