Men without testicles might live longer, study suggests [View all]

[Baitball Blogger]

Want to live to 100? A new study suggests that, for men, your testicles might be holding you back.

Korean eunuchs — men who had their testicles removed — outlived their contemporaries by as many as 14 to 19 years, suggesting that male sex hormones somehow act to shorten the male human lifespan, according to a new historical study of records spanning from the 14th century through the early 19th century.

The finding, reported Monday in the journal Current Biology, argues for something called the "disposable soma theory.” The idea is that since animals have limited access to energy, there is a natural trade-off between reproduction and the maintenance of the body's cells.

But evidence for the theory has been limited, and some strong counter-evidence exists: Numerous studies in mammals have shown that restricting caloric intake can lengthen the lifespan of some animals — though sometimes such animals become infertile, a fact that may favor the disposable soma hypothesis.






http://www.orlandosentinel.com/la-sci-sn-men-without-testicles-live-longer-20120924,0,2032896.story