Cholesterol and saturated fat are anabolic; PUFA/MUFA akin to chemical castration

September 20, 2019�haidut

An pair of interesting study and a commentary in the highly respected Journals of
Gerontology. Namely, higher cholesterol intake is associated with much higher lean
muscle mass accrual as a result of weight lifting. Interestingly, higher protein
intake was not. Even more interestingly, and much to the chagrin of the medical
industry, the increased dietary cholesterol did NOT increase biomarkers of CVD.
While the study that found this association did not provide an explanation of the
mechanism, the commentary in the same journal did. Namely, dietary saturated fat
increases androgens � both by stimulating sterodogenic enzymes (as I have discussed
in other posts) and by increasing cholesterol levels. In contrast, PUFA (and to a
lesser degree MUFA) decrease synthesis and subsequently blood levels of androgen
such as T, DHT, DHEA, androstenedione, etc and even of some of their precursors
such as pregnenolone. Famous US bodybuilder Vince Gironda, whose career began
before AAS were widely available, often said something along the lines of
�consuming 2-3 dozens of eggs daily has the same effects as AAS�. Considering that
amounts to ingesting 5g-7g cholesterol daily, the �Iron Guru� was probably right on
the money with his statement.
On a more sinister note, I do remember reading studies from the first half of the
20th century that suggested subjecting prostate cancer patients to a high-PUFA diet
as a form of androgen deprivation therapy. Those studies made it quite clear that
eating PUFA was akin to the �chemical castration� to which men continue to be
subjected even today as �treatment� for their prostate cancer. The commentary to
the cholesterol article also mentions the testosterone-decimating effects of PUFA,
which makes me think that this castration effect of PUFA is well known among the
medical professionals. On that note, the last two studies in this post are quite
relevant. One of the studies found that PUFA-rich oils widely used in the food
supply have a potent DHT lowering effects. The other study found that even the
relatively �benign� oleic acid (a MUFA) exhibits strong estrogenic and anti-
androgenic effects on offspring when fed to the mother in HED doses of 10g-15g
daily, which is quite in line with what most consumers of Western diets are exposed
to on a daily basis.
In light of the recent studies showing men�s T levels and sperm counts have
plummeted over the last 2-3 decades maybe the infertility epidemic has a very easy
explanation � deliberate chemical castration of men through their PUFA-loaded (even
MUFA-loaded) food supply.
https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/62/10/1164/568431
��The average dietary cholesterol consumption was strongly associated�(r�=
0.448,�p�=.001)�with the change in lean mass, which was further strengthened by
adjustments for body mass�(r�= 0.467,�p�=.001)�and lean mass�(r�= 0.512,�p�<.001)
(Figure 1A). Although dietary protein (g/kg lean mass/d) was significantly
correlated with dietary cholesterol (r�= 0.387,�p�=.004),�protein was not
significantly correlated with change in lean mass�(r�= ?0.034,�p�=.802). Other
dietary factors, kcal/kg lean mass/d, and mean kilocalories consumed per
kilocalories of resting energy expenditure were not significantly correlated with
the change in lean mass (18). Only dietary cholesterol entered a stepwise linear
regression model (R2�= 0.27,�p�<.001), which evaluated the independent association
of major dietary constituents to change in lean mass.�
��The direct association between dietary cholesterol and changes in strength
further�supports the potential�anabolic role of cholesterol. Moreover, the
significant indirect association of HDL cholesterol with absolute strength both
before and after training highlights the potential role of subfractions in the
physiology of this response. Whereas the�LDL subfraction�delivers cholesterol to
tissues and�is strongly associated with muscle gain, the HDL subfraction delivers
cholesterol away from tissues to be metabolized. Previous studies on cholesterol
and muscle characteristics are quite limited; however, Kohl and colleagues (34)
reported a strong inverse association, consistent with our findings, between HDL
and 1 RM strength for chest and leg press (same as in the present report) in 5460
men.�
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8942407
https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/63/11/1260/759439
