What are the causes of Gynecomastia in men?

Roby Devan
3 min readJun 3, 2017

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Gynecomastia is a condition of enlarged breasts in males which is caused by an enlargement of the mammary glands in the chest region. Whether you are elderly, middle0aged, in puberty or infancy, it can manifest. Distinguished from Pseudogynecomastia, which is breast enlargement in males cause by excessive fatty tissue, it is an enlargement of glands.

There are many causes for Gynecomastia. Some of these include: weight gain; hormonal imbalance, side effects of medications; developmental causes; complications of health problems.

Excessive weight gain results in an excess of adipose tissue around the peri-areolar chest region, where the male chest may resemble female breasts. It is even possible for man boobs to appear on a temporary basis when a male is starting to lose weight. This is because of the high ‘white fat’ in the chest region being the last to remove itself. In order to resolve this, what is required is persistence with the weight program that has been started.

Imbalance of hormones: the testosterones (class of male sex hormones) and the estrogens (female sex hormones) are present in both males and females and are responsible for the prominence of sexual characteristics. The balance of these opposing hormones determines the bias of male to female characteristics. Thus a heavy female emphasis in males is often characterized by a large amount of estrogen to testosterone, resulting in tissue enlargement in the breast or chest region and other associated female type characteristics.

Medications can be responsible in creating Gynecomastia:
- Ant-androgenic medications: used to treat prostate enlargement or cancer. Includes Proscar, Aldactone, Flutadamide.
- AIDS medication: men who suffer rom HIV or AIDS may suffer from moobs or man boobs due to side effects of antiretroviral therapeutic agents (HAART) used to treat this disease.
- Chemotherapy and Radiatherapy: treatment for cancerous cells can also cause Gynecomastia.
- Antibiotic use: antipathogenic / antimicrobial agents used to kill pathogens can cause man boobs.
- Anxiolytics: medications used to treat anxiety, for example Diazepam, can cause Gynecomastia.
- Cardiac medications: Medication sused to treat cardiac anomalies can cause man boobs, such as Lanoxin, Calcium channel blockers.

Developmental:
- Infancy: At the time of birth, many male infants have gynecomastia because of the transmission of estrogens from mother to baby. This issue only lasts for several weeks and diminishes.
- Pubertal: During the onset of puberty, there is an imbalance of hormones which can cause Gynecomastia. In 90% of cases the condition resolves itself within a three year window, but if it does persist for longer than this period, there is a possibility that it will manifest as insidious or long term Gynecomastia.
- Aged: At about 50 years of age, for many men, the production and occurrence of testosterone diminishes and causes many physical as well as physiological changes. The physical changes include a loss of form of the chest, with a female characterization. There is a large proportion of males, at over 25% over the age of 50 who are afflicted with age related Gynecomastia.

Various health problems which can cause Gynecomastia due to hormonal imbalance can happen under the following conditions:
- Liver failure: liver conditions and the medications used to treat them can result in the formation of man boobs.
- Hypogonadism: where the secretion of testerones is less than par leads to a testerones to estrogens imbalance and can cause Gynecomastia.
- Malnutrition: where there is a reduced intake of essential nutrients can cause a reversible form of Gynecomastia. When nutrition returns to normal levels, this usually resolves itself.
- Hyperthyroidism: An above par level of thyroxin can lead to Gynecomastia.

Whatever the cause of Gynecomastia, Gynectrol can help treat the condition. Do note it is best to supplement this with authorized medical care to treat the underlying condition, but Gynectrol can supplement this program as part of an effective recovery. Find out more details about this Gynecomastia pills at Gynectrol review.

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