Relentless Doctor Busts 70 Year-Old “T” Myth

In Cancer, Featured Article

Millions of men suffer from prostate cancer. Doctors tell you it’s often caused by too much testosterone (“T”). And they’ve been telling you that since 1941…

But some experts are now saying that doesn’t add up. They say young men have lots of “T”. But their “T” levels drop as they age. So if “T” causes prostate cancer, why is the disease an older man’s problem?

An earlier study – put out in 1934 by Oxford University – had found that “T” combats prostate cancer.

And some modern doctors now believe this is true. They say mainstream medicine took a wrong turn in 1941…and millions of men have suffered forit ever since.

One Harvard doctor has spent the last 20 years putting this theory to the test. He’s compiled two decades of clinical proof showing that “T” helps men fight prostate cancer.

And…when he went back to the original 1941 source…he says he discovered that the theory “was based on almost nothing at all.”

But can a few doctors be right…when so many are wrong? How can some doctors think “T” combats prostate cancer…while most mainstream doctors think it causes it?

Stay with us as we investigate the origins of modern medical thinking on the subject…and review the evidence against it.

Building a Modern Medical Myth

In 1941 a doctor linked high “T” levels to prostate cancer…and won the Noble Prize for it.

The doctor was Charles Huggins. He was a famous urologist at Chicago University.

Dr. Huggins was researching the biochemistry of seminal fluid…and for some years had collected the prostatic fluid from dogs. As part of his research he’d castrated several dogs…and made a chance discovery.

Castration in some dogs seemed to shrink prostate tumours in them.

He began targeting dogs with prostate tumours and confirmed that chemical castration caused shrinkage of prostatic tumours in some dogs.

He published his findings in a 1940 issue of Journal of Experimental Medicine.

After that he applied his theory to men. In 1941, he took three men whose cancer had already spread to their bones. He went ahead and castrated them.

Then he tested their blood for levels of acid phosphatase. That’s an enzyme high in men with aggressive prostate cancer.

The acid phosphatase dropped significantly after castration. So how did cutting off a man’s testicles combat prostate cancer? Dr. Huggins developed a theory…cutting off the testes cut the development of “T”.

Therefore…”T” causes prostate cancer.

It seemed to make sense…and mainstream medicine took it as gospel. They awarded Dr. Huggins the Nobel Prize…and have accepted the theory ever since.

Modern Medical Mystery

That’s what Dr. Abraham Morgentaler was taught when he was in medical school at Harvard. And like every other mainstream doctor…he didn’t think to question the theory. It was only after he graduated…and began working  on his own patients that he began to think it didn’t add up.

He was working on a daily basis with men who had infertility and sexual problems. And he found that most of them had low “T”. But that didn’t make sense…he knew “T” was the root cause of prostate problems…didn’t he?

He also found that when he gave men “T”, their prostate problems got better. Again…his results went against mainstream thinking. And he didn’t want to put his patients at risk. So he began doing biopsies prior to treatment to check for cancer.

And he was surprised by the results …

All of his patients had low “T” levels. But out of men that he biopsied, several already had prostate cancer.

This surprised him…because men with low “T” were supposed to have less risk.

He was pretty confused…so he took his findings to a national urology meeting. And he was told…

“This is garbage! Everyone knows that high “T” causes prostate cancer.”

Dr. Morgentaler was crushed. He was a promising young doctor… who had just been humiliated on a national stage for merely questioning conventional wisdom.

He didn’t know what to say.

“These are the results we obtained,” he told the audience. “We present them here because they do fly in the face of conventional wisdom, which is why we believe they may be of interest to this audience.”

He was laughed off stage and went back to his practice. But the experience made him determined to dig deeper into the mystery.

By the mid-90s he was studying the incidence of cancer amongst men with low “T”. He found that 14 percent of men with low “T” had cancer. And that was much higher than cancer rates in men with normal PSAs. Those rates were 0 – 2 percent, and no higher than 4.5.

He started documenting his findings. And he published them in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It was the first paper to challenge accepted medical thinking on “T” and prostate cancer.

