How to Increase Testosterone Naturally Through Diet
Your diet can affect your testosterone levels. Learn what to eat, and what to avoid to boost your testosterone levels naturally.
- Diets below 20% fat reduce testosterone. So 25 to 35% of your calories should come from fat if you want to keep your testosterone levels high.
- Severe calorie restriction also suppresses testosterone. Keep deficits under 20% of maintenance and avoid dieting for too long (months).
- Most testosterone boosters lack credible evidence. Zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D only support production if you are already deficient in them.
Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone responsible for your energy, muscle mass, libido, and mood (among many other things). What you eat plays a crucial role in keeping it 'optimised'. In this article, we'll take a look at “testosterone-boosting” foods, food groups, which supplements work, what to avoid, and what changes you can make.
The foods you eat every day can affect how well your body produces (and responds to) testosterone. Getting it wrong can quietly suppress it for weeks or months before you even notice anything.
Why your total testosterone level isn't the whole story
First, let's define what 'optimising' your testosterone actually means. Most people assume this means having a high “total T” reading on a blood test. How many ng/dL do you have? 1000 ng/dL, everything is great, 300 ng/dL, not so good, right? But your total testosterone is only part of the picture.
A significant portion of testosterone in your blood is bound to a protein called “sex hormone-binding globulin” (SHBG), which makes it “biologically inactive” (meaning it doesn’t interact with your body).
Only "free" testosterone (i.e., not bound to anything) is actually available for your body to use. You can have normal total testosterone levels while still experiencing the effects of low testosterone if your SHBG is too high or if your body's hormonal signalling is disrupted in some way.
Testosterone is produced in your testes, but the amount that you produce is controlled by your brain, which is sensitive to your nutritional state, stress levels, sleep and body composition. So if you want to optimise your testosterone, it is really a “whole systems” approach — not just manipulating a single marker on your lab results.
Signs your testosterone may be low
Low testosterone is also not clear or easy to diagnose from its symptoms, but some of the most common signs include1:
- Persistent low energy or fatigue, even with adequate sleep
- Reduced sex drive or difficulty with erections
- Poor sports performance, muscle loss or difficulty building muscle.
- Increased body fat, particularly around the abdomen
- Low mood, irritability, or difficulty concentrating
If several of these things sound familiar, your diet could be a contributing factor. And the good news is that some nutritional changes can improve your testosterone, often within weeks.
How your diet directly affects testosterone production
Testosterone is made from cholesterol. This means your body cannot produce testosterone without adequate amounts of dietary fat. Eating too little fat reduces the availability of this building block and will blunt the production of testosterone.
Beyond fat, your overall calorie intake acts as a signal to your testosterone production system. When your calorie intake drops too low, your body interprets this as a 'starvation' response and goes into "survival mode". Your body will go on to dial down your testosterone production; this can happen in just a few days of an aggressive energy deficit2.
Several micronutrients (like zinc, magnesium and vitamin D) are required in certain amounts to produce testosterone. So, if you are deficient in any of these micros, your production of testosterone will slow or stop. Correcting these deficiencies can restore normal testosterone levels, but mega-dosing beyond adequate amounts doesn’t seem to speed up or increase testosterone production.
