Dr. Michael Hart on health: what the evidence says · JRE #1246

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

The claim asserts that NSAIDs decrease gonadotropins in a way that raises testosterone by roughly 25%. The best-known controlled human trial on this topic, a randomized study of 31 healthy men published in PNAS, found the opposite direction of effect: 1,200 mg/day of ibuprofen for six weeks increased luteinizing hormone (LH, a gonadotropin) by 23% at 14 days and 33% at 44 days, while free testosterone showed no significant change, and the testosterone-to-LH ratio fell about 18-23%. The researchers described this pattern as "compensated hypogonadism," where the pituitary raises gonadotropin output to maintain near-normal testosterone despite reduced testicular responsiveness, not a state where gonadotropins fall and testosterone rises. A separate NHANES-based population study of NSAID users found no significant association between regular NSAID use and testosterone once confounders were controlled. No study reviewed reports a ~25% testosterone increase from NSAID-induced gonadotropin suppression. The specific figure and mechanism described do not match the peer-reviewed literature, which instead points to gonadotropins rising, not falling, with NSAID use.