---
title: 'The Most Overlooked Nutrient for Testosterone'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=0qkkUNZSWxY'
video_id: '0qkkUNZSWxY'
date: 2026-08-10
duration_sec: 536
---

# The Most Overlooked Nutrient for Testosterone

> Source: [The Most Overlooked Nutrient for Testosterone](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0qkkUNZSWxY)

## Summary

This video discusses the critical role of zinc in male reproductive health, linking zinc insufficiency to low testosterone and male infertility, which contributes to 30-40% of infertility cases. The speaker reviews recent scientific studies showing that zinc deficiency reduces testosterone levels and that supplementation can improve them, emphasizing that zinc is a low-risk, widely available nutrient often overlooked in modern diets.

### Key Points

- **Zinc and infertility link** [00:01] — Zinc insufficiency is linked to low testosterone and male infertility, contributing to 30-40% of infertility cases.
- **Scientific evidence for zinc-testosterone correlation** [00:57] — A 2023 systematic review in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology found that zinc deficiency reduces testosterone and supplementation improves it.
- **Zinc levels in fertile vs. infertile men** [01:37] — A 2025 review in Antioxidants found that seminal plasma zinc levels are higher in fertile men compared to infertile men.
- **Zinc's biological functions** [02:47] — Zinc is a cofactor for over 300 proteins and enzymes, involved in DNA repair, transcription, and translation.
- **Zinc distribution in the body** [03:21] — 49% of body zinc is in skeletal muscle, 36% in bones, 7% in skin, and the rest distributed throughout the body.
- **Dietary sources and average intake** [03:51] — Dietary sources include meat, milk, fish, seafood, legumes, mushrooms, nuts, and fortified cereals. Average intake is 14 mg/day for men and 9 mg/day for women.
- **Zinc absorption challenges for vegans** [04:19] — Vegans and vegetarians may need more zinc due to phytic acid and fiber reducing absorption.
- **Deficiency threshold and consequences** [05:46] — Zinc deficiency begins at less than 5 mg/day, leading to testicular damage, hypogonadism, and impaired spermatogenesis.
- **Global zinc level variations** [06:29] — Highest seminal plasma zinc levels are in Singapore, followed by Venezuela and Iraq; low in China, India, and Estonia.
- **Supplementation recommendations** [07:23] — Recommended supplementation: 30-50 mg/day, especially for those who exercise or use saunas. Taking zinc and magnesium at night supports testosterone.

