US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that military personnel aged 30 and over will begin to be tested for testosterone deficiency as part of their annual health checks.
In a video shared on
Voluntary hormone replacement therapy will be provided to soldiers with low testosterone levels, and testing will be optional for personnel under 30 years of age.
Hegseth did not provide information on whether female staff would also be subjected to this screening. Testosterone levels in women also decline as they get older.
The BBC has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
"We have an obligation to provide our warfighters with the best healthcare in the world, and this program is part of that obligation," Hegseth said in the video released Wednesday.
"Taking care of your long-term health means you'll have enough strength and stamina not only for your next deployment, but for the rest of your life," Hegseth said, adding, "So you can live your best life long after you take off your uniform."
The use of testosterone for non-medical purposes, such as artificial muscle building, and without a doctor's prescription is strictly prohibited in the US military.
Hegseth said in the video that the new program "is not about artificial performance enhancement."
Mandatory testosterone deficiency screening will go into effect immediately for all active duty and reserve force personnel age 30 and older, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.
Stating that 'This protocol will enable the ministry to offer a targeted testosterone treatment', Parnell said that the screening will 'ensure the maintenance of a healthy, competent and superior combat force'.
The Pentagon left questions about female personnel unanswered. When asked whether female soldiers would be tested and evaluated for estrogen-based hormone therapy when they enter perimenopause, the Pentagon said it had no comment to add to Hegseth and Parnell's statements.
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote in response to Hegseth's video, "This sounds like a service promoting gender conformity to me," pointing to Hegseth's previous order to remove transgender people from the military.
Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on the Secretary of Defense to ensure that both male and female personnel have access to hormone testing.
"Let's expand hormone screenings for all of our brave soldiers and help detect fertility problems early," Duckworth told the Associated Press (AP), reminding that studies show that both male and female personnel in the military "have disproportionately higher rates of infertility" compared to the general population.
D., who last year chaired the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) panel of experts on testosterone screening and use in the military. Mohit Khera told the BBC that all men over the age of 30 should be screened because testosterone levels are the most important indicator of a person's current and future general health.
Low testosterone levels can put men at a "disadvantage in terms of muscle mass and energy, which can be problematic in combat," said Khera, professor of urology at Baylor College of Medicine.
But Khera added, "If a person doesn't have any symptoms, you should be careful not to randomly give him testosterone."
According to Khera, hormone replacement therapy has benefits such as increased muscle mass, decreased fat accumulation and reduced risk of depression; “It can also help with bone mineral density over time.”
However, he adds that this is not suitable for everyone.
"If young men take testosterone, it can make them sterile. You need to be careful. If a person is of reproductive age, you need to make sure they understand that this can make them sterile," says Khera.
He also notes that this could theoretically lead to an increase in cardiovascular risk.
Hegseth's statement was made by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and came after similar statements by some other officials.
Kennedy and others favor removing barriers to doctors prescribing testosterone to men.
The Minister of Health had raised this as a solution to the national "fertility crisis".
Last month, the FDA also requested the removal of safety and effectiveness information on the labels of testosterone replacement therapy products and recommended that prescribing limits for testosterone products be relaxed.
US President Donald Trump signed a decree as soon as he took office in January 2025, banning transgender individuals from joining the army and demanding that existing transgender individuals be expelled from the army. However, the legal process regarding this decree continues.
We used artificial intelligence in the translation of this article, which was originally written in English. A BBC journalist checked the translation before publication. .