Increased Incidence?

[Alchemist]

At my nudist club vacation this year I noticed something.  Most of the people, 80% or so are members at any given time, that I know from previous years or decades.  This year there appears to be an explosion of gynecomastia.  I've never seen anything like that before. 
Other have mentioned it for the past few years.  It wasn't an overwhelming number of new members or anything like that.  The same old (getting older) guys have suddenly gotten bigger.  More of the younger guys have more breasts  hanging out there. 
This year I wouldn't have been so easy to pick out.  There were a few other guys near my size, young and old.  What I am seeing is more and bigger breasts on men.  Strange.  Like it is suddenly in the water or food or something.  I also am seeing a lot more guys out there in the textile world wearing more fitted t-shirts and even more bras.  There looks like there is an attitude change happening along with an explosion of incidence.  This year there was no doubt at all that the majority of men had gynecomastia, and more guys were bigger than I have ever seen in one place before.  Have fun.

[walt]

Hi yes I also have noticed an increase in man boobs all over the place I'm guessing its whats in our food with all the geneticly modified ingredients , hormones in beef and pork and other stuff like the increase of some meds.one day ill bet you see bra commercials for men.

[Alchemist]

Hi yes I also have noticed an increase in man boobs all over the place I'm guessing its whats in our food with all the geneticly modified ingredients , hormones in beef and pork and other stuff like the increase of some meds.one day ill bet you see bra commercials for men.

I one of those guys who uses medical data to try and figure out the mysteries.  So when such an obvious change takes place so apparently quickly it's my normal inclination to wonder WHY and try to find out..  What has changed in the last 5 years or less that causes such rapid increase in quantity of male breasts and especially noticeable, the size?

I look at it as either there was a qualitative or quantitative change in something in our diets (most likely), or maybe a combination of things with an unexpected outcome.  And maybe it is quantitative (people are eating more so they are getting more stuff in general) or maybe it is a new or different form of something old.   I look at what my grown kids are eating that didn't even exist when I was in my 30s..

Do you see this effect more in the USA than other countries or is it spreading around the world.?   I haven't been able to  travel far in recent years.  Getting one state over is difficult.

So how much change have you noted in the past few years?

I have been thinking that we will see bras for men advertised on TV within the next few years.  The vitamin drinks are a new item and introduce all sorts of nutrient combinations that can affect hormones, lots of people are taking more hormone promoting foods and supplements.  We shall see.

It was certainly some kind of karma having the bullies in school giving me a tough time about breasts and now they have them too, very visibly.

[expedient-traveller]

When you have "ample assets", you will notice others who have them as well. I am in the HVAC/R (heating, cooling and refrigeration) field and see guys with boobs everywhere. I saw a gentleman the other week out jogging and he was bouncing all over the place. He was easily a C cup size and he had to be hurting or he would have when done jogging. I had a comment from my mom when I dropped by to do her grass, that she sees men with boobs quite often. She is just a bit sensitive to seeing men with boobs since I am rather well endowed. I see endowed guys at school (working on my PhD), on the job, here at work...everywhere. I hope they do come up with a guys bra in a couple of years, I could really use it (46DD/DDD). Be well!

[Lister]

I feel like I'm far more prone to noticing it since acknowledging it in myself...  There are a few cases at work and some of them.. whew.. 

[Alchemist]

I have had 57 years of experience with breasts.  It isn't newly seen or accepted for me.  I go to nudist clubs.  What I see is not a matter of any clothing interfering.  Ad I'm talking about seeing mostly the same folks every year.  I watch the children grow up and us older folks aging.  I watch changes in skin and everything.  I know who has sore feet.  I'm one of them.  I walk funny. 

I do think there is an actual increase in incidence.  Now I know that guys aging 10 years will increase incidence in that cohort.  However, across the full range of ages that remains an approximate equilibrium; some of us old folks drop out when they don't have the energy to keep going and new members are often younger.
The younger guys have more incidence or maybe just more size than guys their age did 10 years ago.  It's strange to me to see such a large change that quick.

