One of the facts of life is that we all age. I will be eighty-three on my next birthday and have been interested in men’s health most of my life. When I was five, my forty-three-year-old father overdosed on sleeping pills. He had become increasingly depressed because he could not support his family doing the work he loved.
Fortunately, he didn’t die, but he was transferred to the Camarillo State Psychiatric Hospital north of our home in Los Angeles. I grew up wondering what happened to my father, when it would happen to me, and what I could do to help other families like ours.
I went to college at UC Santa Barbara and was a pre-med majoring in biology and psychology. I was later accepted to UC San Francisco medical school, but soon found medicine too elitist and narrow in its health, and transferred to UC Berkeley where I earned my master’s in social work.
I later returned to graduate school to pursue a more in-depth study of the issues facing men and their families. I earned a PhD in International Health and have been specializing in the emerging field of Gender Medicine and Men’s Health for over forty years.
I have written seventeen books, including international bestsellers Male Menopause, Male Menopause Survivor: A Guide for Women and Men, and The Irritable Man Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Root Causes of Depression and Aggression.
Me recently interviewed by Dr. William Brandt for his work in the health sector. Dr. Brant is a board-certified urologist specializing in erectile dysfunction, low testosterone, and other male urological conditions. Dr. Brant works directly with patients addressing these concerns and offers expert commentary on the broader trends shaping men’s sexual health today.
One of the topics we discussed with Dr. Brad is how hard it is for men to sort through the barrage of information that bombards them, some good, some inaccurate and some dangerous. This is especially true in the area of supplements and neutrals.
“What I tell men,” says Dr. Brad, “remember the saying, keep it simple.”
He went on to say,
“Make sure you’re getting a quality product and try to avoid duplicating ingredients to avoid overuse. Try to stick with ingredients that have evidence behind any purported benefits. And try to stick to a simple system that gives you what you want, but nothing more.”
Advertisements for supplements are everywhere, but don’t be fooled.
“I don’t think everyone needs supplements,” says Dr. Bradt. “For example, it bothers me when teenagers and young men take all kinds of things because, in general, that age group is already optimized and so at best they have expensive urine and at worst they throw off the homeostasis of what should be a perfectly balanced system. I often see teenagers and men in their twenties who might be taking their sex drugs? Is there something else going on that makes you feel the need to do more?’
As most of us in middle age and beyond know well, sometimes we need help staying healthy and active as we age.
“As men age, modern life conspires to slowly kill us off,” says Dr. Bradt. “The most obvious role of supplements is to complete a diet that lacks essential elements. But less obvious is that our bodies can’t tell the difference between life-threatening stress and life stress. So we’re refreshed, constantly on guard, and don’t allow for recovery. It’s hard to research different supplement ingredients, but some have reasonable evidence of safety and efficacy.”
Dr. Brand concludes by saying:
“The men’s sexual wellness category is littered with quick-fix, performance-driven pills that promise instant results, rely on stimulants, or frame sexual health as something men only address when something feels ‘wrong.’ As a result, many men either avoid the category altogether or use products that won’t really support long-term health.”
If you would like to connect with Dr. Brant and his work, you can contact him at menssexualhealthutah.com
For those who would like to read more articles on men’s health, you can visit me at
