Study was done on Indian men moving to UK. If you read the study, their testosterone level side by side was 626ng/dl (for common units in use in USA...) in India, but only 496ng/dl in UK. The study's purpose was to try to say it didn't matter as their free testosterone was 14.4ng/dl for migrants, but for non-migrants even with higher sex hormone binding globulin, their free test was still higher at 16.9. They said this was insignificant, but anyone who can do math knows this is still almost 15% difference. It should also be noted, the highest total testosterone was significantly different as well, the highest in India was 678ng/dl, whereas the highest in UK was 539ng/dl, this is 20% different. For the lowest levels, interestingly for total testosterone, the lowest Indian level is almost as high as the than the average UK level, 447ng/dl, whereas Indian was 591.Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Serum testosterone measurement is an integral part of the endocrine assessment of men. Little is known about its variation in relation to migration. We examined within a South Asian group the effect of migration to the UK on androgen levels.
DESIGN:
Circulating testosterone and SHBG concentrations were measured in 97 Gujarati men resident in India and in 79 men from the same villages of origin living in Birmingham, UK. Free testosterone was calculated by Vermeulen's method. Insulin sensitivity (HOMA-S) was determined from paired fasting plasma intact insulin and glucose values.
RESULTS:
Circulating testosterone was significantly lower in UK Gujarati men (17.2 nmol/l [15.7-18.7]) vs. Indian Gujarati men (21.7 [20.0-23.5]) (P = 0.0002) (age-adjusted median [95% CI]). There was no difference by migration status in circulating free testosterone. Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels were lower in UK migrants (16.8 nmol/l [15.5-18.1]) than in nonmigrants (21.9 nmol/l [20.5-23.3]) (P < 0.0001). Testosterone level correlated positively with insulin sensitivity (HOMA-S) (rho 0.16, P = 0.04). In multivariate analysis, total testosterone was independently and positively associated with logSHBG (normalized beta (beta) = 0.29, P = 0.002) and independently and negatively with waist circumference (beta = -0.19, P = 0.04), in a model also including height, age, migration status, leptin and fasting insulin.
CONCLUSION:
Lower circulating testosterone in UK Gujarati men and its association with markers of insulin sensitivity suggest a profound influence of body composition change with migration on testosterone levels. The lower SHBG in this group restores parity in free testosterone. Account should be taken of SHBG in interpreting testosterone levels in men, as well as in women.
So this is something to really think about, you may well be risking your health in a Western country. Even this study tries to state it equalized somewhat with lower SHBG to counteract it, there still was differences in insulin sensitivity, body composition, and waist size. I know this study is about migration, but I think that's inaccurate, as it didn't measure them moving to say, Saudi Arabia, or any other country, so we can basically only assume this is about UK vs India for testosterone levels. So that's pretty shocking.
Anyway, Western countries apparently are bad for your health if you are a man. This could be a reason why everyone feels so depressed, etc, in USA, this simple biological reason.