The 'high-T' military proposal misreads the basic science of testosterone

Testosterone is one of the body’s most powerful hormones. In the womb, it helps direct male sexual development. When boys hit puberty, testosterone deepens their voices, stimulates facial hair and fuels muscle growth. Testosterone also helps adult men maintain muscle mass, bone density and energy.

In recent years, some conservatives have turned this common hormone into something much larger: a symbol of American masculinity itself.

Tucker Carlson and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fret about studies showing a broad decline in testosterone, blaming it on a crisis in masculinity and chemicals in the environment, respectively. Conservative influencers promote “T-maxxing” and direct-to-consumer testosterone injections. Republicans brag about President Donald Trump’s supposedly high testosterone levels, while slagging Democrats such as James Talarico, who’s running for the U.S. Senate from Texas, as “low T.”

Now the Pentagon is moving to enshrine these pseudoscientific ideas into military policy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the department will offer testosterone deficiency screening for male soldiers 30 and older as part of their annual physicals, saying it will help ensure service members have the “right testosterone levels” to perform their “absolute best.” In a video posted with the caption “The High-T Department of War,” he said they will also have the option to receive testosterone replacement therapy.

The timing makes the announcement even more striking. The Trump administration has spent much of the past year arguing that hormone supplements are too destructive and risky to be used for gender-affirming care, particularly for transgender youth. But when the same hormone is framed as a way to make soldiers more combat-ready — and more “high T” — suddenly it becomes a government benefit.

As testosterone has moved from biology to ideology to policy, it has become increasingly divorced from science. To understand the problems with this Pentagon initiative, it’s important to understand some basic medical facts.

Testosterone levels change constantly

Testosterone is present in everyone, though at much higher levels in most men than in most women. There is no single “normal” level. The hormone is typically at its highest in the early morning, then slowly drops throughout the day. Among younger men, it can fluctuate by as much as 50%. Some studies have shown it might even be affected by the seasons. To get a good baseline, endocrinologists recommend having blood drawn at least twice on different days between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., preferably after fasting, especially for younger men.

What this means: This is not as simple as a quick eye test. Every male soldier over 30 will need to be tested twice under very specific conditions, or the results might be skewed.

Some activities suppress testosterone

Testosterone levels can be temporarily suppressed by factors that include a bad night’s sleep, poor diet, physical exertion, severe illness, extreme stress, excessive alcohol use and certain medications. Two studies of Army Rangers found testosterone fell as much as 28% after sleep deprivation. Another found that testosterone levels dropped dramatically during the two-month Ranger School and returned to baseline after a few weeks.

What this means: Working out, eating fewer calories than you burn, going without sleep and drinking too much? Surely those are things no soldier has ever done.

There is no one ‘right’ level of testosterone

Testosterone levels vary widely. Within the normal range, that variation does not necessarily translate into meaningful differences in energy, muscle mass or facial hair. Testosterone is just one part of a much more complex hormonal system. How the body responds to it depends not only on the amount circulating in the bloodstream but also on factors such as androgen receptor sensitivity, levels of other hormones and individual genetics.

What this means: While problems caused by low testosterone are real, doctors do not diagnose it without symptoms that give them a reason to test for it.

High testosterone isn’t always better

While there is “low T,” there is no medical diagnosis of “high T” in otherwise healthy men. If testosterone levels are within a healthy range for that individual, then more testosterone does not necessarily confer additional health or performance benefits. If the androgen receptors are saturated, then excess testosterone won’t turn you into Captain America. In fact, some of it ends up being converted to estrogen, which can lead to health problems in men — such as enlarged breast tissue or infertility.

What this means: Testing people with no symptoms may lead to misdiagnoses, causing soldiers to sign up for testosterone replacement therapy they don’t need.

Testosterone replacement can be risky

For men who do not have low testosterone, replacement therapy can do more harm than good. When the brain senses higher testosterone levels, it reduces the signals that tell the testes to produce testosterone naturally. Over time, that suppression can cause them to shrink and sperm production to fall, sometimes leading to infertility. Many men who remain on long-term testosterone therapy may suppress their natural testosterone production and require prolonged treatment because natural production can take months — or occasionally longer — to recover. Stopping treatment abruptly can cause fatigue, loss of muscle mass, depression and difficulty concentrating.

What this means: Imagine a soldier behind enemy lines, cut off from supply lines, and the testosterone replacement therapy that they didn’t actually need runs out, causing them to crash at the worst time.

The irony of this policy is that male active-duty members of the military aren’t as likely to be at risk of problems with low testosterone because they are relatively young. The average age of new recruits is 22 years old, which means a 20-year career would end around 42. Testosterone levels typically begin to decline gradually in men between age 30 and 40, and even then it’s typically around 1% a year, too low to become a problem for a few years.

In fact, it’s those soldiers who are retiring in their 40s — while also going through a massive shift in lifestyle as they enter the private sector — who are most at risk of health issues due to their testosterone levels. A smarter policy would be aimed at them, not at 30-year-old soldiers still at their peak. Then again, this debate was never about the needs of the military.

The policy reflects a broader tendency to treat testosterone not as a hormone but as a cultural symbol. In the Trump administration’s telling, higher testosterone means greater masculinity, and greater masculinity means a stronger military. Biology is considerably more complicated than that.

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