“Frankly, most experts just didn’t know what to make of our results,” says Dr. Morgentaler. “A high cancer rate among men with low “T” didn’t fit into the existing way of thinking regarding “T” and prostate cancer.”

He didn’t blame his peers. They were just accepting 70 years of dogmatic teachings… but it made him wonder …just how solid were the origins of this theory…that just wasn’t borne out by his own clinical findings?

What if the 1941 study had got it all wrong? What if low “T” actually contributed to prostate cancer…rather than combatting it?

So he went back to the origins of what he now suspected was a modern medical myth….

A Day at the Library

Dr. Morgentaler went to the Countway Library of Medicine. It’s located at Harvard University. And it is where old volumes of medical journals are stored.

He went down to the basement…and found an old issue of the Cancer Research journal.

He pored over its pages…and what he found turned everything he thought he knew on its head.

Modern medical thinking wasn’t built on rock-solid foundations…in fact…the actual research was paper thin.

The whole research was based on just three men who were given “T” injections. The results were only given for two. And one of those two men was already castrated before the treatment began.

So the theory that informs all modern medical thinking on “T” and prostate cancer…was based on just one patient whose acid phophatase levels happened to increase.

“Dr. Huggins’s assertion that higher “T” caused greater growth of prostate cancer, repeated so long and accepted as gospel, was based on almost nothing at all,” says Dr. Morgentaler.

And Dr. Morgentaler points out one other thing…even the findings gained from the single test subject are flawed. That’s because acid phophatase is no longer considered a reliable test marker…because it produces too many unreliable results.

Turning Modern Medical Thinking on its Head

Once he knew for himself that the theory was based on nothing…Dr. Morgentaler began testing his own theory aggressively. He worked with hundreds of patients…helping them to combat prostate problems with “T” supplementation.

He published study after study in peer reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine…and dozens of others.

And he’s connected with many other doctors across Europe…in places like Paris and Berlin…who are getting exactly the same results and offering their results for peer review.

“There is now a growing concern that low “T” is more of a risk for prostate cancer than high “T”,” says Dr. Morgentaler. “The relationship of “T” to prostate cancer has undergone a significant reevaluation…and all recent evidence (shows) that “T” therapy is safe for the prostate.”

While mainstream doctors still oppose this emerging thinking…they may be forced to change…as study after study supports this new view.

For example…a group of German doctors did a study in 2009. It was conducted at the University Medical Center in Ulm.

The doctors noted the high prevalence of low “T” in men with prostate cancer. The symptoms included depression, lack of libido and decreased bone density.

Researchers analyzed four published studies. Men were given “T” after treatment for prostate cancer. And they found only one recurrence of cancer.

“Testosterone plays an important role,” the researchers wrote. “Based on this data, physicians cannot justify withholding (“T” therapy) from patients after they have been treated for prostate cancer. “

And there are more and more studies coming from credible sources that back this up.

Harvard Medical School published a study in 2000. The study found that men with low “T” had faster growing tumors and prostate disease.

“Patients with low “T” had extensive disease,” wrote the researchers. “All men [with severe prostate cancer] had low testosterone.”

Another study was done by the University of Witwaterstrand in Africa.

Researchers looked at 122 patients and found men with the highest “T” levels had the lowest incidence of prostate disease. The patients with the lowest levels had the highest incidence of prostate disease.

“Low “T” results in aggressive disease and a poor prognosis in advanced prostate cancer,” concluded the researchers.

What This Means to You

More and more research suggests that “T” therapy may help men combat prostate problems. In fact…there’s even more research which shows the balance of “T” to your other hormones may be vital to your general health…

Emerging research shows that a proper hormonal balance can affect:

  • physical fitness
  • sexual performance
  • mental wellbeing
  • energy levels

We’ve been investigating this research for some time…and following the work of leading experts in the field. And we’re just putting the finishing touches to a lengthy report that will bring you up to date on all the most recent research and findings.

It’s also loaded with guidance on how to balance your hormones…and optimize your health.

We’ll let you know how you can get your copy when it’s released.

Wishing you good health,

Ian Robinson

Editorial Director, NHD “Health Watch”