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Increase testosterone and boost sex drive
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If you’re using nicotine frequently through tobacco products, vapes, or nicotine pouches, you may be concerned about the potential effects on your hormonal and overall health.
Researchers haven’t yet found definitive evidence suggesting nicotine influences your testosterone levels, either positively or negatively.
Even if it’s not clear if nicotine affects testosterone, using nicotine products is tied to many other health risks, such as addiction and an increased chance of cancer.
Keep reading to learn about the potential effects of nicotine use on your hormone levels and overall health. We’ll also look at the health effects of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
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Nicotine is found in many products, including:
Cigarettes, cigars, and other smoked forms of tobacco
Snuff
Chewing tobacco
Nicotine gum
Nicotine patches
E-cigarettes and vape products
Nicotine lozenges
Nicotine pouches
Nicotine occurs naturally in the tobacco plant and in very small amounts in some other plants, such as tomatoes or peppers.
Can nicotine negatively affect your testosterone levels? How about boosting them? It’s still unclear either way. Some studies suggest nicotine might increase testosterone levels, while others suggest the opposite. And other research still even suggests no significant effect in either direction.
It’s difficult for researchers to directly examine the effect of nicotine on humans due to ethical concerns. For this reason, most studies on this link use animal subjects, meaning the results may not directly apply to people.
Many studies have examined the effects of smoking on human health, not isolated nicotine. Take cigarettes, for example. They contain thousands of chemicals, dozens of which are known to harm humans. That makes it difficult to know how much nicotine contributes to that harm compared to other chemicals. It’s difficult to isolate the effects of nicotine alone on testosterone.
Nicotine acts on receptors found throughout your body called nicotinic receptors. Because these receptors are widespread throughout your body, nicotine has the potential to cause many changes to your health.
Nicotinic receptors have been identified on the testicles and throughout the male reproductive tract. So theoretically, it's possible that nicotine may affect aspects of your sexual health, such as sperm and testosterone production, but more research is needed.
Although it’s not clear if nicotine use increases your risk of testosterone problems, it has been linked to other health problems.
There’s little research examining the link between nicotine alone and testosterone levels. Most studies examine the link between cigarette smoking or other forms of smoked tobacco products and testosterone levels.
Most of the testosterone in the male body is produced in the testes. More specifically, it’s produced in cells in your testicles called Leydig cells.
Animal research suggests nicotine might damage Leydig cells in the testes of mice.
It’s also possible that nicotine might disrupt levels of hormones called luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). LH is secreted by the pituitary gland and acts on the Leydig cells to produce testosterone. FSH acts on special cells in your testicles called Sertoli cells to produce sperm.
One very small and preliminary 2005 study examining the effects of nicotine found it might impair LH secretion in males but not females. These results need to be taken with a large grain of salt because the study is older and was very small.
It’s not clear whether nicotine affects your testosterone levels, but let’s take a look at the existing studies that have tried to suss out this possible relationship.
Some research does suggest that nicotine may lower testosterone levels, although the research is by no means conclusive.
In a 2025 study, researchers found evidence that heating tobacco products (forms of electronic cigarettes) were associated with decreases in androgen hormones and increases in stress markers in rats. Androgen hormones include testosterone and other male sex hormones.
In a small 2022 study, researchers found there was a slight drop in testosterone levels among baseball players 30 minutes after chewing nicotine gum.
Much more research is needed to understand the effects of nicotine on hormone levels. For example, most studies have looked at total testosterone levels, but not free testosterone levels, which is the form your tissues can use.
Your total testosterone level is mostly made up of testosterone bound to proteins such as sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) or albumin. These forms aren’t biologically active.
A few studies have found evidence that products containing nicotine may actually increase testosterone.
In a 2024 study in Scientific Reports, researchers examined the relationship between blood cotinine levels and total testosterone levels in 7,797 people. Researchers often use levels of cotinine, a chemical produced by the breakdown of nicotine in the human body, as a marker of smoking intensity and frequency.
After adjusting for confounding variables, the researchers found that increasing levels of cotinine were associated with higher levels of total testosterone, until a certain inflection point, after which more cotinine was linked with lower testosterone.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure how higher levels of cotinine might be linked to an increase in testosterone. One idea is that nicotine and cotinine are broken down by certain enzymes in the body, and these same enzymes also help break down male hormones like testosterone. Because nicotine and cotinine use these enzymes too, they might slow down the breakdown of testosterone, which could make testosterone levels go up. But more research is needed.
In a 2022 study, researchers recruited 613 males from the general population, asked them about their use of snuff (a form of smokeless tobacco), measured their testosterone levels, and measured their sperm count. The researchers found snuff use was associated with lower total sperm count but higher testosterone levels.
