Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal health routine is baffling with its inconsistencies. He criticizes seed oil, even though there is near scientific consensus that it is harmless. Drinking raw milk has been proven to make people sick. Although he takes testosterone as part of his anti-aging regimen, he claims he does not use anabolic steroids.
Part of his routine is based on bedding science, including drinking raw milk for its health benefits. But his anti-aging procedure seems to be serving him well, even if its most obvious effects are a lot like juicing. While many men in their 70s are focused on preventing hip fractures, Mr. Kennedy uses testosterone (actually a steroid, despite protests to the contrary), which makes doing pull-ups a lot easier. It means that you can do it.
What RFK Jr. does with his body is no one else’s business. But his health habits are instructive in understanding how he views medical regulation and self-experimentation. If confirmed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. would become America’s chief self-experimenter. And taking testosterone is his most notable experiment.
Testosterone is best known for its role in puberty and promoting traditional male characteristics such as muscle mass and facial hair, but it also influences countless other bodily functions. Men who don’t have enough testosterone to fuel these processes can be diagnosed with something called hypogonadism, or low T. Some people have dysfunctional testicular testosterone production, and some people experience a decline in the hormone as they age. Regardless of the underlying cause, a deficiency causes the body to function poorly.
However, the condition can be treated with a relatively simple regimen of testosterone injections or gels, which studies have shown may improve some of the symptoms of hypogonadism. One large clinical trial found that hypogonadal men taking testosterone had “modest but significant improvements in mood and energy” compared to a placebo. Researchers also found that older men with low T levels and mobility issues improved their walking ability after taking the supplement, and that testosterone improved bone density.
While doctors seem to agree on how to treat men who actually have testicular problems, the question of whether to treat men whose testosterone levels decline as they age has divided the medical community. Although there is no clear reason why older men with reduced testosterone levels would not respond as positively to testosterone as men with testicular problems, critics have argued that for older men, They argue that the benefits are small and may come with downsides. For example, Steven Nissen, a cardiologist involved in testosterone research, published a paper showing that testosterone supplementation is associated with increased bone fractures. Hormones, he told me, “should not be used as a fountain of youth.” The FDA also says that testosterone should not be prescribed to older men who are experiencing natural decline because “the benefits and safety of this use have not been established.”
Kennedy’s use of this hormone in what he calls an “anti-aging protocol” is considered experimentation given the FDA’s position. And he’s not the only man to take part in this experiment. Anti-aging clinics offering testosterone prescriptions to men who deem them eligible have become ubiquitous online. “Testosterone levels naturally decline as men age,” Brox warns on its website. Another, TRT Nation, promises to “deliver low testosterone and anti-aging medications remotely and to your home at affordable prices.”
All the doctors I spoke to emphasized that only men with low testosterone levels should take this drug. The long-term side effects of so-called “oversupplements” are largely unknown, and there is some evidence that they may be of limited benefit if men are already in the normal testosterone range, says the American College of Urology. said Landon Trost, who helped develop the Society’s testosterone treatment guidelines. The association told me. It’s also no wonder that many doctors are wary of prescribing the drug to people who don’t have an actual medical condition. That’s because the drug has been abused for decades by athletes and healthy men looking to improve their physique. Advertisements from telemedicine companies lend credence to their fears, along with data showing that a significant portion of men receiving testosterone don’t even have their testosterone levels tested beforehand. “It’s the Wild West right now. Buyer beware,” Trost said.
If Kennedy is confirmed to head HHS, his interest in testosterone could put the debate about the hormone on firmer ground. For example, he could encourage the National Institutes of Health, which he oversees, to fund additional testing of the potential use of hormones in older men. Work with the Surgeon General to launch a public service campaign to encourage older men to get their testosterone levels tested and warn young people about the dangers of drug abuse. Encourage pharmaceutical companies to conduct more clinical trials. And they’re even advocating for the drug to be removed from the controlled substances list. The drug has now been classified since 1990, when Congress hurriedly added it in response to doping scandals and over the objections of the American Medical Association. It’s just as dangerous as ketamine.
Some of these actions may also be praised by physicians who take a more conservative approach to testosterone treatment. But the health secretary candidate has yet to express interest in incorporating testosterone into modern medicine.
Kennedy seems drawn to certain wellness products because they lack regulatory approval. Although he did not speak directly about the FDA’s testosterone regulations, he said that by loosening regulations on “psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapy, chelates, ivermectin, and hydroxychloroquine,” the FDA’s “war on public health” He says he wants to end it. ,vitamin… [and] Nutritional supplements. ”
The amount of evidence supporting these different treatments and their relative risks varies widely. What ties them together is the FDA’s insistence that people not self-experiment with them. And some Americans could die if President Kennedy succeeds in ending what he calls the agency’s “aggressive suppression” of the compounds he favors (e.g., chelating compounds, The use of stem cells can be dangerous). Some people unnecessarily throw money and hope into treatments that may be touted as healthy but are no more effective than a sugar pill. The FDA was founded more than a century ago with the very purpose of helping Americans avoid these types of problems. By calling for less oversight of these compounds, RFK Jr. says patients should no longer trust the FDA’s judgment about what’s safe. Instead, the logic goes like this: They should do self-experimentation like he did.
Kennedy may have reason to believe that regulators have historically taken a conservative approach to wellness products. His anti-aging protocol seems to be working so well that even at age 70, he still looks as old, if not older, than he did nearly 30 years ago. If you go against the advice of regulators and get in the best shape of your life with the help of testosterone, you might be skeptical of regulators, too.
If this country follows RFK Jr.’s lead, the best-case scenario is that self-experimentation will somehow advance the science behind these treatments. But for every person who abandons medical care for self-experimentation, we have one less data point to help us decide as a society where effective treatments are and where more research is needed. The lack of data makes things worse for everyone except those who are willing to risk their health based on their own hunches or those of wellness influencers. If President Kennedy really believes these products can make America healthy again, he should use his experience in self-experimentation to inform thoughtful regulatory policy. Testosterone could be his first target. A little faith in the regulatory system he’s been so passionate about about trash disposal would help many people who rely on government to solve these problems. And in the end, he may be able to convince more people that some of his favorite experiments stand up to scrutiny.
