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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is worried the military doesn't have enough testosterone. On Wednesday, he announced a plan to begin screening service members to make sure they have adequate levels. NPR's Will Stone has more on the plan.
WILL STONE, BYLINE: In Hegseth's view, testosterone is a matter of national security and wartime readiness.
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PETE HEGSETH: This initiative, it's not about artificial enhancement.
STONE: That's the secretary in a video posted on social media yesterday.
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HEGSETH: It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight.
STONE: According to Hegseth, service members 30 and older will have their testosterone levels checked annually. Those who are younger will have the option, too. If levels are indeed low, they could pursue testosterone replacement therapy. The guidelines from major medical groups do not recommend this kind of routine screening unless a man has symptoms. Dr. Martin Miner codirects the Center for Men's Health at Brown University.
MARTIN MINER: I think it's very aggressive. But it depends on how it's implemented. It's a little frightening to me.
STONE: His primary concern? The policy could encourage young men to reach for testosterone replacement therapy before trying to correct the underlying drivers, like poor sleep and obesity.
MINER: If you just tell men, your level is low and we need to optimize it to make you a better fighting machine, to me, that's not really doing them a service.
STONE: Especially since taking testosterone does affect fertility. But other experts think it's an entirely reasonable proposal, including Dr. Mohit Khera, a urologist at Baylor College of Medicine.
MOHIT KHERA: Men who have low testosterone levels will suffer from decreased energy, decreased muscle mass, some form of depression and poor mood. Those three in themselves, for someone who's in combat, is a significant disadvantage.
STONE: He says checking for low T and bringing it back to a normal range is very different than advocating that it should be boosted to unnatural levels. And there's an ongoing discussion in his field about whether most men should be screened. Khera says it can be a powerful marker of overall health. He acknowledges most men in their 30s will ultimately not screen for low T and require treatment.
KHERA: However, we are seeing that younger and younger men are having lower and lower testosterone levels. Why? Every decade? Because we're becoming more unhealthy as a general population.
STONE: This latest initiative fits into the Trump administration's broader push, spearheaded by figures like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to promote men's health and expand access to testosterone.
Will Stone, NPR News.
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