��Riechman and colleagues (1) have published an excellent article in this Journal
examining the�relationship between dietary and serum cholesterol and the accrual of
lean body mass�with resistance exercise training. Omitted from this article,
however, was�a possible mechanism�that I believe could assist in explaining their
results. That is,�the effects of dietary saturated fats and/or cholesterol on
circulating androgen concentrations. A number of studies (2�5) have shown
that�reducing saturated fat in the diet, and/or replacing saturated fat with what
are considered more healthy fats (polyunsaturated and/or monounsaturated fats),
results in significant decline in the circulating testosterone concentration. With
the well-known anabolic effects of androgens on skeletal muscle, this potentially
could provide an additional link between saturated fats and/or cholesterol,
resistance exercise, and lean body mass accrual. Further, if the authors have not
already done so, and samples are available, I believe they should consider
assessing circulating androgen concentrations and relating them to the amount of
dietary cholesterol/saturated fat ingested, circulating cholesterol, and lean body
mass accrual resulting from resistance exercise.�
https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/31449274
��Anti-androgenic substances, mainly prostate 5?-reductase inhibitors, used in the
treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) have been associated with side
effects in man and animals. To reduce these side effects as well as suppress BPH
development, the management of the condition has come to include dietary
interventions. This study investigated the effect of some cooking oils on
testosterone-induced hyperplasia of the prostate in rats. Male Sprague-dawley rats
were distributed into eighteen groups (n=6) as A-R. A negative control group was
injected subcutaneously with soya oil; while prostatic hyperplasia was induced
subcutaneously in groups B-R with 3mg/kg testosterone daily for 14days. Group B was
the positive control (BPH group) while groups C-R were also administered
orally�800mg/kg of coconut, castor, canola, cottonseed, pomegranate, blackseed,
sheabutter, olive oil, codliver, sardine, palm, repeatedly heated palm (RHPO),
vegetable, repeatedly-heated vegetable (RHVO), sesame, and groundnut oils
respectively, daily, for 14 days. Blood sample was drawn via retro-orbital sinus
for the estimation of serum testosterone(T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) level and
rats were thereafter euthanized to obtain the prostates for T and DHT determination
as well as tissue weights. Data are mean � SEM, compared by ANOVA. The oils
significantly reduced the increase in prostate weight (PW) to body weight (BW)
ratio induced by testosterone. Apart from the fact that all the oils reduced the
PW:BW ratio, the�blackseed, sheabutter, sardine, vegetable and groundnut oils
suppressed the DHT level in the serum, while pomegranate, olive, RHPO reduced DHT
level in the prostate�compared to the BPH rats. This study suggests that blackseed,
sheabutter, sardine, vegetable, groundnut, pomegranate, olive, and RHPO oils could
inhibit testosterone-induced hyperplasia of the prostate and therefore may be
beneficial in the management of BPH.�
https://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0044/ea0044P203
��This study was designed to determine if prenatal exposure to�oleic acid�would
alter testicular endocrine functions in either an�estrogenic or antiandrogenic
manner�at puberty. Gravid dams were distributed into four groups of five rats each
as follows: Control group (1 ml/kg olive oil throughout pregnancy), pre-treatment
group (1000 mg/kg of oleic acid for 7 days before mating), preimplantation group
(1000 mg/kg of oleic acid for the period of preimplantation), Organogenesis group
(1000 mg/kg of oleic acid for the period of organogenesis). Dams delivered
naturally and male offspring were studied into puberty. Morphological landmarks,
hormone levels and sex accessory gland development were assessed.�Estrogenic
properties�included shortened AGI, decrease in serum LH and T (P<0.001), increase
in prolactin level in the organogenesis group.�Antiandrogenic properties�included
delayed pubertal maturation, altered serum LH and T levels (P<0.001), epididymal
sperm numbers in all treated groups. The results provide�in vivo�example of a
pronounced degree of target tissue selectivity to an environmental endocrine-
disruptor.