What No One Tells You about Testosterone Replacement Therapy

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is exploding in popularity among men. TRT has been touted online as a cure-all for everything from low energy to poor mood and even as a way to increase masculinity itself. But how much of the buzz is backed by science? Host Rachel Feltman talks with journalist Stephanie Pappas about the realities behind the trend. They explore who truly benefits from TRT, the overlooked risks—including fertility loss—and the rise of private clinics offering testosterone. This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Recommended reading: What Most Men Don’t Know about the Risks of Testosterone Therapy Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:42.8	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Theltenman. Whether it's framed as a carol for fatigue and low libido, or a shortcut to gaining muscle mass,
1:01.6	testosterone replacement therapy or TRT is all over the internet these days.
1:06.9	But how much of the hype is actually backed by science.
1:10.5	Here to help us make sense of the testosterone boom is Stephanie Pappas, a freelance reporter based in Colorado.
1:17.3	Stephanie recently covered the growing popularity and availability of TRT for Scientific American.
1:23.8	Thanks so much for coming on to chat.
1:26.0	Thank you.
1:27.1	So you recently wrote about testosterone replacement therapy for Scientific American.
1:33.0	For folks who are not on the right part of the internet to have heard all about this or
1:36.7	maybe staying off the wrong parts of the internet, depending on your perspective, what's
1:41.5	going on with TRT right now?
1:43.3	Well, testosterone replacement therapy has
1:45.6	become extremely popular. It has been something that's been in the background for many, many
1:51.9	years. Synthetic testosterone was first invented in 135, but for a long, long time, people
1:57.8	thought that testosterone replacement, if it was used for any kind of
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