https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22302-can-castration-really-prolong-a-mans-life/
>Documents detailing the lives of 81 eunuchs who lived in Korea between the mid-16th and mid-19th centuries showed that, on average, they lived 14 to 19 years longer than their non-castrated peers. “It provides some of the most compelling evidence yet that the male sex hormone, testosterone, reduces male lifespan,” says Kyung Jin Min of Inha University in Incheon, South Korea. The conclusion supports the theory that testosterone-fuelled reproduction comes at a price, increasing the risk of heart disease and cancer, and reducing the strength of the immune system.
>“When testosterone is lacking, the demand for amino acids to support cell proliferation and muscle-building is decreased, and it’s thought that the body then shifts the use of these basic building blocks towards cellular defence and stress resistance,” says Holly Brown-Borg, who studies ageing at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. She guesses that the eunuchs were smaller and less muscular, with lower levels of cancer and heart disease.
>It depends how old you are. Any increase in lifespan may only occur if men are castrated as boys. “It’s possible that testosterone reduction therapy extends male lifespan, but Korean eunuchs were usually castrated before adolescence, so we don’t know the effects of castration on lifespan in older men,” says Min.
>Documents detailing the lives of 81 eunuchs who lived in Korea between the mid-16th and mid-19th centuries showed that, on average, they lived 14 to 19 years longer than their non-castrated peers. “It provides some of the most compelling evidence yet that the male sex hormone, testosterone, reduces male lifespan,” says Kyung Jin Min of Inha University in Incheon, South Korea. The conclusion supports the theory that testosterone-fuelled reproduction comes at a price, increasing the risk of heart disease and cancer, and reducing the strength of the immune system.
>“When testosterone is lacking, the demand for amino acids to support cell proliferation and muscle-building is decreased, and it’s thought that the body then shifts the use of these basic building blocks towards cellular defence and stress resistance,” says Holly Brown-Borg, who studies ageing at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. She guesses that the eunuchs were smaller and less muscular, with lower levels of cancer and heart disease.
>It depends how old you are. Any increase in lifespan may only occur if men are castrated as boys. “It’s possible that testosterone reduction therapy extends male lifespan, but Korean eunuchs were usually castrated before adolescence, so we don’t know the effects of castration on lifespan in older men,” says Min.
