Davina McCall effect sparks 800 per cent rise in women on testosterone to boost libido during menopause – but experts warn the popular claims may be ‘misleading’

The number of women being prescribed testosterone to boost flagging libido during menopause has risen eight-fold over five years.

A record 80,793 women were prescribed the hormone last year compared to 9,756 in 2020 following endorsements from celebrities including Davina McCall and Dame Prue Leith who credit testosterone for reinvigorating sex lives, boosting mood and easing brain fog and low energy.

The figures are thought to be just the tip of the iceberg as far more women may be accessing testosterone privately.

But menopause experts warn the huge leap in prescriptions for the ‘male’ sex hormone – which is also produced at lower levels in women – is a cause for concern, and many women taking it may not need it.

They say it is being driven by ‘hype’ about the benefits by high-profile doctors and celebrities. 

And they say oft-repeated claims – such as it can restore a woman’s mid-life joie de vivre, stave off dementia, improve bone strength and maintain muscle mass – are ‘very misleading’ longer term.

Dr Paula Briggs, a sexual and reproductive health consultant at Liverpool Women’s NHS Trust and former chair of the British Menopause Society, said: ‘It is very simplistic to say a woman’s sex drive will improve with testosterone. I think really only about one woman in ten benefits from testosterone, and even that figure may be generous.

‘Some of the claims made around the drug in relation to muscle mass and preventing dementia are very misleading.

‘People are, I would say, cynically championing testosterone because there is money to be made with endorsements and promotion.’

Davina McCall is one of the most influential voices on menopause in recent years and has called for better understanding and access to Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which restores waning oestrogen and progesterone.

But her documentary Sex, Mind And The Menopause, which called testosterone the ‘missing piece of the puzzle’ for women who still suffered from symptoms despite taking HRT, led to a huge surge in prescriptions – dubbed ‘the Davina effect’.

Actresses Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts have also advocated testosterone, while former Great British Bake Off host Dame Prue said it was ‘great for libido – you feel better and younger’.

NHS figures show the biggest increase in prescriptions has been for women in their 50s, where the number has risen from 4,513 to 44,575 in five years.

For women in their 40s, the number has surged from 2,365 to 20,747. The cost to the NHS has risen from £700,000 to £5.3 million.

Current NHS guidance is testosterone can be offered to women to treat low libido only if HRT alone is not effective, and only if other causes of low libido have been ruled out. 

It is not specifically licensed for women in the UK, but can be prescribed off-label. For this reason, GPs can be cautious to prescribe it and it is more commonly prescribed privately.

The British Menopause Society says clinical trials of testosterone have not demonstrated that it can improve cognition, mood, energy and musculoskeletal health.

It also warns too much testosterone can cause problems such as excess hair growth, acne, weight gain and in rare cases alopecia and deepening of the voice.

Not tonight, darling… the ice cap is melting

By Roger Dobson

Women who worry about climate change are less likely to have good-quality sex, according to a study.

Researchers asked 1,000 women aged 30 and above about the quality of their sex lives and found the more they worried about global temperature rises and melting ice caps the less likely they were to be satisfied in the bedroom.

Overall, the scores they gave their bedroom liaisons were one-third lower compared to women who were more relaxed about the future of the planet.

Researchers from Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey, found not only that better-educated women were more likely to have greater concerns about environmental issues, but women worried more overall because of their ‘reproductive burden’ – anxiety over bringing children into a world facing environmental catastrophe. 

Previous research has found men tend to be more optimistic about the planet’s future.

Writing about their study in the journal Medicine, the researchers said: ‘As climate change anxiety levels increased, their sexual quality of life levels decreased.

‘Women are more susceptible to the expected consequences of climate change due to the reproductive burden they have. 

‘The effects of the concerns of women about this issue on their sexual and reproductive health are highly important in terms of the health of future generations.’

By gum! Should men really chew while they woo?

It’s hardly the most attractive bedroom habit, but chewing gum during sex could significantly boost a man’s staying power, according to scientists.

Men with premature ejaculation (PE) were able to last more than three times longer if they chewed gum before and during sex, their study found.

Urologists from the University of Health Sciences, Turkey, gave men with PE gum to chew for 20 minutes before they had sex, and encouraged them to use it throughout while timing them.

After a month of using this approach it took them three times longer to climax.

Researchers believe chewing gum may boost levels of serotonin in the brain, reducing anxiety and promoting a feeling of calm and focus. They said chewing gum could be a ‘simple, discreet, low‑cost option’ compared to other treatments. 

A non-surgical technique known as biofeedback is sometimes used to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles responsible for ejaculation.

In the study, published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, the men were divided into two groups who either chewed gum or had biofeedback therapy. 

At the start of the trial, the average time it took for all men to climax was 40.75 seconds, but after one month it increased to 130 seconds in the gum-chewing group, and to 125 seconds in the biofeedback group.