Body mass and physical activity are important predictors of serum androgen concentrations in young healthy men.

The relative importance of body mass index (BMI), demographic, and life-style factors in predicting androgen and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations of young healthy men has not been clearly established. We evaluated the role of age, BMI, height, habitual physical activity, education, smoking, coffee and alcohol intake as predictors of serum testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione, and SHBG concentrations in 100 healthy men 18-22 years old. BMI was the only independent predictor of dihydrotestosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and both BMI and physical activity were independent predictors of serum testosterone concentrations, whereas other variables did not appear to play a role of comparable importance.