AHS16 - Ancestral Health Symposium 2016

Testosterone is essential in both males and females and makes important contributions to many aspects of health including fertility and athletic performance. Ancestral diets were rich in fat-soluble vitamins, and fat-soluble vitamins play an important role in regulating testosterone. Among several important mechanisms is the regulation of undercarboxylated osteocalcin which is released from bone into serum during bone resorption and acts as a hormone that controls insulin and testosterone signaling. Adequate fat-soluble vitamins are necessary to support the to support this mechanism, but high doses of a variety of nutritional supplements have the potential to compromise testosterone production through inhibiting bone resorption. This presentation will cover data from my laboratory showing that vitamin D can raise undercarboxylated osteocalcin levels within a broader framework that synthesizes the results of many studies and concludes with recommendations for dosing and balancing fat-soluble vitamins.