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Vitamin D And Testosterone

Vitamin D and testosterone have not always been linked, yet recent trials have shown that poor vitamin D levels can directly impair your testosterone production. This makes sense, as studies also show that roughly 50% of people have vitamin D levels below the optimal range, while around 40% have low testosterone levels, demonstrating a clear correlation between the two.

This makes vitamin D supplementation a great option for men, and women, who are looking to boost their testosterone levels without having to resort to things like testosterone therapy or HRT (hormone replacement therapy), which can both cause side effects.

Unfortunately, as the studies on the link between the two are fairly new, many people have yet to hear about them, while others feel something as simple as vitamin D won’t produce a potent effect. That is why we have decided to produce this article detailing exactly how it does, to give you all the information you need to naturally regain control of your testosterone levels.

Table of Contents

What Is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is an essential, fat-soluble vitamin also known as cholecalciferol and “the sunshine vitamin”. It is needed for many functions in the human body to occur, with studies showing that an average person needs at least 10 to 20 mcg of vitamin D a day for their body to maintain optimal health and functions (1).

Present in countless foods, drinks, and supplements, getting enough vitamin D daily offers many health benefits. These include reducing the risk of influenza, improving bone, brain, heart, and immune system health and functions, energy and testosterone production and levels, male sexual health, blood sugar levels, muscle strength, and bone density, and helping with depression and many other health issues.

In this article, we will only examine how vitamin D affects your testosterone production and levels. However, if you want to learn more about any of the other health benefits that it can offer, we have previously published two articles that cover all of them in great depth, which you can read here and here.

What Is Testosterone?

Testosterone is the main male sex hormone, but it is found in men and women, just in far lower amounts in the latter. Required for the human body to function optimally, it is mainly made in the testes of men and the ovaries of women. That said, small amounts are also made by the adrenal glands of both.

Testosterone is essential for enabling the body to function properly. A healthy level is needed to support a normal sexual drive, health and functions, optimal protein synthesis, muscle growth, strength and repair, and fat loss and storage, and healthy bone mass and density, mood, and energy levels (2).

Both men and women will see their natural testosterone production and levels fall as they get older, but the drop and the effect it has are both far more impactful in men than in women.

Signs of low testosterone

Vitamin D And Testosterone: How Does Vitamin D Boost Testosterone Levels?

Attaches To Vitamin D Receptors in Testes

The testicular cells (Leydig cells) that produce testosterone have an abundance of vitamin D receptors (VDRs) within them. These cells contain enzymes that convert vitamin D into its active form (calcitriol), allowing them to play a direct role in the production of various hormones, including testosterone.

Ensuring you maintain healthy vitamin D levels will therefore ensure these cells perform at an optimal level. This will result in testosterone production taking place at normal or even heightened levels (3).

Did you know that Vitamin D can help with anxiety?

Regulates Hormone Synthesis

Vitamin D aids the expression of genes involved in steroidogenesis, which is the process that converts cholesterol into testosterone. It is particularly prominent in affecting luteinizing hormone (LH) sensitivity in Leydig cells, which is one of the primary compounds required for testosterone production to occur.

By stimulating the increased sensitivity of LH through vitamin D supplementation, you enhance its ability to produce testosterone, leading to notably higher t levels (4).

Impacts SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin)

Studies have shown that vitamin D has the ability to lower SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) levels. SHBG is a compound that binds to testosterone, making it inactive, reducing testosterone levels, and often increasing estrogen levels.

By lowering SHBG levels with vitamin D supplementation, your body will have more free (bioavailable) testosterone available, which is the form that actually exerts effects in the body. This means your overall testosterone levels won’t just be higher, the testosterone will actually be more potent too (5).

Prevents Fat Storage

Excess body fat, especially visceral fat (fat around internal organs), causes low testosterone levels. This is due to its ability to boost aromatase activity in the fat cells, which converts testosterone into estrogen, while causing issues like insulin resistance and inflammation, which both lower testosterone production.

Vitamin D helps reduce fat storage and, as a result, your testosterone levels, in multiple ways. The main way it achieves this is by influencing the release of hunger hormones like leptin and adiponectin, to help you feel satiated and not overeat, while even directly reducing the amount of fat that you store from food.

It also downregulates PPARγ (Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma), a key gene involved in fat cell growth, reducing the formation of new fat cells (adipogenesis) and promoting fat breakdown. It then even promotes lipolysis (the breakdown of stored fat for energy) and boosts mitochondrial function, making food easier to turn into energy (6)(7).

Vitamin D can improve your immune system

Offers Many Indirect Health Benefits

Vitamin D supports the human body in many ways, like improving immune health and function, mood regulation, and muscle strength. All of these correlate with healthy testosterone levels, while low test levels are linked to issues like fatigue, depression, and low libido, which impair testosterone production even further.

This means keeping your body fully healthy will allow it to produce testosterone in the most optimal fashion possible and help you maintain healthy testosterone levels.