Fish Oil and Testosterone: Can Omega 3 Increase Testosterone?
Fish Oil and Testosterone
This post is going to investigate the link between fish oil and testosterone levels and discuss a few different ways that fish oil can influence hormone levels.
Natural supplementation is a great and safe way to increase testosterone levels, but it definitely needs time and consistency in order to be effective.
A great example is fish oil.
You might be surprised to see fish oil in the same basket with testosterone, as it’s a dietary supplement most commonly prescribed to people with cardiovascular diseases and pregnant women.
But, fish oil is such an invigorating supplement, that its benefits go way beyond just that.
What is Fish Oil?
Although its origin is pretty self-explanatory, there’s a great deal of really interesting science behind fish oil. It’s an oil extracted from the tissues of oily fish such as herring, mackerel, salmon, tuna, and swordfish.
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for maintaining a normal and healthy metabolism.
Your body doesn’t produce these acids on its own, so you have to rely on food to get the healthy amount of these acids.
The EPA and DHA acids are very scarce, so our bodies rely mostly on the α-linolenic acid (ALA), which is the third Omega-3 fatty acid.
The ALA has a much shorter molecular chain and is pretty abundant in nuts and vegetable oils.
However, ALA doesn’t have nearly as much health benefits as the other two acids do, so we’ll only focus on them for now.
What Makes Omega-3 Fatty Acids so Beneficial?
The Omega-3 fatty acids are such a great dietary and health supplement due to their anti-inflammatory properties.
The Omega-6 fatty acids, on the other hand, are more prone to cause inflammation in the body.
So a good balance between these two types of polyunsaturated fats is the key to maintaining good health.
Unfortunately, our modern way of living and eating has significantly disrupted this very fragile balance.
The average man’s diet now consists of 25 to 40 times more Omega-6 fatty acids than necessary.
So, a normal healthy ratio between the Omega-6 and the Omega-3 acids is supposed to be 1:1, a far cry from today’s 25:1.
The amount of Omega-6 acids we consume puts our bodies into a state of constant inflammation, which can lead to all kinds of cardiovascular and hormonal problems.
Omega-3 fatty acids are your best bet when it comes to treating this condition naturally, and that’s why they’re so beneficial when it comes to a wide variety of male health problems and conditions.
Fish Oil and Testosterone Levels
The Omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients found in fish oil don’t have the ability to affect your testosterone production directly.
Instead, they take care of many smaller problems that might have slowed down your testosterone production.
They also increase the number of a few specific vitamins and enzymes in the body which in turn promotes androgenic activity.
Fish oil contains six times more Omega-3 fatty acids than Omega-6.
Taking fish oil supplements doesn’t only increase the amount of DHA and EPA in your body; it also effectively decreases the amount of Omega-6 acids.
Having less Omega-6 fatty acids reduces inflammation and make your body work twice as fast and efficient.
And an efficient body with a fast metabolism is surely bound to produce more testosterone.
How Omega-3s Boost Testosterone
Here are some of the most important reasons why fish oil can boost testosterone levels in the body:
1. Many clinical trials have also confirmed the effect fish oil has on decreasing the SHBG count in adult males. SHBG stands for sex hormone-binding globulin, and it’s a glycoprotein that binds to the sex hormones.
When SHBG binds to DHT or testosterone, it prevents them from becoming biologically active.
How exactly Omega-3 fatty acids decrease the SHBG count remains largely unknown, but studies have confirmed this correlation in both men and women.
2. It’s also speculated that fish oil might be able to increase the production of the luteinizing hormone. LH is responsible for catalyzing the production of testosterone in the Leydig cells of the testicles.
If proven, this theory could have a major impact on the way men use fish oil, but these claims are still very circumstantial and lack human studies.
3. Another more scientifically based benefit of fish oil is its ability to increase the production of certain vitamins in our body, especially vitamin D. There have been hundreds of studies done on the subject of how vitamins affect male fertility and testosterone, and most of them arrived at similar conclusions.
This study confirmed the correlation between Vitamin D and testosterone in men by observing how they varied seasonally. Another study confirmed that Vitamin D can increase testosterone in a randomized controlled trial of 200 men who were given vitamin D every day for a year.
4. As well as boosting vitamin D, fish oil has also been shown to increase the amount of vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A is sometimes referred to as the secret bodybuilding vitamin, thanks to its ability to affect sperm and testosterone production. You can read more about how vitamin A affects androgen activity in your body here.
5. And lastly, fish oil is a very promising testosterone boosting supplement thanks to its ability to increase insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is closely correlated to testosterone levels in men, as this study has shown, but there has to be more research done before it gets more widely accepted.
When you sum everything up, fish oil really is a great choice as a dietary and health supplement.
When choosing a fish oil supplement it’s a good idea to look for a product that has adequate levels of EPA and DHA.
However, despite its very obvious and scientifically-backed benefits, fish oil isn’t a miracle solution to your hormonal problems.
You’ll have to be very patient when taking this supplement, as it often takes up to a year to reach its peak effectiveness.
If you’re looking to commit to a single dietary supplement long-term and aren’t concerned with the time it takes to work, then fish oil is the way to go.
If you found this article useful share with someone you know using the icons below.