[dbweb]

Just to toss another "theory" in the ring about some scientific reason for this "explosion" we are seeing, some months back I sat in on a technical symposium focused on Dairy cow environmental impact.
One of the speakers was a well respected university professor, and had a lot of data about drinking water pollution, specifically with forms of estrogen. (dairy cows have the  highest concentration of this of any mammal)   He had lots of data from studies done impacting fish (yes if they are impacted, they will not reproduce) and made a link to humans as well with regard to male fertility and "BREAST Development"
In addition, there is another theory that the high level of birth control used today is also contributing to this, as levels of Estrogen are passed forward and do not break down in typical waste water management systems (same as with dairy farm effluent) 
If anyone wants to know how to contact this Endocrinologist for his data, I will be happy to pass along his contact info as he is well known in this area as is major dept head at a good medical school in my area.
PS I also have a sister in law who reads a lot of literature about "the bad things from using birth control" and has been telling me this for years, but can't qualify that as scientific by any streatch

[dr.moe]

I've read several studies coming to the same conclusion - that increasing doses of phytoestrogens in our food (can you say soybeans = cheap protein?) as well as estrogen in meat and milk and in the water supply from treatment plants passing the water into the environment and recycling it into water supply.  In one study, they found that there were few fully male frogs - most were female or feminized males. The same on some species of fish in some waterways. Add in that in the western world, testosterone is decreasing, and with it, sperm viability and quantity.

There does seem to be more than anecdotal evidence and random chance of correlation.

[Blousbunnys]

If you look up foods that have phytoestrogens the list reads like a heart healthy diet.
There's soy at the top of the list.  Followed by flaxseed, oats, barley, lentils,  sesame seeds and yams.
Along with what we get from other sources we are getting a lot of estrogens and phytoestrogens.
So it's not really surprising gynocomastia is increasing.

[dr.moe]

I had a bizarre thought (fueled, perhaps, by a little Friday-afternoon seminar brain lube) about the increased incidence of gyno.

At what point will gynecomastia become so common that it starts to be some kind of public or fashion statement - perhaps affirmation of feminist ideals, or 'uniqueness'?  At what level of incidence will we reach a point at which men WANT to get gyno, and women start to find it preferable in men?  If we ever reach such a point, I could imagine 'in touch' feminist-males getting implants to mimic gyno. Then the male competitive locker-room (biggest male thingy) ego will kick in and guys with gyno will brag about who has the biggest breasts? And guys without it will demand pharmaceuticals to induce gyno (without ruining their testosterone) or bigger and bigger implants to be considered 'sexier' by females who've become quite breast-obsessed?  Perhaps we are the vanguard of a new step in male evolution caused by some New World Order or alien experimentation?

Like I said, bizarre ponderings from one too many adult beverages. If we ever hit that point, I swear I'll run off and be a hermit.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Friday evening stuff.

[hammer]

dr. moe, that last post is scary!  We may have some guys and gals already there, but I pray that it's just a few yet! I like my brandy, but I've never had enough to have those scary thoughts, lol!

I've always thought I'd like to like next to a nice lake between two mountains with the only way in and out is a seaplane, but if the world got to be like that I think I might be to accessible! (Talk about a hermit).

[dr.moe]

dr. moe, that last post is scary!  We may have some guys and gals already there, but I pray that it's just a few yet! I like my brandy, but I've never had enough to have those scary thoughts, lol!

I've always thought I'd like to like next to a nice lake between two mountains with the only way in and out is a seaplane, but if the world got to be like that I think I might be to accessible! (Talk about a hermit).

What I fear is that someone in the Hollyweird crowd of "in touch with my feelings" crowd would jump on the bandwagon. There was already a guy who got implants on a bet! (Man gets implants on $100K bet)   I am a firm believer in "vive le difference" and like things the way nature intended them (with rare exceptions to make life interesting - aka my own pair of girls!) 

[bikerbob]

Playboy is featuring its first trans gender playmate (Hef is rolling over in his grave) so who knows where we are headed?  Another possibility to consider:  I am a part time resident of Colorado so I can buy and consume cannabis products legally.  About a year ago I started using more edible THC products because they help me sleep.  My girls showed up in June or July.  Coincidence?  Maybe but my recent physical showed my testosterone levels right in the middle of the normal range and I don't take any prescription drugs that affect breast growth.  My doctor made it a point to mention that marijuana can cause breast enlargement.  Did I mention that I have been mistaken for David Crosby?

[dr.moe]

I am a part time resident of Colorado so I can buy and consume cannabis products legally.  About a year ago I started using more edible THC products because they help me sleep.  My girls showed up in June or July.  Coincidence? 

I've known quite a few people who were frequent users of 'wacky weed' and who also had gyno - either true gyno or pseudo-gyno.  The science on THC and gynecomastia is as solid as use of steroids or consumption of foods high in phyto-estrogens - these things significantly increase odds of developing gyno.

[aboywithgirls]

I recently read an article about females who have gained weight and as a result increased their breast size. When they lost weight, their breasts remained large. 
I was a big kid but not obese when I started budding, and the docs thought it was a combination of being overweight and pubescent gynecomastia. However they kept growing. I lost some weight and they kept growing. I had a thyroidectomy and they grew even more.
Some of us guys are gonna have breasts and are gonna have to wear a bra. Just like some women are gonna be flat chested and never wear a bra a day in their life.