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What are androgens? How excessive levels affect men and women

Androgens are a group of hormones with a wide range of functions. Testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and androstenedione are all androgen hormones. They are often referred to as “male hormones” since they’re essential for male sexual development and are present at much higher levels in biological males. However, androgens are essential in women, too. Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone. It’s made in the testes in men and the ovaries in women. While men have 20–25 higher levels of testosterone than women, testosterone balance plays an important role in the health of both genders.

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 The Myth of Testosterone

It is not the “male sex hormone,” nor is it the key to athletic performance. Why do we insist otherwise? For a century, talk about testosterone as the “male hormone” has woven folklore into science, so that supposedly objective claims seemingly validate cultural beliefs about the structure of masculinity and the “natural” relationship between women and men. Labeling testosterone the male sex hormone suggests that it is restricted to men and is alien to women’s bodies, and obfuscates the fact that women also produce and require testosterone as part of healthy functioning. Even the earliest hormone researchers understood that testosterone has wide-ranging effects on metabolism, liver function, bones, muscle, skin and the brain in both sexes.

Articles of Interest

Androgen Physiology, Pharmacology, Use and Misuse

Testosterone, together with its bioactive metabolites dihydrotestosterone and estradiol, determines the development and maintenance of male sexual differentiation and the characteristic mature masculine features. Defects in androgen action at various epochs of life produce characteristic clinical features.

Androgens 101

There are a lot of misconceptions about testosterone and other androgens. People tend to think of these as “male” hormones. It is true that testosterone is the most important hormone for sexual development of people with male sex organs (1). That being said, all bodies—regardless of sex—produce and require some level of androgens for reproductive development

Could androgens be relevant to partly explain why men have lower life expectancy than women?

Currently, the non-reproductive effects of androgens on men's health is little researched. The published literature also suffers from citation bias towards studies putting testosterone in a positive light.

Does testosterone make you mean?

The ‘risk-taking’ male hormone is blamed for everything from sexual violence to the financial crisis, but some researchers are starting to question the supposed links

Here’s what you need to know about testosterone

Testosterone is blamed for violence in males, implicated in sport scandals, linked to sexual prowess, desired by gym devotees, and promoted as a tonic for ageing. But how many of us really understand what testosterone is, what it does, and why it’s important? Testosterone levels are about ten times higher in men than women. While it does have important functions in women, its role is quite different

How Sex Hormones Might Treat Certain Diseases

New research shows androgens turn back the clock on DNA loss in patients with rare genetic blood disorders.

The Pathophysiological Basis of Androgen Disorders in Men

Testicular production of male sex hormones (androgens) starts in the fetal period and continues until the end of life. Androgens are quintessential for the structural and functional differentiation and maturation of all aspects of the male phenotype. Testosterone (T) is the most important androgen; some of its actions require its conversion to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) mainly in peripheral androgen target organs. In addition, some actions of T, such as on the bone, brain, and sexual desire, require its conversion to the active estrogen, estradiol (E2).

The Roles of Androgens in Humans: Biology, Metabolic Regulation and Health

Androgens are an important and diverse group of steroid hormone molecular species. They play varied functional roles, such as the control of metabolic energy fate and partition, the maintenance of skeletal and body protein and integrity and the development of brain capabilities and behavioral setup (including those factors defining maleness). In addition, androgens are the precursors of estrogens, with which they share an extensive control of the reproductive mechanisms (in both sexes).