The findings of a study that was carried out by the University of Nottingham show that the levels of a certain hormone that is produced by the testicles during puberty can accurately predict a man’s overall health in later years. All through puberty, insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) is generated in the testes by mature Leydig cells, which are the cells responsible for the production of testosterone.
In contrast to testosterone, INSL3 levels tend to remain relatively stable throughout a person’s entire life after gradually increasing up until the age of 18–20 years, stabilizing at an average personal level for a significant amount of time, and only subsequently beginning to show a slight decline with increasing age at the rate of approximately 15 percent per year after the age of 40. This indicates that a man’s testosterone levels won’t change much over the course of his life if they are low at the age of 20.
INSL3 is an interesting biomarker because of its well-established connection to the aging process; however, the precise nature of its relationships with various aspects of health was not previously understood. Ravinder Anand-Ivell, a professor at the University of Nottingham, and his colleagues conducted an investigation to determine the extent to which INSL3 levels were connected with age-related disease in a group of three thousand men who were between the ages of 40 and 79 at the time of recruitment.
According to the authors of the study, the amount of INSL3 found in the blood of the men who participated in the research varied greatly, and there was as much as a 10-fold difference in levels between individuals. The levels of INSL3 were found to be associated with a number of age-related illnesses, including brittle bone disease, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Low levels of INSL3 were linked to an elevated risk for 7 out of 9 comorbid conditions, along with an increased likelihood of developing cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and low bone density in later life. Additionally, the team discovered a correlation between elevated thresholds of INSL3 as well as cardiovascular disease & hypertension.
