How does the male body make testosterone anyway????

Had some extra time yesterday and I happened to tune in just in time to watch the tail-end of "Tucker Carlson" show [ I like the fact Tucker isn't afraid to explore the other side of a given truth, even if he doesn't personally happen to agree with the other side up front.  Media could use more hosts willing to honestly endeavor to do the same].  Anyway, Tucker had three gourmet red-meat steaks lined up in front of him, each one resting on its own china plate, for the segment.  The topic for the segment? Apparently, a recent survey had attempted to determine which men women found the most attractive. They found the women tended to select the men who were meat-eaters over the vegans almost overwhelmingly.  This even when the women themselves happened to be vegan or vegetarian.  Kind of defies logic and reason, right? So Tucker was trying to get to the bottom of possible reasons for the overwhelming preference of meat-eaters, especially among women who did not eat meat themselves.  Carlson had a regular guest commentator on the show who was trying to help him understand why this could be as he waved each of the steaks about to tantalize the viewers --well, the meat-eating ones anyway.

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Neither the host or the guest commentator seemed to reach any meaningful conclusions, save to say that perhaps there was some innate, subconscious reason for the women's choice.  Well rather serendipitously today, I happened to be doing some reading on nutrition and as luck would have it the article I was reading suggested that cholesterol is a key component needed by the body in order to make the hormone testosterone.  I couldn't believe what I was reading?  So I read the article again.  Sure enough that was exactly what the article said.  So Tucker's conclusion that 'perhaps there was innate, subconscious reason for the women's choice' was actually right on the mark.  The reason the women probably preferred the meat-eaters in the survey above was that the meat-eaters had a source of cholesterol (in the red-meat) for making testosterone which the non-meaters were lacking (plant based foods do not contain cholesterol). Hence, plain and simple, biologically speaking the meat-eaters were actually more 'manly' in terms of their hormone levels.  It is likely the women in this survey were picking up on this difference between the meat-eaters vs. non-meat-eaters on an innate, biological level ... the subconscious drive to find the optimum mate for procreating to ensure the survival of the species.

[Note: while vegans lack cholesterol in their diets, due to strict avoidance of all animal-based products in their diets. Vegetarians who do eat some dairy in their diets, however, may actually have access to lower levels of cholesterol although likely not to the extent that the meat-eaters would.]

This realization also got me to thinking about the larger picture.  Studies have shown nearly a 30% decline in male testosterone levels in the past decade, with scientists offering little plausible explanations at to what might be driving this marked downward trend. I have to wonder now, has the societal push to "eat better", healthier and the labeling of red-meat as "bad" --both for health as well as environmental reasons-- been a primary contributing factor for this trend downward in male testosterone levels?  Men nowadays, as well over the course of the past decade, have been eating less red-meat?  Men eating less to no red-meat may not wind up being the total answer for the decline in male testosterone levels, but it sure goes a long way toward offering a plausible explanation, doesn't it? Kind goes back to old common sense wisdom of "everything in moderation" ==> Balance.  Extremes, for most things, do not statistically tend to produce desirable long term results?

Of course then, in the very next thought, the 'conspiracy theorist' --actually more of the part of me that is constantly searching for patterns and connections-- in me wonders: isn't a lower testosterone population more docile and easy to control/manipulate. Maybe by making red-meat the 'culprit' for all that ails us is part of some faction's overarching master plan??? Stranger things have happened ..... Well, now you know.  Maybe I've given you an interesting conversation generator for your next lunch or dinner gathering. Enjoy ........... Btw, in case you missed it, this post was actually about SCIENCE. Social Science and Biological Science.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If you can't handle this type of discussion please move along.  Thank you!