#188 Optimizing Testosterone for Health with Dr Ralph Esposito

Ralph Esposito (0:01)

There's a misconception that only men with low testosterone levels experience symptoms of low testosterone, right? So you can have men who have normal testosterone levels but still be exhibiting symptoms of low testosterone.

And that you can't measure in a blood test. That's why you have to actually speak to the person and identify, like, what are the other factors that are going on here?

SPEAKER_2 (0:26)

Do you want to know what it is?

Siim Land (0:30)

Body Mind Empowerment.

SPEAKER_2 (0:31)

Get stronger, faster, smarter, quicker, friendlier, more helpful, more driven.

Siim Land (0:37)

Everything the body needs.

SPEAKER_2 (0:39)

Control your mind.

Siim Land (0:43)

Welcome to the Body Mind Empowerment Podcast. I'm your host Siim Land and our guest today is Dr. Ralph Esposito. Dr. Ralph is a naturopathic physician who specializes in functional medicine and men's health.

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Ralph, welcome to the show.

Ralph Esposito (1:25)

Thanks for having me.

Siim Land (1:28)

Yeah, we were connected by a mutual friend, Dr. Carrie Jones. And so she said that you're one of the kind of the top experts in the world of men's health. So I definitely had to have you on my show as well and talk about this, everything related to hormones and especially for men.

Ralph Esposito (1:46)

Yeah, absolutely. It's more of a, I mean, a lot of people do this and it's kind of a job for them. For me, it's just, I enjoy it. It's more of a hobby and a fun thing to do to dive deep into these things. But yes, happy to be here.

Siim Land (1:59)

Yeah. So how did you become like a doctor in this field? And, you know, how did you, why did you, why did you get interested in first place?

Ralph Esposito (2:11)

So when I was in undergrad, I was at NYU studying nutrition. And a lot of my focus there was trying to improve athletic performance with, you know, or that was a goal of mine. And I realized that it really wasn't a lot of health for men.

And while I was there, I reached out and tried to find a naturopathic physician at NYU, because I wanted to go down that route. I found that the basic nutrition curriculum was just not enough for me. I knew that nutrition was very important. And I wanted to learn more about how nutrition impacts, you know, your genes, your hormones. Like, how do we optimize the body via nutrition, lifestyle, you know, supplements, etc. And it was very hard to find. You know, there is, it's a very unique area and not many people cover it. So, while I was at NYU, I connected with a naturopathic doctor there at the medical center.

And he essentially took me under his wing and we started doing research at the NYU Urology Center. His name is Dr. Gio Espinosa. He's my mentor, but also one of my best friends. And we have published several chapters on the area regarding, you know, prostate health, kidney health, anything literally from the waist down in a man has become a specialty. And then I just continue to capitalize on it and focus on it. And now I, you know, I realized how much hormones interplay with each other, not just testosterone, but, you know, estrogen, insulin, adiponectin, you know, everything that is either an endocrine or a paracrine hormone is going to be pretty much up my alley because they all communicate with each other.

And here I am.

Siim Land (4:02)

What is some of the differences between nathropogenic medicine and functional medicine and like conventional medicine?

Ralph Esposito (4:11)

Sure. So actually functional medicine was founded by naturopathic physicians. So a lot of the work that you'll find with a functional medicine doctor is based on a lot of naturopathic philosophy or naturopathic foundations.

The one big difference is naturopathic medicine has a larger paradigm. So it encompasses what a lot of functional medicine docs really don't utilize. It's a lot heavier on the nutrition aspect. Although functional medicine is big on nutrition, naturopathic physicians are a lot more involved with herbs and herbal medicine. Functional medicine also does, but just naturopaths have a different training in it.