Cross SectionalHumann = 1912021
The association between plant-based content in diet and testosterone levels in US adults.
Plain-language summary
This study looked at whether eating more plant-based foods is linked to higher testosterone levels in men. It used data from NHANES (a large, recurring US government health survey), analyzing diet patterns and testosterone levels in 191 men aged 30 to 60. The researchers scored diets based on how plant-based they were, using two indexes: PDI (plant-based diet index) and hPDI (healthful plant-based diet index). They found that neither index predicted testosterone levels, suggesting that plant-based food content in diet is not tied to testosterone.
Key findings
- Eating more plant-based food did not predict testosterone levels.
- Body mass index and age did predict testosterone levels.
- The study does not report which direction body mass index or age ran.
- This is 191 men from a national survey, measured once.
How to analyze the study yourself
- Study type
- Cross-sectional studies capture data at one point in time, making them good for spotting associations but less able to show cause and effect.
- Population
- Men aged 30-60 from the NHANES database.
- Funding
- Not reported
- Takeaway
- This study found that how plant-based a man's diet was did not predict his testosterone either way, on either of the two diet scores it used. Body weight and age did track with testosterone, though this study does not say in which direction. If you are trying to raise your testosterone, this is one route you can stop worrying about: eating more plants will not lower it and eating fewer will not raise it.