Gynecomastia is caused by hormonal imbalance

In one of my old articles, I said that the most common cause of gynecomastia, is hormonal imbalance, or otherwise - a disturbed ratio between male and female sex hormones in the body. In causes of gynecomastia (female like breasts) in men, I only mentioned this, but we will now hit topic more seriously, and deeper.

Impaired ratio between testosterone / estrogen

Testosterone and estrogens are hormones, that are produced by men and women. Both sexes have them, the difference is in quantities. Men have a lot of testosterone and little estrogen, in women, the opposite applies. These proportions are reasons for men and women to look different. When, in the body of a man testosterone does not dominate estrogen, some female characteristics appear - breast enlargement, deposition of subcutaneous fat, muscle loss, the man becomes more sensitive, sentimental, etc. In general, we can say that he becomes more feminine. The reason for all this may be low testosterone, or high estrogen.

Factors contributing to the unbalanced estrogen - testosterone ratio in men

• Increased level of the enzyme aromatase. It is responsible for converting testosterone into estrogen. As we age, the amount of this enzyme is increased, and this contributes to lower testosterone levels. Blocking this enzyme with different drugs, reduces the levels of estrogens, and restores the level of free testosterone.

• Impaired liver function. In healthy subjects, the liver eliminates excess estrogen. This function of the liver may be impaired for various reasons: age, alcohol intoxication, or various drugs.

• Obesity. Fat cells in the body are the main source of production of the enzyme aromatase. Low testosterone levels lead to accumulation of fat in the body, especially the abdominal wall. On the other hand, accumulated fats increase the level of aromatase, turning testosterone into estrogens. Therefore, in overweight men, restoring hormonal balance is essential.

• Zinc deficiency. This mineral is a natural inhibitor of the aromatase enzyme, and its deficiency leads to increased levels of estrogen.

• Age. After 30, every 10 years testosterone levels decrease in a man, by 10 percent.

Note, that if you have too much testosterone and you are overweight, your body will convert testosterone in estrogen, and this may cause gynecomastia. I mean that if you have a lot of subcutaneous fat, and go to the gym (hard physical work stimulates the secretion of testosterone), you should not bother to develop muscles and train hard, your main goal should be weight loss. Only when you remove subcutaneous fat, can you can think of more muscle!

Another thing related to fitness and gynecomastia. Even if you have a lot of testosterone in your body, when your estrogen levels are high, you will not experience the effect of high testosterone (a lot of muscle, less body fat). You will never go down below 10% body fat , because estrogen stimulates fat production. If you have plenty of estrogen,you can be sure you will have plenty of fat! The relationship of estrogen - obesity is easy to see on women, they have more estrogen, and are generally more "fluffy". It is important to know, that estrogen affects the male body pretty easy, and even a slight increase will have an apparent effect (subcutaneous fat, gynecomastia, beer belly).

I hope I've been helpful. I will be very glad if you appreciate the article and write a few comments!

What are hormones

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To understand which hormones affect gynecomastia, and how they do it, you need to know what hormones are, themselves, and what is their principle of action. Surely many people who read my blog, are aware of hormones, but I'm sure there are those who have only heard the word, but know nothing about the specific functions of hormones, and how they work. If you're the latter, it is strongly recommended you continue reading! More advanced information on this issue, will have to wait for my next article, where we talk about what we are interested in – hormones, and how they are associated with gynecomastia, or so-called "man boobs".

What are Hormones

Hormones are biologically active substances. They are synthesized by the endocrine glands, and influence the organism strongly. Once synthesized, the hormones enter the blood stream, and thus, spread throughout the body.


Physiological functions of hormones:

--- Along with the nervous system, they provide adequate reactions of organs and systems, to changing environmental conditions, ie provide a process of adaptation, for the organism.
--- Provide overall growth, development and reproduction of the organism.
--- Provide balance of the internal environment of the body.

HOW hormones work

Certain hormones act only on cells of well-defined tissues or organs, that have receptors, for these hormones. The system of effect is something like a key and lock mechanism. The hormone is the key and the receptor is the lock. Only certain key (hormone), may trigger a lock (receptor). Essential for hormones is that, small amounts of them, can cause enormous physiological effects via so-called cascade effects. This is when a hormone activates an enzyme molecule, the latter is then able to activate thousands of new enzyme molecules, which activate more. This cascading effect allows the hormones, to rapidly alter the course of many biochemical processes in the body.

Some hormones act at the cell nucleus, being associated with chromosomes, and activate certain genes. Others can not penetrate the cell membrane, but the effects are carried through intermediary molecules.

