Men on a low-carb water diet beware: your "androgens" are badly damaged

Among the weight-loss people and fitness people, the "low-carbon water diet" is becoming more and more popular.

Recently, a new study published in the medical journal Nutrition and Health found that:

A low-carb water diet can lead to endocrine fluctuations, which have a greater impact on men — it lowers testosterone levels in male participants, leading to erectile dysfunction and reduced sperm count.

"Life Times" (search for "LT0385" in WeChat can be followed) combined with the research interview experts to give men who do not eat enough carbs a wake-up call, and how to eat carbs healthily.

Experts interviewed

Zhang Shuangqing, a researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Wu Xueyan, chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Men have low carbon water, androgen losses are heavy

Researchers at the University of Worcester in the UNITED Kingdom analyzed the results of 27 clinical trials, including a total of 309 men with an average age of 27 years.

All participants were divided into a high-carb group and a low-carb water group (carbohydrate ≤ 35%), with the low carb group having higher levels of fat, protein and cholesterol in their diets and lower levels of fiber and sugar.

Dietary interventions ranged from 2 days to 8 weeks. 95% of the participants underwent physical activity during this period, with cortisol measurements after exercise.

Cortisol is a stress hormone, and high levels of cortisol suppress the immune system, making people more susceptible to colds or viruses and bacteria.

Findings about cortisol levels

In the short term (3 weeks), the low-carb diet increases levels of resting cortisol stress hormone, but returns to baseline levels in the long term.

In the 1 and 2 hours after exercise, cortisol levels were much higher in the low-carb water group compared to the high-carb water group.

Findings about testosterone levels

Participants in the low-carbon water group had lower testosterone levels compared to the high-carb water group. After exercise, a short-term diet found that testosterone levels in the low-carb water group were also significantly reduced.

You know, low testosterone levels not only lead to erectile dysfunction and a decrease in sperm count, reducing fertility; it is also closely related to heart disease, diabetes and so on.

For further analysis, the researchers divided the low-carbon water group into two subgroups: one group is the appropriate proteome (

The results showed that participants in the high proteome had a more pronounced decrease in testosterone levels, a 37 percent reduction.

Taken together, the low-carb diet can be described as a heavy loss of testosterone levels in men, especially in men with a combination of low-carbon water + high-protein diet, and this risk will be magnified.

"Testosterone" is about sex and fertility

Testosterone is a hormone secreted by the male gonads (testes) and is the most important of the androgens. The androgen curve of a man's life is like climbing over a mountain:

Started climbing up around the age of 11;

Sixteen or seventeen years old climbed to a small peak;

Reaching its peak around the age of 20, after a short stay at the peak, it begins to decline at a rate of about 1% per year;

After the age of 30, with the decrease of androgens in the body, men will have various conditions such as physical decline;

After the age of 40, the amount of androgen production in the male body begins to decrease significantly;

After the age of 50, the amount of androgen secretion in men's body will decrease by 20% to 30%.

Once testosterone levels are low, various health problems can spread throughout the body:

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Affects sexual function

The European Study on Male Aging pointed out that there is a clear correlation between poor morning erection, low libido and erectile dysfunction and decreased testosterone levels.

Increases the risk of cardiovascular disease

Low testosterone levels have been linked to risk factors for myocardial infarction, stroke, and atherosclerosis.

The incidence of cardiovascular disease is related to the "U-shaped curve" of androgen levels, and the incidence is lowest when androgens are at reasonable levels, and too high or too low will lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Reduces fertility

Insufficient testosterone, the testicles are not motivated to produce sperm, and the number and quality of sperm will decline, which can lead to male infertility.

Affects metabolism

Androgens can also promote protein anabolism, muscle growth requires protein synthesis, and androgens can promote metabolic balance in the body.

How much carb water to eat every day is enough to meet the standard?

It is not difficult to find that too low carbohydrate intake affects endocrine and male testosterone levels, and testosterone is related to all aspects of men.

How much carb do you need to consume per day for the average person?

At present, the carbohydrate intake recommended by nutrition experts in various countries accounts for about half or more of a day's energy needs, and the recommended range in the mainland is 50% to 65%.

That is, more than half of our body's energy comes from carbohydrates.

If an adult needs 2,000 kcal of energy per day, he should consume about 250 to 300 grams of carbohydrates, which is equivalent to eating a small bowl of rice and a small amount of fruit per meal.

The recommendation also specifically requires that these carbohydrates must come from a variety of natural foods, including whole grains, beans, potatoes, fruits, etc., and cannot be a single food such as white rice or white steamed buns.

Among them, the intake of dietary fiber is 25 to 30 grams per day, and the added sugar does not exceed 50 grams per day, and it is best to limit it to less than 25 grams.

Nutrition experts support how to eat carbs

There are many kinds of staple foods in the mainland, especially miscellaneous grains, all of which have their own housekeeping skills. Before eating carbs, let's take a look at their advantages.

Learn to complement each other's strengths in order to better ingest carbon water.

The meal has cereals

Three meals a day should be ingested with sufficient cereals, and different types of cereals can be selected for three meal staple foods.

Such as breakfast bread, lunch rice, dinner gnocchi soup or millet porridge. Even if you eat out, the staple food and dishes should be served at the same time, and try to avoid not eating the staple food.

Variety

Both potatoes and miscellaneous legumes can also be used as a staple supplement.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, taro, yam and other potato carbohydrate content is about 25%, vitamin C, dietary fiber content is higher than cereals, it is recommended to consume 50 to 100 grams per day.

Red adzuki beans, kidney beans, mung beans, peas, chickpeas and other miscellaneous beans contain 50% to 60% of carbohydrates, about 20% of protein, and eat together with rice and noodle foods, which can play a good protein complementary role.

In addition, the B vitamin content in mixed beans is high, rich in calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium and other minerals, it is recommended to cook the whole grain or crush the whole grain to make a "filling".

A combination of thickness and thinness

When cooking a staple, rice can be eaten with brown rice, whole grains (oats, millet, buckwheat, corn, etc.) and mixed beans.

Brown rice, two rice, eight treasure porridge, tortillas, whole wheat steamed buns, etc. are all good ways to achieve thickness and thinness.

The combination of thickness and thinness can improve the taste and flavor of staple foods while increasing the intake of whole grains, which can help prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity and so on.

Steam more and fry less

When making fried rice, fried steamed bun slices, oil cakes, fried sauce noodles, salt, oil, sugar, etc., will be added, which will invisibly increase the intake of staple food energy and salt, and long-term consumption is not conducive to blood pressure, blood sugar and weight control.

It should be reminded that when losing weight, you should also pay attention to the intake of carbs, so as not to consume more protein due to insufficient energy, resulting in muscle loss. It is recommended to replace a part of the refined white rice noodles with starchy foods with high nutritional quality, such as beans and potatoes, so that you can reduce the amount and carry hunger, and do not reduce nutrition. ▲

Editor of this issue: Zheng Ronghua

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