Testosterone as a Fasting Blood Test?

Mark A. Moyad, MD, MPH, and Martin M. Miner, MD, presented “Testosterone as a Fasting Blood Test?​” for the Grand Rounds in Urology audience in January 2022.

How to cite: Moyad, Mark A, and Miner, Martin M. “Testosterone as a Fasting Blood Test?” January 2022. Accessed Dec 2024. https://grandroundsinurology.com/testosterone-as-a-fasting-blood-test/

Testosterone as a Fasting Blood Test?

Mark A. Moyad, MD, MPH, the Jenkins/Pokempner Director of Preventive/Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) at the University of Michigan Medical Center in the Department of Urology in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Martin M. Miner, MD, Co-Director of the Men’s Health Center and Chief of Family and Community Medicine for Miriam Hospital, and Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Urology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, discuss recent guidance suggesting that a fasting blood test is needed for testosterone. Dr. Moyad begins by explaining that in 2018, the Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guidelines included a recommendation of measuring fasting morning testosterone. He suggests that this is a logical recommendation since, in a subset of men, testosterone levels may be temporarily lowered by food intake, but notes that this guidance does not appear to be widely known or followed. Dr. Miner says that he actually does usually include testosterone with other morning fasting tests to meet the demands of insurance, although he argues that this may also result in inaccurate levels since testosterone is supposedly at its peak in the afternoon. He also mentions that the American Urological Association does not recommend getting testosterone tested in a fasting specimen, although he is unsure why this is. Dr. Moyad concludes that this is a topic that is just beginning to be explored and should be watched. 

About the Authors

Mark A. Moyad, MD, MPH

Dr. Moyad is the Jenkins/Pokempner Director of Preventive/Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) at the University of Michigan Medical Center in the Department of Urology. He occupies an endowed position, which was originally created and funded entirely by the patients he has helped over the past 25+ years. This was the first endowment of its kind created for a physician at a major medical center in the US. Dr. Moyad has always considered himself to be, first and foremost, a physician public health educator. Dr. Moyad believes in the power of lifestyle changes to improve overall mental, physical, and spiritual wellness, and in their potential ability to keep pill counts and dosages to a minimum, while also enhancing the impact of conventional treatments when needed. This has been the focus of his research and lectures his entire career. Dr. Moyad received his medical education from the University of South Florida College of Public Health and the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is the primary author of over 150 published medical journal articles on the subject of lifestyle changes and supplements, the past Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal Seminars in Preventive & Alternative Medicine, and has given 1000s of lectures around the world to public and health care professionals in virtually every medical specialty and major medical center. Dr. Moyad is the author or co-author of 15 academic and consumer books, including the Integrative Medicine Clinical/Teaching Guidebooks, the Promoting Wellness series for patients, and his public bestseller The Supplement Handbook. He is honored to be the moderator of one of the largest patient conferences held twice a year in Los Angeles, California, and has provided monthly educational clinical research updates for the last 15+ years to health care professionals and national patient advocacy groups. He has been a consultant and/or interviewed for most major magazines, websites, radio and television shows devoted to health in the US, and appears regularly on a variety of programs.

Martin M. Miner, MD

Martin M. Miner, MD, is Co-Director of the Men’s Health Center and Chief of Family and Community Medicine for Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. He is also Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Urology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence and has been charged with the development of a multidisciplinary Men’s Health Center within the Lifespan/Brown University system. Dr. Miner received his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio. He completed his residency at Brown University and spent time working with the Indian Health Service Corps and the Public Health Service. Dr. Miner presently holds memberships in the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Urological Association, and is a Fellow of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. He is also a member of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and the former president of the American Society of Men’s Health. He has published extensively in the areas of erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease, benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms, and male sexuality and hormonal replacement therapy in men.