GLP-1+Testosterone Equals The Secret To Healthy Aging

With over 30 years of experience and advanced training in anti-aging, cellular medicine, and regenerative therapies, Dr. Elizabeth Yurth is working to reshape hormonal health, particularly the unappreciated role of testosterone in longevity.

With that, we sat down with Dr. Yurth as she candidly explained the implications that not only testosterone therapy, but also GLP-1 may have as anti-aging medicine and how optimal hormone balance is fundamental for optimum longevity.

Testosterone: A Longevity Boost for All

Yes, both male and female bodies contain testosterone, yet it’s typically framed as a male-only hormone. However, Dr. Yurth reveals how essential it is for women’s health,

“Testosterone’s equally valuable to women as men. In women, it gives us assertiveness, spatial awareness, and anti-anxiety effects. One of the reasons women have always been kind of touted as being bad with directions, for instance, is because we don’t have as good spatial relations, partly because of testosterone.”

Now, despite the age-related decline in testosterone in women, they’re still regularly side-lined when it comes to testosterone replacement therapy,

“With men, you’ll hear every commercial encouraging them to get their levels checked, and you’ll see clinics offering testosterone replacement, yet there’s nothing like that for women,” shares Dr. Yurth.

Through the Testosterone Project, an advocacy and research initiative aimed at gathering real-world data from actual patients, Dr. Yurth collaborates with other physicians who are actively using testosterone therapy in their practices.

They are collecting a wealth of valuable, real-world insights in hopes of not only understanding outcomes more comprehensively, but also dispelling common myths and misconceptions surrounding treatments like testosterone and GLP-1 receptor agonists.

The Highs and Lows of Testosterone

While planning a course titled What to Fix, which was aimed at adjusting nutrition, sleep habits, and exercise, Dr. Yurth found that the first step would be to ‘fix’ hormone replacement. Then use the findings to work hand in hand with the nutrition, the exercise, and diet.

While age is a contributing factor to declining testosterone, Dr. Yurth admits that loss of testosterone is also affecting younger people. The reason? Endocrine disruptors.

“We’re seeing loss of testosterone, partly because of all the endocrine disruptors that are in our world that we really have a hard time getting away from,” explains Dr. Yurth, adding that lowered testosterone levels in women can also come with increased estrogen levels, “So you’ll see very high estrogen, very low testosterone.”

Yet, one of the biggest culprits of low testosterone that regularly gets underrepresented is birth control pills,

“They raise the sex hormone binding globulin, which binds the testosterone, so they don’t really have available testosterone,” details Dr. Yurth, before warning that this effect can last for years even after stopping the pill and may even lead to anxiety and depression as testosterone has a soothing anti-anxiety effect on the brain,

“Normal testosterone levels do not cause aggressive behavior. They normalize anxiety behaviors.”

A Lifelong Dose?

Despite its benefits, patients may be concerned with the idea of committing to testosterone therapy ‘for life’. However, this is solely dependent on the individual and the underlying cause of deficiency.

“If it’s declining because you’re getting older… I can’t make your adrenal glands and ovaries work better,” says Dr. Yurth, concluding that continued therapy may be necessary – at least until we can officially stop aging.

For younger individuals, on the other hand, testosterone loss may not require lifelong treatment as it could be reversible,

“If I have a 21-year-old male with low testosterone, I want to look at environmental or dietary factors. I’m not going to just leave him miserable- I’m going to support him and work on restoring his natural production.”

Anti-Aging and Hormonal Health

Aside from testosterone, the major hormones we need to be aware of are estrogen and progesterone.

While they’re present in both sexes, their roles significantly differ. For instance, while testosterone is found in both males and females, it works as a precursor to estrogen in males due to their inability to produce estrogen directly. Rather, as Dr. Yurth explains, through aromatization, testosterone is converted into estrogen.

Speaking of estrogen, it’s essential for both reproductive health and cognitive function.

“Estrogen is one of the big things that’s going to prevent dementia or cognitive decline in both men and women,” says Dr. Yurth, adding that it’s also key for cardiovascular health and lipid metabolism, helping regulate cholesterol and supporting heart function.

Now, since men get estrogen through testosterone conversion, low levels of testosterone could potentially lead to cognitive issues and cardiovascular dysfunction.

With the link between hormonal health and chronic conditions identified, one can begin to examine the potential relationship between hormones and cellular health, especially since healthy cells make healthy hormones.

“What’s making the actual hormones is the inner membrane of the mitochondria, so if something wipes out my mitochondria, like COVID-19, for instance, then I’m going to see a really significant decline,” describes Dr. Yurth, concluding that supporting both mitochondrial and hormonal health is critical.

One way to do this would be by using supplements like acetyl L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, and urolithin A.

GLP-1: Vital Longevity Tool?

Over the past year or so, GLP-1s have surged in popularity, thanks in part to their ability to encourage significant weight loss,

“These drugs act on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors, which are found in various tissues, including the gut, brain, immune cells, and joints,” says Dr. Yurth, detailing how they help with weight loss by first slowing down digestion so that people feel full more quickly, and then altering the brain’s perception of food,

“These drugs are changing the brain’s desire to eat,” says Dr. Yurth. “That’s why they’re so valuable in populations who just can’t stop eating, and for people with bulimia.”

Yet, it’s not just your food habits that GLP-1s can affect, as it may also influence your drinking habits as well,

“One of the interesting findings was that when people were put on GLP-1 agonists, because of the receptor changes in the brain, they lost their desire to drink alcohol.”

Aside from weight management, you may be surprised to hear that GLP-1s have immune-boosting properties, making them an incredibly valuable class of drugs,

“I take a low dose myself-not for weight loss, but to support my brain.” shares Dr. Yurth, adding that she believes a low dose can help her patients with osteoarthritis and cognitive decline.

GLP-1: Marketing Hack?

Yet, despite their popularity, there is still plenty of controversy associated with GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as allegedly causing muscle loss. We asked her about one of the main concerns.

Muscle loss

“GLP-1s do not cause muscle loss,” Dr. Yurth states emphatically, “What causes muscle loss is a lack of protein intake.”

Elaborating, Dr. Yurth explains how the appetite suppression caused by these drugs leads to patients to eat less, which means less protein,

“Protein is the number one thing you need for muscle, so if we can mitigate the lack of protein intake, we can selectively put on muscle and lose fat.”

She adds that upon their initial release, GLP-1s were used in people with diabetes to help them put on muscle, “That’s how we know they’re not the problem-it’s diet.”

Longevity Is Simple

 Despite the growing number of anti-aging treatments, supplements, and biohackers pushing innovative and strange solutions, Dr. Yurth encourages a return to foundational principles,

“I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years. I’ve seen a lot come and go and honestly, it comes down to basics: good sleep, a clean diet, regular exercise, hormone optimization, and meaningful relationships.”

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