Why You Should Feel Bullish About Bull Testicles

I think we all know by now that our ancestors/early man and woman would eat the entire animal, with nothing going to waste. Unfortunately our modern day diet has lost touch with this, leading to our current SAD (standard American diet) that has led to nutrient deficiencies, the current obesity epidemic we face and a multitude of chronic diseases (1). This is demonstrated in Weston A. Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (2). 

A common theme of our ancestors was “like supports like”, referring to the organ being eaten supporting the corresponding organ in the person consuming said organ. For example, someone with heart disease would eat beef heart. Someone with thyroid disease would eat the thyroid from the cow, and so on. The same thing applies to the testicles of the cow. If low in testosterone, strength, energy, or overall vitality, then eating the testicles of the cow can lead to improvements in these areas. This is exemplified by ancient olympians and vikings (3) and ayurvedic medicine (4).

"Radioisotope labeling studies in animals have shown conclusively that, when eaten, organs and glands selectively travel to the corresponding organs and glands in high concentrations. This research, done at the University of Scotland in Edinburgh, lends credence to the ancient practice of eating animal organs to help ensure health in one’s corresponding organs..." - Dr. Ron Schmid, ND

Why have we stopped this time steeped tradition? Good question, but I think this is in part leading to the declining health we see today, among other things such as the addition of processed, unnatural foods to our modern day diet and unnatural living conditions. Testosterone is vitally important for libido, energy levels and muscle building ability in both men and women (4). A deficiency in testosterone leads to many unwanted side effects such as low mood, irritability, lack of energy and decreased resilience to stress (5).

Adding in testicles to your supplement regimen can help address low testosterone as it supports the theory of like supports like via many vital nutrients such as: 

• Proteins- Bovine testes contain a diverse range of proteins involved in various functions such as spermatogenesis, hormone production, and cellular regulation.
• Epidermal Growth Factors- Boost the vitality and reproductive potential of sperm by enhancing their functionality, motility, and fertility.
• Essential Fatty Acids- Necessary for reproductive health, improves sperm quality in men, improves libido & sexual health, with the most abundant being DHA.
• Spermatogonial Stem Cells- Responsible for the continuous production of sperm, being vital for male fertility.
• Activin & Inhibin- Peptides that are important in regulating male hormones and sperm production, together maintaining the proper function of the male reproductive system.
• Endothelin- Plays a role in regulating vascular health, promoting cellular regeneration, and influencing hormone production.

Adding testicles to my supplement routine has made a huge positive difference in my energy levels, muscle building capability and mood. There are other changes you can make to help naturally optimize your testosterone such as: getting sunlight throughout the day to maximize vitamin D production and get more infrared light, weight training/progressively getting stronger, improving sleep quality and quantity, and fixing any nutrient deficiencies such as boron (6) and zinc (7), both of which have been connected to higher testosterone levels. 

An honorable mention for weird esoteric hacks to improve testosterone as a man would be to ice your balls/not let your balls get too hot. Yep, you heard that right. Decreasing the temperature of your testicles can improve sperm motility, sperm count and testosterone (8). This is due to one key reason. Why would our reproductive organs sit outside of our bodies as men, while women's reproductive organs are inside of theirs? It has been postulated that our balls sit outside of our body in order to keep them 2~ degrees cooler than our internal body temperature (9). I don’t know about you, but this makes logical sense to me. I have tried putting an ice pack directly under my balls (but with boxers on) while driving to the gym and this has noticeably improved my energy levels in the gym (simply driving for 2 hours has been shown to increase scrotal temperature by approximately 1.7-2.2 degrees Celsius (10)). It is now a non negotiable for me to bring an ice pack into the sauna as well, as the excessive heat to your testicles has been shown to negatively affect sperm quality (11).

To wrap things up, I highly advocate for doing your best to eat as much from the whole cow as you can as possible, to more closely mimic how our ancestors ate. Yes, this does include testicles, but from my experience the taste is off putting and they can be hard to acquire. Luckily for you, the great folks at Primal Being have the highest quality bovine testicle supplement for the most reasonable price on the market. I myself have seen great results from supplementing with 2 grams of their high quality, bioavailable bovine testicle powder in the mornings and before working out. The main benefits you can expect to see are: improved energy, libido, strength and overall vitality. For the most positive benefits, I recommend stacking with the aforementioned lifestyle and overall health changes (men: don’t knock icing your balls when driving, before bed and in the sauna until you try it!). 

Resources

1. Schmid, R., ND. (n.d.). Diet, chronic disease and optimal health. https://www.drrons.com/diet-chronic-disease-and-optimal-health.aspx
2. Price, W. A., Hooton, E. A., Albrecht, W. A., & Knight, G. F. (1939). Nutrition and physical degeneration. https://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/GoodBooks/Nutrition%20and%20Physical%20Degeneration.pdf
3. Kelland, K. (2012, August 1). Ancient dopers got their kicks from raw testicles. www.reuters.com. Retrieved February 5, 2024, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oly-doping-history-day5-idINBRE8700YC20120801/
4. Morley, J. E., & Perry, H. M. (1999). ANDROGEN DEFICIENCY IN AGING MEN. Medical Clinics of North America, 83(5), 1279–1289. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0025-7125(05)70163-2
5. Nieschlag E, Nieschlag S. Testosterone deficiency: a historical perspective. Asian J Androl. 2014 Mar-Apr;16(2):161-8. doi: 10.4103/1008-682X.122358. PMID: 24435052; PMCID: PMC3955324.
6.  Naghii MR, Mofid M, Asgari AR, Hedayati M, Daneshpour MS. Comparative effects of daily and weekly boron supplementation on plasma steroid hormones and proinflammatory cytokines. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2011 Jan;25(1):54-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2010.10.001. Epub 2010 Dec 3. PMID: 21129941.
7. Te L, Liu J, Ma J, Wang S. Correlation between serum zinc and testosterone: A systematic review. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2023 Mar;76:127124. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2022.127124. Epub 2022 Dec 23. PMID: 36577241.
8. Cai H, Qin D, Peng S. Responses and coping methods of different testicular cell types to heat stress: overview and perspectives. Biosci Rep. 2021 Jun 25;41(6):BSR20210443. doi: 10.1042/BSR20210443. PMID: 34060622; PMCID: PMC8209165.
9. Why every man should ice his balls. - Boost your biology. (n.d.). Boost Your Biology. https://www.boostyourbiology.com/blog/icing-testicles
10. Louis Bujan, Myriam Daudin, Jean-Paul Charlet, Patrick Thonneau, Roger Mieusset, Increase in scrotal temperature in car drivers, Human Reproduction, Volume 15, Issue 6, 1 June 2000, Pages 1355–1357, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/15.6.1355
11. Hoang-Thi AP, Dang-Thi AT, Phan-Van S, Nguyen-Ba T, Truong-Thi PL, Le-Minh T, Nguyen-Vu QH, Nguyen-Thanh T. The Impact of High Ambient Temperature on Human Sperm Parameters: A Meta-Analysis. Iran J Public Health. 2022 Apr;51(4):710-723. doi: 10.18502/ijph.v51i4.9232. PMID: 35936544; PMCID: PMC9288403.