In the News – Mice, Yogurt, and Large Testicles
Snippet from the article:
Last sumÂmer a team of researchers from the MassaÂchusetts Institute of Technology set out to better understand the effects of yogurt on obesity. They were following up on the results of a long-term study from the Harvard School of Public Health that had suggested yogurt, more than any other food, helped to prevent age-related weight gain. The M.I.T. team, led by cancer biologist Susan Erdman and evolutionary geneticist Eric Alm, wanted to replicate the work in mice. The researchers took a group of 40 males and 40 females and either fed the animals a high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrient diet meant to mimic junk food or fed them standard mouse meals. They then suppleÂmented half of each diet group with vanilla-flavored yogurt.
Read the rest at Scientific American — Mice That Eat Yogurt Have Larger Testicles
Mice that eat more yogurt have bigger testicles, are more fertile, produce more frequent pregnancies, and generally healthier offspring. Researchers also saw that these mice had “10 times the active follicle density of other mice“. In humans, I would suspect that the larger testicles could add to the DHT problem, creating more balding in men.
Confused by this – are you suggesting that eating yogurt (or dairy) could cause increased DHT and therefore balding??
Agree with Mark. Please clarify what you mean by this. Does dairy/yogurt increase hair loss and are you dismissing the result of this study?
Very out there suggestion, but I wonder if that could explain why Greek and Mediterranean men anecdotally have higher rates of hairloss.
Hah! I’m pretty sure that’s a numbskulled theory. I definitely base that on NO science. Just wondering out loud.
It’s important to remember that mice are not men! This is why animal studies particularly to do with hormonal systems are rarely applicable to humans and are often just a safety test.
If yoghurt did have an increase in sexual function and testosterone production for men we’d probably be seeing every athlete and bodybuilder in the world living in a vat of yoghurt every day.
The fact is if you have the suceptible genes and are losing hair AND raise your testosterone levels you’ll probably see some additional hair loss. Though increased DHT often leads to heavier beard growth and thicker body hair – so perhaps people need to stress less about mice studies…
If you like yoghurt eat it. I’d be more concerned if you were injecting steroid derivatives of DHT personally…