Men, Women, Alcohol, Testosterone
Getting drunk aka “acute alcohol ingestion” … “decreases blood testosterone levels in normal healthy men”.[1]
When “healthy pre-menopausal women” were given a “low dose of alcohol”, acute increase in blood testosterone levels were measured.[1] The alcohol effect on testosterone is more prominent among women using Oral Contraceptives.[2]
“Chronic male alcoholics” are known to experience “testicular atrophy, gynaecomastia [male boobs], impotence and sterility”. Alcohol has a “direct toxic effect on the testes” and thus impairs testosterone production, and alcohol “enhances testosterone catabolism [breakdown]”. In addition to the negative impact on testosterone levels, “chronic alcoholic men are also exposed to the excessive oestrogen effect that results from the accumulation of oestrogenic hormones”.[3]
Source 1: Nature Vol 369, ‘Sex hormone response to alcohol’, 1994,
https://www.nature.com/articles/369711a0
Source 2: Alcohol Alcohol Vol 35, ‘Acute effect of alcohol on androgens in premenopausal women’, 2000,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10684783
Source 3: Alcohol and Alcoholism, Volume 18, Issue 4, ‘The Effect of Alcohol on Male and Female Sexual Function’, 1983,
https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article-abstract/18/4/313/127335