In a 2021 study, researchers examined testosterone levels in male smokers from ages 40 to 79. The researchers found evidence that higher total smoking was associated with higher total testosterone for men ages 40 to 69 and with higher free testosterone for men ages 40 to 59.
But do these studies actually mean nicotine or smoking raises testosterone levels? Not by a long shot.
More and larger studies are needed, especially those that isolate nicotine use—not just use of tobacco products, which contain many other chemicals and compounds—to truly understand this potential relationship.
Testosterone is the main androgen or (male) sex hormone. Lower testosterone levels are medically called hypogonadism. Hypogonadism can cause symptoms that affect your reproductive health and overall health.
Low serum testosterone levels can negatively affect your health in many ways, such as:
Fatigue
Reduced lean muscle mass
Irritability
Depression and mood swings
Decreased spontaneous erections
Fewer nighttime erections
Smaller testicular volume
Learn more about low testosterone.
Even though the jury is still out about nicotine and testosterone levels, there’s evidence nicotine hurts other aspects of your health. It’s important to note that much of the existing research on nicotine-related harm combines nicotine with other toxic substances found in smoke, making it challenging to isolate nicotine’s effects.
However, nicotine alone may have the following potential short-term and long-termeffects:
Increased risk of erectile dysfunction or other penile problems. Nicotine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which can cause narrowing of blood vessels, which might reduce blood flow to the penis.
Impaired brain development from vaping. The brain continues developing until about age 25.
Higher heart rate and blood pressure
Weaker immune system
No tobacco products are safe, according to the CDC, including smokeless tobacco products like nicotine pouches. This is particularly important for children, young adults, and pregnant women, who should avoid using nicotine pouches altogether.
Nicotine is highly addictive and can cause nicotine withdrawal symptoms, such as:
Problems concentrating
Cravings for nicotine
Nausea
Sweating
Jitteriness
Tingling in the extremities
Digestive changes
Headaches
Abdominal pain
Irritability
Anxiety and depression
Weight changes
Sleep changes
Quitting smoking can be very difficult, but it’s worth it for the many potential health benefits, including:
Improved lung function
Better heart health and lower risk of cardiovascular disease
Reduced cancer risk, especially lung, throat, and mouth cancers
Better circulation and lung function
Improved sense of taste and smell
Healthier skin and appearance
Better sexual health and fertility
Longer life expectancy
Lower secondhand tobacco smoke exposure for the people around you
Saving more money
After one year of quitting, the risk of heart attack is half compared to that of a smoker. After 10 to 15 years, the risk of lung cancer drops to half of that of a current smoker. After 15 years the risk of heart attack becomes similar to that of a non-smoker.
If it’s not necessarily due to tobacco use, what else could be lowering your testosterone? Low testosterone may be caused by a mix of factors, including:
Genetics
Medical conditions, either those present from birth or that you develop later in life
Lifestyle habits
Some known risk factors for low testosterone include:
Obesity
Insulin resistance
Metabolic syndrome
Improving your lifestyle habits may help support testosterone levels. Changes you can make that may boost your testosterone include:
Exercising regularly
Reaching and/or maintaining a healthy weight
Getting adequate rest
Reducing stress
Limiting use of alcohol or recreational drugs
Getting adequate vitamin D
Correcting underlying nutrient deficiencies
Your healthcare provider may recommend trying testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) if your testosterone levels fall outside of the normal range. TRT involves receiving synthetic testosterone through patches, injections, or other forms to supplement your natural testosterone production.
More research is needed to determine if nicotine is damaging your hormonal balance. Some research suggests it might be harmful, while others have found either no effect or that nicotine itself is actually associated with higher levels of testosterone. Remember:
This link is still unclear. Nicotine’s effect on testosterone levels is complex and not fully understood, partly because most human studies involve tobacco smoking, which exposes you to many other chemicals besides nicotine. Current research does not conclusively prove whether nicotine increases, decreases, or has no effect on testosterone levels.
Many mechanisms underlie this possible link. Nicotine might affect testosterone production by acting on testicular cells or interfering with hormones like LH and FSH, but most evidence comes from animal studies or small human samples.
There are other health risks of nicotine: Regardless of its effect on testosterone, nicotine is linked to health issues such as addiction, cancer, and erectile dysfunction.
And there are lots of benefits of quitting: Stopping nicotine and tobacco use can lead to major health improvements including better heart and lung function, reduced cancer risk, improved fertility, and longer life expectancy.
If you’re concerned, read our guide on low testosterone levels to learn more about potential symptoms, causes, and treatment options.
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