Mustafa Salih's testosterone reveal claims, fact-checked

What did @mustafasalih_ actually say?

The creator shared blood work from Boston Vitality showing a testosterone level of 826 ng/dL at age 19, taken about two years ago. He claimed "the average is pretty sure at 600" and concluded his levels are "way higher than average," framing this as evidence he is "more manly." He was responding to comments suggesting he has low or "negative" testosterone.

To be fair, he was not making a medical claim in any serious sense. This was a social media clap-back at trolls. But the numbers are real, and the interpretation he offered is only partially right, so it is worth unpacking what 826 ng/dL actually means for a 19-year-old male.

Does the science back this up?

His testosterone level is above average, but not dramatically so. He pegged the average at roughly 600 ng/dL, which is a reasonable ballpark for adult men, but age matters significantly here, and most reference ranges for young men his age run higher than the general adult population average.

The Endocrine Society and most clinical labs use a normal range of approximately 300 to 1000 ng/dL for adult males. The average for men aged 19 to 39 specifically tends to sit closer to 630 to 700 ng/dL depending on assay and population. Travison et al. (2017, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism) found mean testosterone in younger adult males around 669 ng/dL using harmonized reference ranges. By that measure, 826 ng/dL is above average, but it sits comfortably within the normal range, not at the ceiling. It is not a remarkable outlier for a healthy 19-year-old.

Testosterone also peaks in the late teens to early twenties, so comparing his result against the general adult male average, which includes men in their 50s and 60s, inflates how "above average" he looks.

What did they get wrong (or right)?

He got the directional claim right: 826 ng/dL is above the midpoint for adult males. Credit where it is due. But the framing overstates the significance. Saying he is "way higher than average" implies a meaningful gap that the data does not fully support for his specific age group.

More importantly, the claim that higher testosterone means being "more manly" collapses a complicated endocrine reality into a simple social point. Testosterone within the normal range does not linearly predict physical characteristics, behavior, or anything resembling cultural masculinity. Bhasin et al. (2001, New England Journal of Medicine) demonstrated that muscle mass and strength differences between men only became statistically significant at supraphysiological levels, well above what natural variation produces. Within the normal range, the differences are modest.

He also did not mention that testosterone levels fluctuate significantly by time of day, sleep quality, stress, and even the season. A single morning reading is a snapshot, not a fixed biological identity.

What should you actually know?

If you are considering getting your testosterone tested because of content like this, here is what actually matters. A single total testosterone measurement tells you relatively little without free testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and luteinizing hormone (LH) values alongside it. Two separate readings on different days are recommended before any clinical decision is made, per Endocrine Society guidelines (Bhasin et al., 2018).

Normal testosterone does not require intervention. The entire premise of TRT is to treat documented hypogonadism with symptoms, not to optimize numbers that are already in range. If your levels are in range and you feel fine, there is no established clinical rationale for treatment.

It is also worth noting that 826 ng/dL, while healthy, is not the kind of number that explains dramatic physique differences between people. Training volume, diet, sleep, and genetics do most of that work in the normal hormonal range.