Research at the University of Iowa is looking at whether there are any advantages in giving older men hormone replacements. It has previously been thought that by giving men testosterone replacements that they can improve their bone marrow mineral density, their sexual libido, their erectile function and even their mood and muscle mass.

It is very normal for older men to suffer from low testosterone levels, which get worse with age. In fact the idea of testosterone replacement injections have been used for the last two decades to help men who have had problems with erectile function as they get older. Recently drug companies have been investing in making testosterone gels and patches that can be administered orally or put on the inside of a man’s cheek.

Women often are given female hormone replacement therapy when they age and it is become more and more normal for the same concept to be used on men who have diminishing energy and libido.

When women experience hormone changes things can be very sudden and dramatic as it happens with menopause, but for men things are different as they go through the men's version of menopause called andropause that sometimes takes many years to see any marked effect. The administration of testosterone in men does not always produce instant results as it can actually aggravate prostate cancer and cause problems with the liver and fertility.

The researchers estimate that about thirteen million men in America suffer from low testosterone. It is important that testosterone is only given to men who suffer problems as a result of being deficient in the hormone and not just because they have low testosterone levels. Many different things can cause erectile dysfunction in older man and a lack of the testosterone hormone is just one of them.

Most erectile dysfunction is caused by a poor blood flow to the penile artery and this can be remedied by medications like Viagra, Cialis or Levitra.