Large Testicles Linked to Heart Disease

Anthony Weiner may be proud of his junk.  But does he know that large testicles are now linked with heart disease?

A new study of almost 3,000 men with sexual dysfunction in Italy has found "a link between risk factors for heart disease -- such as obesity, smoking and high blood pressure -- and larger testicles," according to Rachael Rettner at huffingtonpost.com.

"Having larger testicles was also linked with a slightly increased risk of being hospitalized for heart disease, which could be due to the risk profile of men with larger testes, the researchers said," Rettner reports.

The story was much more glorious for men with large testicles in the past.  Rettner notes that  larger testicles "were considered a sign of good reproductive health," not that long ago, so the link between large testicles and poor health surprised researchers.

So, why? 

The study pointed out that men with health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, are known to have lower testosterone levels," Rettner writes, so researchers speculated that, in such men, "the body may try to compensate for low testosterone levels by secreting higher levels of pituitary hormones, which in turn could lead to an increase in testicle size."

But other researches pooh-pooh this notion. 

Although men with low testosterone might have an increase in the production of pituitary hormones, the idea "that then the testicle gets pushed by the pituitary, and gets bigger than normal -- I doubt that's true," Dr. Andrew Kramer, a urologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, told Rettner.

"I suspect testicular size isn't any bigger, but maybe smaller than their healthy counterparts," Kramer added.

Rettner notes that researchers say this may not apply to all men, since the study was conducted on men with sexual dysfunction.