repoman

I have been reading a bit about herbs and I see that many have estrogenic effects in animal bodies. But are there plants that produce chemical that enhance or reduce the levels or effects of testosterone directly in animals?

Is there a evolutionary reason that plants produce chemical that act like estrogen in animals such as the common ancestors both having used similar chemicals? Is testosterone a later development than estrogen? I wouldn't be surprised given the small size of the Y chromosome.

Another question I have is what are the effects on men of taking lots of phytoestrogens or isoflavones? Are they neutral or do they make changes to libido, performance or muscle mass (either up or down)?

Shinobi

Don't know about all phytoestrogens but the ones in soy have no negative effects on men consuming them. In fact, as they are 1000 times weaker than human estrogens and they compete for binding sites they can have an anti estrogenic effect.