## Transcript

we're going to talk about the research finding that zinc insufficiency is linked with low testosterone as well as male infertility which is contributing to between 30 and 40% of all infertility related cases. I think this is
in my peer group and people that I hear the decline. A lot of couples are struggling with conception and having issues with that. And because zinc is widely available, it's a low-risk
be supplementing with zinc because it's its levels are are not really in found in high concentrations anymore in our soil and in our food. A lot of people are avoiding animal foods now. And we know that uh zinc is actually found in
fish and seafood and red meat and things like that. So, we should be considering that. And there's pretty good research to show that zinc insufficiency is one paper published in the journal of trace elements in medicine and biology
in March of 2023 titled correlation between serum zinc and testosterone a systematic review. This paper found that zinc deficiency reduces testosterone levels and zinc supplementation improves testosterone levels. Furthermore, the
effect degree of zinc on serum testosterone may vary depending upon basil zinc and serum testosterone levels, zinc dosage form and the uh duration of supplementation. However, they say in conclusion, serum zinc was
positively correlated with total testosterone. Moderate supplementation plays an important role in improving androgen levels in the body. And I came across a more recent published paper here titled associations between zinc
levels and the impact on its deficiency on idiopathic male infertility. An up-to-date review. This was published in the journal antioxidants in January of this year, which is 2025. So the investigators say zinc is an essential
normal ticular development, spermatogenesis, prevention of sperm spermatogenesis, prevention of sperm degradation and overall male fertility. This review aims to offer a comprehensive and current overview of
seinal plasma zinc levels in fertile men worldwide and aims to compare zinc levels in seinal plasma and blood between infertile men and fertile men controls. And so I think this is important because they go on to say that
the seinal plasma zinc levels vary among fertile men and tend to show higher levels that is there is an association with higher zinc levels in the seinal fluid in fertile men compared to infertile men men and I think that's
important and so we should consider that and we should also consider the fact that uh zinc insufficiency is actually rampant. We know that vitamin D and magnesium are talked a lot about uh in terms of their insufficiency uh in terms
of globally and here in the US and so forth. But we know zinc insufficiency is actually quite common in a lot of folks. Um and why does this matter? Well, it turns out that zinc is a co-actor for over 300 300 proteins and enzymes in the
body, mostly involved in DNA repair, transcription and translation processes, conception. Uh, zinc has three functional enzymes, a catalytic function, a co-active function, and a structural function. Uh, and it does a
lot of really important stuff in the body. About 49% of total body zinc is stored in the skeletal muscle. About 36% is stored in bones. 7% is found in the skin and the rest is distributed throughout the body. Now I think it's
important to recognize that about 50% of zinc is localized within the cell and uh nucleus. So, it's really important for cell uh for DNA repair and meiosis and
mitosis and and all of those really important uh aspects of biology. But do we get zinc in the diet? We get it from mostly animal foods. So, meat and milk, fish, seafood, legumes, certain
mushrooms, nuts, and fortified cereals. Now, I'm not going to recommend cereals for most people. uh but the average intake is only about 14 milligrams per day for men and 9 milligs per day for women which suggests that you know most
people are getting insufficient amounts of zinc in the diet. So it turns out that vegans and vegetarians may need more zinc because of the of the phytic acid and fiber content of their diets because it turns out that phytic acid
and fiber reduce zinc absorption. It turns out that zinc is absorbed from the small intestine and then it goes into the portal circulation through the liver uh and then it's then metabolized and and ends up in the blood and so forth.
But when it comes to male health because this is uh really important uh zinc is development. So if you're if you know pregnant with a boy, this is really important. We hear a lot about
unescended testicles and low testosterone and ambiguous genitals. I think zinc is something that we should be giving to women. It should be in your prenatal uh on the low end. 20 milligrams per day up to 30 milligrams
per day I think would be optimal for women uh considering that. But it's also very important for uh the epithelial cell integrity. So uh forming new cells, the epithelial tissue in the gut as well as endothelial cell formation within the
uh the circulatory system. Uh zinc is involved with a lot of that and and so forth. And zinc insufficiency leads to impaired uh male reproductive functions which is why we see low zinc levels correlate with low testosterone levels
uh and possibly infertility. So I think that's important. So where does deficiency begin? At less than 5 milligs per day. This is particularly important for vegans vegans and vegetarians because remember the sources of zinc are
meat, milk, seafood, uh dairy products, things like that. And that can lead to ticular weight and volume, led digic cell damage, shrinkage of the ciniferous tubules, hypogonatism, sex hormone deficiency, impaired spermatogenesis,
inflammation, and more. And it turns out that a disproportionate majority of that a disproportionate majority of infertile males have suboptimal zinc levels in the serum. So I think that's important to consider. Now what I think
is interesting here is the seminal plasma zinc levels distributed by country. It turns out that the highest levels are actually found in Singapore uh followed by Venezuela and Iraq. Now we look here at China, it's actually
quite low um and India is actually quite low. Estonia is quite low. So it's interesting to consider the different um types of of nutritional deficiencies that correlate uh with that which I think is is particularly interesting.
Now in summary the investigators say we found that seinaloplasma zinc levels should be maintained at optimal levels. Low zinc levels are associated with impaired spermatogenesis and overall male infertility while high zinc levels
lead to oxidative stress and other alterations that may result in male infertility. Most men are not overdoing zinc levels. I would suspect that, you know, if you were to do 100 milligs of zinc per day for many many months or
even years, you might increase the zinc to a disproportionate level, that could uh, you know, create uh an inflection point where the benefit to risk ratio is a little bit skewed. But most people uh would benefit from 30 to 50 milligrams
of zinc per day, especially if you go in the sauna or you exercise because it turns out that zinc, like other compounds, are excreted in sweat. And that can uh be one reason why you might want to supplement with zinc. So at
night I take zinc, magnesium before I go to bed. We've all heard of ZMA, zinc, magnesium, and aspartic acid. That has been shown actually at my alma mater, Western Washington University to support testosterone levels. So I I take zinc
and magnesium uh before bed. So I think that's important. So in summary, zinc plays a very important role in testicular development, in fertility, So it's something that we should put on our radar. I know a lot of guys are
taking Tonga Ali and all these other compounds to uh help bump testosterone off sex hormone binding globulin. Uh I think that's all good, but we should also consider just covering the basics because if we're insufficient in zinc,
then we're going to have dysfunction within the entire uh homeostasis of the testicles and testicular development uh as well as testosterone uh formation and synthesis. So we should start with the basics and zinc is really affordable.
should put on your radar if you're wanting to optimize testosterone levels. I would love to know what you think in the comment section below. Please leave if you found some value. and we'll catch you on a future video down the