The battle of the sexes continues: The flu shot may be more effective for women than men--and according to a new study from Stanford University, testosterone levels could be to blame.
In general, men tend to suffer from more and worse viral, fungal, and bacterial infections compared to women, but until now, researchers didn't quite know why.
In the study, researchers found that men and women with lower testosterone responded to the flu shot with more elevated levels of protective antibodies than men with high testosterone. That's because testosterone may interact with genes that suppress immune activity, weakening your body's immune system response, says study coauthor Mark M. Davis, Ph.D.
Unless you have a doctor check your testosterone levels, you won't know where yours fall on the spectrum, so there's not much to do with the study. However, if you're thinking about taking testosterone supplements--recent research found that 2.9 percent of men over 40 use testosterone therapy, a more-than-threefold increase from a decade earlier--know that they could impair your body's ability to respond to infections, says Davis.
No matter your T levels, don't skip the flu vaccine: Healthy adults who get the flu shot report taking 27 percent fewer sick days at work--no matter sex or testosterone levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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