Pete Hegseth’s ‘High T’ Troops Plan Is An Unscientific Cold Dream

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made no secret of his desire for a man soldiers.

They always argue that the US Armed Forces they lowered their military standards to include women. He has done various photo ops in his own way exercise and iron pumps and service members. In his statement, Hegseth says the Trump administration is restoring “military ethics“to his armies”fighters.”

Now they have a dubious plan to make sure the military is as smart as possible: testosterone testing and, if a man’s testosterone is found to be deficient, voluntary hormone therapy.

“Under the supervision of our world-class medical experts, veterans age 30 and older will be tested annually as part of their periodic health checkups,” Hegseth said. short video was posted to his official X account on Wednesday. Those under the age of 30 will be able to enter the screening as well, he said.

“If treatment is recommended, it’s your choice to receive testosterone instead of medication,” Hegseth added.

Speaking directly to members, Hegseth said without providing evidence that the program would benefit “your career, your fitness, and your long-term health.” He said that this was “not just to increase production,” but to “restore and expand your natural resources, protect your longevity, and ensure that you have the natural resources necessary for this war.”

Adrian Dobs, who studies endocrine gonadal function at Johns Hopkins University, tells WIRED that he was “surprised that this is what he was thinking,” and that “it’s very difficult to diagnose male hypogonadism,” the medical term for which the testicles don’t produce enough testosterone.

Dobs says that Hegseth seems to be managing the complexities associated with the investigation of low testosterone—including the fluctuation of testosterone levels depending on the type of test (or analysis) that is performed and even the time of day the test is performed.

Because of circadian rhythms, he says, hormones appear to be “higher (levels) in the morning and lower throughout the day.” Another problem with the product, Dobs says, lies in individual circumstances. It’s one thing to test, for example, “a healthy person sitting at a desk” and another to test someone who is “coming back from college or overseas and may have lost weight and was under a lot of stress at the time,” as chronic depression can. inhibiting testosterone production.

Hegseth’s theory on testosterone itself is “false,” according to Dobs. “Testosterone is a very important hormone,” he says, and plays an important role in puberty and male development. But it’s not something that will make you smarter. It’s not something that will make you live longer, we don’t have any data to show that. Longevity claims, he adds, would be difficult to prove in any case.

The Pentagon declined to comment beyond Hegseth’s description of the testing and treatment, so it is unclear what results the Defense Department hopes to achieve by giving testosterone to more active duty personnel, or whether women in the military will also be tested for the hormone. Nor has the Department of Defense revealed what scientific research and medical experts, if any, have informed this.

Apart from the difficulty of trying to define the level of testosterone “normal” and establish a diagnostic method, Dobs says, the use of testosterone replacement as an easy way to deal with the problem of not neglecting the diagnostic process, which is to identify and treat any problem at first. The underlying cause—from kidney or liver disease to diabetes—must be treated “before you start doing anything to the body,” he says.