“Big T”, the Americans call the hormone testosterone, and that says a lot about what skills they attribute to the messenger. Testosterone is synonymous with strength, Libido and muscle that makes men men. Nevertheless, it speaks not so happy about it, especially if there is too little of it, and therefore, a single cryptic letter is somehow more practical. Testosterone symbolized although masculinity, but women also have the hormone, only much less of it. How much you can have in competitive sports, in fact, the international court of arbitration for sport decides in Lausanne in the case of the South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya track.

hormones play in our bodies has a crucial role. They carry information from the brain to the organs and push important processes. It is a complicated Interaction of different factors, which is prone to failure and in the case of the men is still much too little explored. In Germany, there are now a specialist title for andrology, the male Version of gynecology. In Switzerland, urologists, or endocrinologists (hormone specialists) do not take care of it, a separate specialist titles exist.

In Switzerland so far, little research

operated “Especially when it comes to testosterone, there are still very many open questions,” says Professor Mirjam Christ-Crain, Deputy chief physician of endocrinology at the University hospital Basel. Only in the last 15 years has the science to a greater extent with male sex hormones. In 2017, the so-called “T of Trials”, a series of seven studies, testosterone published in the journal “Jama”. It was mainly a question of whether older men testosterone to take the set.

In Switzerland there is a lack of research on these issues. That men do not deal so much with your health, so it has influenced even science. However, it is also challenging to get good study results. The values vary with the Individual, which is why the endocrinologist measure at least on two different days. The levels of testosterone in men in the morning, the highest.

With testes women

men, the hormone form mainly in the testes, the impetus for this comes from the Hypothalamus and the pituitary gland in the brain. The female body produces the testosterone in the adrenal glands, the ovaries and in fat tissue. With the Onset of puberty boys start to produce more testosterone. It makes the Penis and testes to grow, for the male body hair and deep voice. But it also causes the muscles and bones grow and fat mass decreases. In addition, testosterone stimulates the formation of blood, which is why men have a higher Haemoglobin than women. The hemoglobin binds to the red blood cells of oxygen.

Many discussions have there been in the last few years, the athlete Caster Semenya and your testosterone levels. The judgment of whether Semenya can continue to start without hormone-lowering drugs for women, want to announce to the court at the end of April. The endocrinologists are in the case of Semenya, however, relative agreement. The South African dominated for several years on the women’s 800 metres. The 28-Year-old is inter-sexually. She has a Vagina, but no uterus and ovaries, but rather testes that lie within the Body. These testes produce testosterone, which is why Semenyas values are far above those of a woman with a uterus and ovaries.

The international athletics Association IAAF would like to specify that inter should sexual take with a testosterone level above 5 nmol/l in the blood hormone lowering drugs to keep the women on the distances between 400 m and one-mile start. Because it is precisely in these disciplines, the performance-enhancing Element of testosterone come.

doping in the GDR

by Contrast, has sued Semenya. She identifies as a woman, and has put a lot of work in your career as a professional athlete. Their benefit, that the basis of the Study on the topic is thin. Studies are difficult to perform, because there are extraordinary in the Sport of illegal performance enhancement to be no reason that a large group of women were to take testosterone.

Nevertheless, the facts against Semenya to speak. “There is clear evidence that testosterone increases the benefits,” says Fahim Ebrahimi, endocrinologist and testosterone expert at the Basel University hospital. It is also no coincidence that testosterone was used in the case of women in the past, especially in the GDR as a doping agent. In addition, the hormone is exactly the factor that ensures that men have more muscles and a stronger bone structure than the average woman, and that your blood can carry more oxygen, which is also performance enhancing. Semenya had to take once hormone countersink, and ran significantly worse times.

“It is clearly proved that the hormone testosterone increases the benefits.”Fahim Ebrahimi, endocrinologist and testosterone expert at the University hospital of Basel

In the run-up to the process have spoken to various researchers, that you may start still without medication. “It is all, however, are not endocrinologists,” says hormone specialist, David Handelsman of the University of Sydney. “Endocrine there is clear evidence in favor of the new rules of the IAAF,” says Handelsman, who says in the process as an expert for the track and field Association. In 2017, he published, together with two other international experts in the “British Journal of Sports Medicine” a study on the topic, however, has been criticized for the methodology used.

the endocrinologist showed, however, that women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which often have a slightly elevated testosterone level, are übervertreten in the power of sport as a percentage. Also, the increasing power of the hormone to speak for the performance. The values of the women with PCOS are only slightly above the norm and significantly below the limit of 5 nmol/l PCOS is a common phenomenon, the subject according to the estimates approximately 15 percent of all women. The reasons for this are not yet clearly defined, but it can cause the Affected to fertility problems.

No Chance against men

there is General Agreement among experts that in Testosterone thresholds is not an ideal solution for all parties Involved. For Semenya and other intersex athletes, the international career, in the years invested in the game. You would have to start with the men, they would have no Chance.

Some observers have proposed a third category for intersex. However, only 0.5 to 1 percent of people are intersex. Critics, therefore, the field of participants and the competition would probably be much too small for exciting competitions. Conversely, it is for the vast majority of women do not have naturally increased testosterone levels, it’s frustrating, when you have, in spite of the largest training effort no Chance.

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 04.04.2019, 20:58 PM