Gynecomastia also knowns as male breasts, man boobs, or “moobs” is a condition where men develop breasts. It is usually a harmless condition but breast cancer can develop in about 1% of cases. According to a review from the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine up to 50% of men in the U.S. suffer from this condition. Unless you’re born with a genetic disorder like Klinefelter syndrome, developing male boobs is easily avoidable if you know what the causes of gynecomastia are.

Male breasts can develop due to a hormonal imbalance of having more estrogen and less androgen. Both men and women have breast tissue and it feeds off of estrogen hormones. While women naturally have more estrogen, men have more androgen hormones. But men can easily suffer from hormonal imbalances between the two resulting in getting their estrogens-to-androgens ratio out of whack. The result is the development of man boobs.

So how can we stop hormonal imbalances from occurring? Forty to fifty percent of the United States male population have boobs and that can’t be good for their mental health or physical health. Although gynecomastia is a harmless condition it can be assumed that if you have male breasts your life style is anything but harmless.

An unhealthy lifestyle can be the underlining cause of illness both harmful and benign conditions. The best way to fix an unhealthy lifestyle is finding the root cause and having the mental fortitude to overcome these problems.

So how did we get here? and how can we fix it? Keep reading to find out the causes of gynecomastia and what you can do to prevent this hormonal imbalance and the appearance of man boobs.