How to Lower Prolactin in Men: Symptoms, Causes, Foods, and What the Studies Show

To lower prolactin you first find out why it is high. The causes doctors look for are a medication, a low thyroid and a pituitary tumor, and each one has its own fix.

Food and habits move prolactin only a little in the studies. I will show you the numbers, including the ones that do not agree with what I have posted.

Prolactin in men

Prolactin is the pituitary hormone best known for milk production. Men make it too. I call it a metabolic hand brake. In my view it works against thyroid and against the testicles, and it rises with estrogen and serotonin. My long article on that is Prolactin, the anti-life hormone.

High prolactin symptoms in men

• Sex and fertility. A review lists impaired libido, erectile dysfunction, a smaller ejaculate volume and a low sperm count. (De Rosa 2003)
• Erections. Among 1,845 Nigerian men from infertile couples, 16.7% had high prolactin. Erectile dysfunction was the most common sexual complaint in that group, at 35.6%. (Green 2020)
• Tumor symptoms. In 41 men with a large prolactin-producing tumor, 41.4% had visual field defects, 34.1% had headache and 19.5% had milky nipple discharge. (Colao 2004)

Headaches with vision changes are a reason to see a doctor this week, not a reason to change your diet.

Does prolactin decrease testosterone?

Yes, when it is truly high. High prolactin blocks the pulsed release of GnRH in the brain, so LH, FSH and testosterone fall.

• Of 3,101 men at a fertility clinic, 2.1% had high prolactin. Their median testosterone was 280 against 313 ng/dL, and their total motile sperm count was 7.0 million against 34.7 million. (Ambulkar 2022)
• It reaches DHT as well. Six healthy men were given a drug that raises prolactin for 4 days. When their testicles were stimulated, testosterone rose normally but the rise in DHT was markedly smaller. (Magrini 1976)

Does high prolactin cause hair loss?

• In the dish, yes. Human scalp hair follicles kept in culture and exposed to a high dose of prolactin (400 ng/ml) grew a shorter hair shaft and entered the regression phase early. The follicles also made prolactin themselves. (Foitzik 2006)
• In men, a hint. 57 men with hair loss before age 30 had higher prolactin than 32 controls: 14.14 against 9.97 ng/mL. (Sanke 2016)

Read that second study carefully. The balding men also had higher testosterone, and hormone levels did not track with how severe the hair loss was. So prolactin is a suspect, not a proven cause. I think it matters more than most people believe. The rest is in the hair loss guide.

What raises prolactin

• Medications. A review of 50 studies found most drug-induced cases in people on antipsychotics, and also with gut motility drugs and antidepressants. (Junqueira 2023)
• Low thyroid. A systematic review collected 804 patients with thyroid disease and high prolactin. Where individual data existed, 70.4% had complete resolution of the high prolactin once the thyroid was treated, with no prolactin drug needed. (Khan 2025)
• A pituitary tumor. In the fertility clinic study, 11 of the 65 men with high prolactin had one.
• Estrogen. In a review of 9 men with prolactin tumors, testosterone therapy could push prolactin up because it converts to estradiol. (Akirov 2023)
• Orgasm. In 10 healthy men, orgasm raised prolactin. (Exton 2001) That rise is normal and temporary.

Never stop a prescribed drug on your own because of a prolactin number. Take the number to the doctor who prescribed it.

How to lower prolactin

1. Get the cause found. Prolactin, TSH and a medication review. That is where the big drops come from.
2. Treat the tumor, if there is one, with your doctor. Doctors prescribe dopamine agonists such as cabergoline and bromocriptine. In 51 men with prolactin tumors, 24 months of cabergoline normalized prolactin in 75.6% of those with large tumors and 80% of those with small ones. Testosterone normalized in about 60% within 6 months. (Colao 2004) These are prescription drugs for a diagnosed condition. They are not something to self-treat with.
3. Do not flood yourself with plain water. In 10 men, drinking a water load of 20 ml per kg raised prolactin from 7.6 to 12.3 ng/ml within half an hour. (Adler 1975) The rise is small. I still put salt or sugar in what I drink.
4. Sleep, sunlight, enough carbs. This is my view. Dopamine is what holds prolactin down, and those three are how I keep dopamine up.
5. Sex in moderation. Not too much, and do not avoid it either.

Prolactin foods and supplements

No food has been shown to treat high prolactin. These are the nutrients with any human data:

• Zinc. In 17 healthy adults, single oral doses of 25 to 50 mg pushed prolactin below baseline over the next two hours. (Brandão Néto 1989) But 25 mg a day for 3 months did not change prolactin in 7 healthy men. (Castro 2002)
• Vitamin E. 12 dialysis patients took 300 mg a day for 8 weeks. Prolactin fell from 50.8 to 15.4 ng/ml. Nothing changed on placebo. (Yeksan 1992) These were kidney patients with very high prolactin, so do not assume the same drop in a healthy man.
• Vitamin B6. A 300 mg intravenous dose suppressed prolactin in 6 hypothyroid patients. (Delitala 1977) In another study it failed to lower raised prolactin. (de Waal 1978)
• Salt. I have posted many times that low salt raises prolactin, and I eat 3 to 10 g a day. The one human diet study I found does not back me. 18 healthy men ate low, normal and high sodium diets and prolactin did not vary. (Fressinaud 1980)

I eat oysters and liver for the zinc and the B vitamins. That is my habit, not a tested protocol.

The honest part

Lower is not always better. In 2,948 European men aged 40 to 79, low prolactin went with the metabolic syndrome, more depressive symptoms, less physical activity and less enjoyment of orgasm. (Corona 2014)

So I was too simple when I wrote about nuking prolactin. The goal is a normal level, and a doctor finding the reason when it is high. The lifestyle numbers above are small, short studies.

For the androgen side, read How to increase DHT.

Quick answers

How do you lower prolactin?

Find the cause first. Medications, low thyroid and pituitary tumors are the main ones, and treating them gives the large drops. In a review, 70.4% of patients with thyroid-related high prolactin had it resolve fully with thyroid treatment alone.

What are the symptoms of high prolactin in men?

Low libido, erectile dysfunction, a smaller ejaculate volume and a low sperm count. With a large pituitary tumor, headaches, visual field defects and nipple discharge can appear.

Does prolactin decrease testosterone?

Yes. High prolactin suppresses GnRH pulses, which lowers LH, FSH and testosterone. In 3,101 men at a fertility clinic, those with high prolactin had lower testosterone and a much lower motile sperm count.

Does high prolactin cause hair loss?

It is plausible but not proven. Prolactin shortened hair growth in cultured human scalp follicles, and young balding men had higher prolactin than controls in one small study, but levels did not match severity.

What foods lower prolactin?

No food is proven to. Single doses of zinc lowered prolactin for two hours in healthy adults, but 3 months of zinc did not. Vitamin E lowered it in dialysis patients. A diet study in healthy men found salt intake made no difference.

What is prolactin in men?

A pituitary hormone that men also produce. At normal levels it is part of healthy function, and in a study of 2,948 men low prolactin was also linked to worse metabolic and sexual health.