The relation of smoking, age, relative weight, and dietary intake to serum adrenal steroids, sex hormones, and sex hormone-binding globulin in middle-aged men

Abstract

The relationships of cigarette smoking, age, relative weight, and dietary intake to serum dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), androstenedione, cortisol, 3-alpha-androstanediol, 3-alpha-androstanediol-glucuronide, testosterone, albumin-bound testosterone, free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were examined cross-sectionally in 1241 randomly sampled middle-aged U.S. men. Compared with nonsmokers and independent of relative weight (body mass index) and age, cigarette smokers had increased serum levels of DHEA (18% higher, P = 0.0002), DHEAS (13% higher, P = 0.0007), cortisol (5% higher, P = 0.01), androstenedione (33% higher, P = 0.0001), testosterone (9% higher, P = 0.009), DHT (14% higher, P = 0.004), and SHBG (8% higher, P = 0.004). Androstenedione, total plasma testosterone, albumin-bound testosterone, DHT, and SHBG decreased with increasing relative weight. Age was positively associated with serum SHBG and negatively associated with albumin-bound testosterone, DHEA, and DHEAS. An association was found between alcohol intake and DHEA (r = 0.15; P = 0.0001), cortisol (r = 0.10; P = 0.0007), and 3-alpha-androstanediol-glucuronide (r = 0.08; P = 0.0004). Cortisol was the only hormone that was associated with carbohydrate intake (r = -0.09; P = 0.002). The only hormones associated with dietary lipids were DHT (for vegetable fat, r = 0.07; P = 0.02), cortisol (for total fat, r = 0.08; P = 0.007), and SHBG (for animal fat, r = -0.06; P = 0.05). In addition, SHBG was positively associated with dietary (r = 0.07; P = 0.008) and crude (r = 0.08; P = 0.007) fiber. These data suggest that serum adrenal steroid and sex hormone concentrations in middle-aged men are more influenced by cigarette smoking, age, and obesity than by dietary intake; however, serum adrenal steroids were influenced by alcohol intake.