How to regulate the synthesis of hormones

Hormone levels in the blood, are regulated by the principle of negative feedback. It works like this: When a hormone has completed its physiological function the gland producing receives a command to reduce secretion. And vice versa - when the concentration of the hormone in the blood is low, the negative feedback to the gland, is a signal to increase secretion.

Without gynecomastia, and far more manly

I am writing an article about gynecomastia, male, female hormones (estrogen and testosterone), and their quantitative ratio in the human body. This provokes me to write you number of preliminary lines. I decided that I must tell you the good news. It is nothing new, but it certainly acts as a good motivator. Here's the news:

All tips that I will give, will not only improve your gynecomastia, but will help you drop large amounts of subcutaneous fat, especially in the chest, abdomen, hips and triceps. You'll look much more masculine, because most of the visual effects, that estrogen causes, will disappear. At the same time, they will enhance effects of male hormones. You will be more muscular, more manly and more ripped. 

These things are interrelated! And if you have the desire and the will to fight your gynecomastia (man boobs, moobs), there will be many more bonuses that will come. They will be good side effects of removing the cause of your gynecomastia! 

Causes of gynecomastia (female breasts), in men

The development of female breasts in men, or so-called gynecomastia can have many causes. I prepared a list of 42, as to each, I will devote particular attention and a separate article on the blog. The causes of gynecomastia are mainly divided into several major big groups:




• Impaired balance of androgens / estrogens (male / female sex hormones) 
• Stimulation of mammary gland, by the hormone prolactin 
• Various genetic abnormalities 

Maybe you see, that you have to learn some things about the hormones in your body. You don't have to worry about each hormone, that plays a role in gynecomastia, I will devote a single article, where I will synthesize everything, you need to know about it.

Now, a few words about the three major groups.

Most causes of gynecomastia include disturbed ratio of male / female hormones. The word for this is hormonal imbalance. It can be caused by a reduced production of male sex hormones (androgens) or increased production of female hormones (estrogens). Androgens and estrogens have a very close relationship, which will be the subject of another article. Their quantities are affected by your nutrition, physical activity, adoption of different medications, stress, sleep, chemical constituents of the environment and others.

Prolactin is another cause of gynecomastia in men. It is a hormone, under whose influence grows, and develops, breast cancer. In women, it is responsible for lactation. The increased prolactin affects your libido and metabolism. Stress, certain drugs and benign tumors, can increase the amount being produced by the pituitary gland, in non-breastfeeding women, and men. This is it, for now. Details on this extremely interesting hormone, you will learn from the separate article on it.

For different genetic abnormalities, I can say little, because at the moment, I, myself am studying the matter, and gathering information. This includes people with Klinefelter syndrome, a syndrome of reduced sensitivity of receptors to male hormones (complete or partial androgen insensitivity).

Man with female breasts or what is gynecomastia

The word Gynecomastia  comes from Greek, and means "female-like breasts". Although gynecomastia is rarely spoken of, it is quite common - between 40 and 60% of men have gynecomastia. The actual condition is a benign increase in the mammary gland (YES! Men also have mammary glands.).

In most cases this increase is accompanied by an increase in adipose tissue in the breast area, and particularly around the nipple and areola. The amount of increased mammary gland, may differentiate - from 1 to 10 cm, usually about 4 cm. Increased gland looks like small female breasts.

Photo: classic gynecomastia, enlarged mammary glands, and fat tissue is increased.

In cases where the gland is not increased, and only subcutaneous fat in the chest area is increased, we talk about pseudo-ginekomastiya. There should not be hard tissue, resembling something like a ball or a small lump under the nipple or around it.

Photo: Pseudogynecomastia.

In a state where there is no fat, but the mammary gland is hypertrophied, we  use the expression “puffy nipples”

Photo: puffy nipples

Gynecomastia may affect one, or both breasts.

Photo: Asymmetric gynecomastia

In some cases of gynecomastia, the chest becomes painful to the touch and can even give discharge.

I hope my first post was informative. I will be happy to answer questions, comments and suggestions. In the next article I will write about the causes of gynecomastia. It will be a more general article, without going into great detail, as to enlighten you on the general framework of things. Later, we will delve into more specific things. There is simply so much information about it, it's really hard to decide where to start, so I hope for your support through your comments.

Here is how I will organize the gynecomastia blog

I already have an idea how to organize www.gynecomastia-causes.com. I will start from more generalized articles, and gradually delve into the topic of gynecomastia. This means that we will pay particular attention to the various causes and treatment, then we will try to elucidate their precise action and not just to tell you - "this helps", "this does not help." I'll try to use simple words to explain the mechanisms of action of the various causes and cures / remedies. However, the better you understand the essence of gynecomastia, the easier it will be able to determine the cause, and thus, to eliminate and counteract.