Castration extends life span, but in a surprising way, mouse study suggests

sandymcmurray

It just seems longer.

williamgators

So does respecting the law but what fun is that?

Aurornis

The surprising part is that neutering males after puberty showed the larger increase: > However, mice that were neutered as adults gained the most. The procedure stretched their lives by about 33%, compared with 19% and 26% increases, respectively, for the animals fixed before or after puberty. That trend goes opposite of what would be expected from a simple area under the curve model where presence of the testes correlated with reduced lifespan. The link between male hormones and aging has always been interesting but I think there’s going to be a renewed interest as TRT clinics have become common and even men who aren’t hypogonadal can now be prescribed TRT after a short consult with a doctor from their local clinic who never turns anyone down. Among the people I know who were more cavalier with TRT and keeping their testosterone levels at the top of the normal range for years, all of them have started talking about how it feels they’ve aged. Anecdotally, they look older than their age to me, but I didn’t realize how much testosterone was associated with accelerated aging until I looked at the research. I always thought the visual changes were a side effect of the associated hair growth changes, facial structure changes, and lifestyle factors that often come along with the people who use testosterone at levels above what’s needed to get toward the median of the range. The numbers in this study preprint are close enough that I’d want to see more replication, but it would suggest that the relationship is more complicated than simply having androgens accelerate aging.

andrewclunn

If mice studies were analogous to humans, we would have cured numerous things by now. I'm all for taking correlation as worthy of follow up research, but I aint chopping off my balls based on it.

jordanb

New tech bro fad is gonna be bleak.

OkayPhysicist

IMO, all the evidence for castration increasing lifespan is pretty strong evidence that all the "I'm going to live 200 years" bluster by a certain contingent of techbros is merely that. I've yet to hear about any of them becoming eunuchs.

SillyUsername

I don't think anybody has the balls to try this tbh.

antonmks

So we found a way to extend the human life. But, like usually, there is a catch.

world2vec

This has always been known? Capons live longer than intact roosters. Wethers live longer than intact rams. Every farmer knows this.

HughParry

paging bryan johnson

nico

So is that why women on average live longer than men? That would make a good case for castration after kids. But it needs to be sold really really well

moralestapia

You vill loze ze ballz.

m3kw9

At a certain point, extending life span isn't everything.

devsda

While it is not possible in modern society, history should have examples of royal courts having adults castrated at various ages and employing them. Their records should be a good reference point even though they might not be scientific observations.

silverFork

"UGA research finds sterilized dogs live longer" 9.4 yrs > 7.9 yrs .. 40k dogs tested both sexes. females 26% longer. Males 13% https://news.uga.edu/uga-research-finds-sterilized-dogs-live... https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/study-spa...

r0meo1

my guess is IGF-1 is probably one of the biggest reasons, male castration will lower IGF-1 permanently, there's already been other studies showing both animals and humans with lower IGF-1 levels tend to live longer than those with higher levels

sirmike_

Good news for the 21st century eunuchs on the life preferences side of humanity.

ruined

the dolls stay winning

stevenalowe

Revenge can be a huge motivator…